What do y'all do with your scraps?

[Omega Leather Works]

My scrap bin is getting full, but I use scraps for washers and practice. I'm curious about what you guys do with them. Obviously some have much more than others, I'm curious about all of you.

 

[Gary W. Graley]

Mostly I cut them up and then lay them in stacks and push cut through them when I'm sharpening knives and some pieces are helpful as spacers when I'm working on an sheath too.

An old friend, I'm sure he's past away as he was OLD back when I was young! But he would always say there is no such thing as scraps, he said he met a guy at a flea market that was making belts for people and he had a cigar box near by. My friend looked in the cigar box and saw all these small round sections of leather, they were the punched out holes for the belt buckle tongue. He asked 'why are you keeping these small bits of leather?' the guy smiled and said, ' I never throw anything away, in fact those small round sections of leather I give to a friend that works on clocks, and that guy takes them and glues them to the striker hammer' clever eh? I never forgot his telling of that story, he was a really nice man, good leathersmith and maker of some great looking moccasins, made from elk and buffalo hide, SO soft and strong! He would give me some pieces of that so I could make braided leather lanyards.

G2

a saying I made up a long time ago 'Old Leather Smith's never die, they just leave a lasting impression'

 

[Horsewright]

You need some? I got loads. S/B 99 to E/B 58. Literally have boxes of it. Gary's right can't throw it away. Nichole's purses started out of my legging leftovers.

 

[Ebbtide]

 

[Gary W. Graley]

Always the clever lad nice sir!
G2

 

[Ebbtide]

I have a template that's about 1 x 1 1/4.
When I'm bored with a tiny bit of ambition, I'll sort thru the smallest scraps and make rectangles for future handle projects.
Little bits are also good for propping stuff up when you take photos...

 

[Omega Leather Works]

Good stuff guys. Gary, I love that story. I have a hard time throwing out leather, not because of money, but because of the incredible journey it had before it got to me.

You need some? I got loads. S/B 99 to E/B 58. Literally have boxes of it. Gary's right can't throw it away. Nichole's purses started out of my legging leftovers.

Nah, I don't need any, although my arm could probably be twisted fairly easily when I do make that drive. Hopefully I'll have a surgery date soon for my stupid hip, I'm looking forward to running over.

Gorgeous knife and handle! From the advice of someone somewhere, I bought a 1" (probably need a little bigger for your uses) black pipe nipple. Grind a bevel off the threads and you've got a decent punch for washers. I haven't ground any steel lately (the bars of o1, 1095 and 1084 behind me would roll their eyes if they had them) so I haven't gotten around to making the tool, but I reckon it'll work. I'm not sure how you do yours, but I compress a sheet of leather before I cut the squares and they are mighty tough once dry. Probably need to rethink that method!

 

[Salolan]

Ebbtide beat me to it....
I made this pair nearly a year ago. I'd like to think I've improved a bit since then.

I'm sure I've told you before Anthony, but I compressed mine on an all thread after cutting the washers. They came off as a block and I then epoxied them to the tang.
I'll definitely have to try the pipe nipple punch. What does everyone use as a backing when using punches for leather?

Chris

 

[Omega Leather Works]

Ebbtide beat me to it....
I made this pair nearly a year ago. I'd like to think I've improved a bit since then.

I'm sure I've told you before Anthony, but I compressed mine on an all thread after cutting the washers. They came off as a block and I then epoxied them to the tang.
I'll definitely have to try the pipe nipple punch. What does everyone use as a backing when using punches for leather?

Chris

Those look great man. Very beefy, and I'd bet, very comfortable to use.

All thread, a couple of washers and nuts? That's brilliant! Unfortunately it wouldn't work for my little ferro rod handles because the hole can't run through. I epoxy the stack then drill the rod and lanyard tube holes. As small as they are, and because of the drilled holes, you end up with sections that don't have a lot of contact surface area so I've gone to stabilizing them with CA which more or less turns them into a hard block.

 

[Ebbtide]

Different knife, same tool.
The leather is cut so the tang holes match the tang as close as I can get them.
They go on with some epoxy between layers and on the tang.
Before the epoxy hardens the knife is put in the clamp and the whole handle gets compressed together.
I got the plans for this from the Brisa Knives web site.

I like the handles to be slightly oval (ovoid?), so that's why I start with rectangles.