This morning began with lots of bright sunshine and mild temperatures, so after a few minutes spent watching the birds to the sound of the village church bells I thought that it would be nice to sit outside. So I grabbed a chair and my tool kit and set about some leather work. Late last year, a good friend of mine bought for me another pocket knife, it is a knife of good quality and a modern design. I wanted to make a pouch in which to keep it clean and handy and already had a rough design in my head. 
So here is the knife, it is made in a style that is becoming increasingly common. I wanted a pouch that would attach to a belt and permit access without a lot of fiddling about with cold hands when I am out fishing. First of all I cut the leather for the front and moulded it into the shape of the knife, while that was drying I cut out the back and belt loop. I stitched the belt loop in place and then fitted the two pieces of leather together I marked it out ready for sewing. Once the hand stitching was complete I trimmed up and burnished the edges. The next job was to hand tool the design into the leather before dying and polishing.
I always have a little difficulty when it comes to dying leather because I only want to change the colour slightly, just enough to make the tooling work a little more visible. I have found in the past that coffee gives the colour that I like, so I mixed a very strong solution of Kenco and brushed it onto the desired area. Once dry, I applied two good coatings with a clear leather wax and buffed it to a gentle lustre, this protects the leather and seals in the dye. So, that was it,
sunshine over and back to sit indoors and listen to the raindrops on the roof. This had been a very enjoyable little project for me and the fact that I was able to sit out in the fresh air on a quiet Sunday morning made it all the more pleasant.
So here is the knife, it is made in a style that is becoming increasingly common. I wanted a pouch that would attach to a belt and permit access without a lot of fiddling about with cold hands when I am out fishing. First of all I cut the leather for the front and moulded it into the shape of the knife, while that was drying I cut out the back and belt loop. I stitched the belt loop in place and then fitted the two pieces of leather together I marked it out ready for sewing. Once the hand stitching was complete I trimmed up and burnished the edges. The next job was to hand tool the design into the leather before dying and polishing.
I always have a little difficulty when it comes to dying leather because I only want to change the colour slightly, just enough to make the tooling work a little more visible. I have found in the past that coffee gives the colour that I like, so I mixed a very strong solution of Kenco and brushed it onto the desired area. Once dry, I applied two good coatings with a clear leather wax and buffed it to a gentle lustre, this protects the leather and seals in the dye. So, that was it,
sunshine over and back to sit indoors and listen to the raindrops on the roof. This had been a very enjoyable little project for me and the fact that I was able to sit out in the fresh air on a quiet Sunday morning made it all the more pleasant. 
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