Strap for a leather satchel

[tombear]

Hi folks
for no good reason apart from needing a shoulder bag for bimbling I am making a approximation of the Comacchio Bag that was discovered on the wreck of a Roman ship. Basically it's a leather satchel about the same size as a Indiana Jones gas mask case.

I've sewn all the main parts together and dyed the reinforcement panels for the ties/closures with a soak in oak gall solution followed by one of white vinegar, wire wool and a rusty nail. They have dried and ill sew them on later. When it's all done I will neetsfoot oil it to waterproof it

I now need to make the shoulder strap, no one knows what the originals strap was like but the slits that it fitted into are supposed to be 20 mm wide so I need a strap about that wide,. Which is my problem. What I need is a 20mm wide strap that's about 60, ideally 66 inches long and about 2mm thick. Does any one have my to sell? The stuff I've seen on the net has all been thicker.

ive been working from this excellent tutorial

http://sutor.jimdo.com/bags/roman/comacchio-bag/

atb

tom

 

[tombear]

Woke up early and finished it before anyone else stirred.

Anyroad if I can't find some 20mm x 2mm x 60 + inches I will have to resort to using canvas, which since the original strap and stitching didn't survive is just as viable as leather. If I do I'll oil and let dry the bag part first in a vague attempt to keep the strap clean.


ATB

Tom

 

[tombear]

Sitting here dunking a Hobnob into my tea it occurs to me that a woven strap would actually be much better so I don't need the leather at all.

Now where can I get near two yards of hand woven linen tape, ideally with a Roman or ancient celtic pattern on the ends ( I guess that doing the whole thing fancy would be prohibitively expensive in time and hence cost?)

From wandering around the net I can't emediately see what method they used back then.

ATB

Tom

 

[boatman]

You could try an inkle loom or re-enactment sellers of braids produced on them. That is a lovely piece of work, a satchel is an attractive bit of kit for a Dark Age presentation as well.

 

[Corso]

sofmilitary sell a very nice leather strap for the indi gas mask bags they sell

picked one up a while back its great quality of the price

 

[blacktimberwolf]

You've done a great job there. I would stick to your original idea of a leather strap, it appears to be more authentic. Have you looked at some belt blanks on eBay ?

 

[tombear]

Cheers for the comments!

Yup I wanted it to be useful for as large a range of periods as I could as well as not looking out of place for carrying some bits and bobs when just pottering in the woods. It's actually half a inch shorter and a bit wider than the original as the bit of 1mm leather I got off Accrington flea market for £4 wasn't quite long enough.

so far I've not found any strap on eBay etc thats thin enough in that width and length. I don't want to use 1/8th" thick bridle leather like I would have for a belt as it would be overkill for the weight it will have to take, 2mm would do fine.

i made herself a inkle loom a while back, I was hopeless with it, couldnt get the hang of tensioning and when approached herself was not inclined to spend her free time, which to be fare isn't copious, making that much for one of my toys. Still folk sell it.

ive just rubbed about a quarter of a pint of raw neetsfoot oil into it and it will take at least a week to dry out, it will be a nice mid brown if it behaves like similar leather I've treated and I will block it out with books and give it a good polish with the tallow and beeswax stuff which will fill the stitch holes some and general weatherproof it some more.

ATB

Tom

 

[tombear]

In the end I couldn't justify, in the historical sense, a fancy woven strap although I did learn a lot and make a great contact in the process. The kind people at Hostile Hides over in Bolton cut me a 63 inch 20mm strap from the veg tanned 2.8mm leather I wanted for a very reasonable price and got it to me as quick as you like. They were also kind enough to give me advice on the use if neetsfoot,which I'd rather overdone.

Anyroad I polished the strAp with a couple of coats of beeswax and tallow and sewed it on last night.

I'm now sweating some of the excess oil out of it, just so it won't transfer to my clothes when in use.

atb

tom

 

[Zingmo]

I like that. A Roman army gas mask bag! Perhaps this is what Indie was thinking of when he selected his bag.

Just out of interest, what was the advice regarding neetsfoot oil? I always imagine leather is crying out for it, but after treatment it is horrible (and smelly). About five years later the leather seems perfect!

Z

 

[tombear]

Cheers! It would seam that with neetsfoot oil less is more if you don't want it weeping out for years to come. She applies just a couple of light layers to the outside, not the flesh ( I slathered it on both ) by wetting a piece of sheepskin with the stuff and dragging it along th surface. It may look blotchy at first but it will even out over a few days.

atb

Tom