Spent a bunch of time in the shop today and took a bunch of pics.
Making a file folder template to get the shape of my rawhide wrap
Template for the copper overlay
Dry rawhide is a tough material to cut but tin snips make short work of it. Traced my patterns with the rough side out for front and back with a red ink pen. The dye will cover the red ink if any is left on the rawhide. Also got my coffe can of hot water to soak the pieces in to soften them up.
I also cut some rawhide lace. Soak everything in the hot water and pull it out and dye it while still wet. I only dyed the outside of my wrap pieces so I'll end up with some color variation and a kinda translucent effect.
I don't have a special lacing chisel so I just used this 1/4" wide wood chisel. Folded the piece around and chiseled both sides at once so I've got a matching pattern on both sides.
Here's a shot of the inside of the wrap. Had I dyed the inside it would come out a far more solid color
This is what I use for gluing leather. Weldwood contact cement which is a direct replacement for Barge cement thats cheap and available just about anywhere. I glue both pieces then let the cement tack up for a fe minutes then stick them together
Getting the wrap placed where I want it. I didn't cement the area where the lacing will be
I thought I'd throw in a pic of a Lacing needle just in case some folks aren't familiar with them. They are the ticket for anything "lacing"
I probably should've got another needle and laced it tight as I went but on this short run I just laced one side then the other then pulled the lace tight one stitch at a time
Repeat these steps for the front side and here we are with our rawhide wrapped handle
I tied my lace off with a box knot (I think) then soaked with superglue and worked the glue into the knot with a flux brush to lock the knot in place
Adding some character to the rawhide with a wire brush
Trimmed the edges nice and neat to complete the rawhide wrap
Finish coat for the rawhide
Cut some copper, crinkled, flatened, traced paper pattern, cut oversize, folded edges under, flash with heat, fit to handle
Using a tack hammer and some needle-nose pliers to set my copper tacks. Had to shorten the shank on all the ones with the small diameter head. Snipped the shank off with dykes and ground a chisel point back on.
Wrapped the ends of my lace around the handle and secured with tacks
Also tacked the butt end
And the points of the copper sun rays
Here's a close-up of what the tacks look like before being hammer domed
And here we are with the back end wrapped and tacked
This was my afternoon session in the shop. I also pulled some evening duty and have the front copper wrapped and tacked to match the back. Still gotta upload those pics to Photobucket.
Take care fellas, -Josh