My dad asked me to make him a leather case to hold a carpenter’s pencil and a six inch scale that he could clip onto his belt when out in his workshop. Then, he’d always have a pencil and scale handy and not have to worry about either falling out of his shirt pocket.
It’s not perfect… hand stitched by a half blind woman, not exactly square, but he’s happy with it and that’s all that matters. He’ll be 84 years old on October 23rd.
I snapped photos along the way. The leather used was 3 layers of veg-tanned cowhide, with a belt clip sandwiched between two layers cut from a leftover Tandy checkbook cover kit. The pocket is also veg-tanned tooling leather, but softer and lighter weight, maybe only 3 oz, don’t remember as it’s been awhile since I’ve done any leatherwork.
Yeah, just rooted through my leather box and used what was on hand.
Dying was an afterthought, so I took a paint brush with liquid dye down inside after he changed his mind from natural to brown. I didn’t have anything to finish it with so I just rubbed it down with leather conditioner and popped it into the mail.
This little project was good for me as it broke my mask making obsession. Half the country thinks it’s a hoax that will magically vanish on election day anyways. They say I’m scared, call me a sheep… I don’t care. Some wouldn’t shake their shoes out for scorpions or socially distance from a rattlesnake (little lessons learned in west Texas) so I don’t expect them to understand the difference between scared and just being aware.
Take care of you and yours… thanks for reading!
