Historic Camping

In this project, I am making a leather box for a friend of mine.

The box design I decided to use has a joined lid so was to be made out of a single piece of leather. The final dimensions were to be 8″”x5″”x2″”. The pattern for it looks like this

I cut the basic shape out but left the corners in for the places that would be stitched together, the grey areas on the pattern. These I cut with V gouge instead of a knife so that I had a mitred edge to work with.

I also used the V gouge to cut the hinged lines so the box would fold. I decided to leave the final cutting of the lid until after I had made the bottom of the box so I could adjust if needed.

Once I had the piece ready to be sown I cut stitching groves and marked where the stitches should go.

For the actual sewing, I used 2 curved needles and waxed linen thread. I pierced the leather with a straight awl but did this at an angle so that it came through the leather on the mitred edge instead of the back of the leather.

This meant that once I had sewn the piece up there would be no stitches visible on the inside.

After I had completed the bottom of the box I then cut the pieces for the top. These were cut, pierced and sewn in the same manner as the base.

After the box was complete I decided that the sides of the lid needed attention as they weren’t sitting as I liked.

These will be reshaped to a curve.

The box is going to be used to hold so modern medical gear so needs to be securely closed. I have two options for this. One is to add a buckle the other is to add ties by punching 2 holes through the front of both the bottom bit of the box and the lid and passing some cord through. I need to check to see what the person I am making it for would prefer.

The final touch will be decoration. I am thinking of carving the top with the Rod of Asclepius.

This is the symbol of the greek god associated with medicine and is a single snake coiled around a rod.