Leather Shot Pouch

[410-er]

Made a leather shot pouch out of some tanned Buffalo hide I bought at a sale.It is soft.Is there a way of hardening it to firm it up?

 

[paulvallandigham]

If leather is dampened, or soaked in water, then allowed to dry, it stiffens up a bit. I don't know how much stiffening you want. Try it. If not, make a bag out of thicker leather. :thumbsup:

 

[mazo kid]

Try soaking it in melted beeswax and letting it drain well. You can try it on a piece of scrap leather first to get the technique down.

 

[410-er]

Like to stiffen enough so the charger neck doesn't flop around.

 

[Supercracker]

The oils in the hide are what make it pliable. you need to get them out a little at a time.

Soak it in and massage it in hot water. That'll get them out. It also allows you to do it incrementally to get just the stiffness you want. Or, if you want to be crafty even get a progressively stiffer piece as it goes down it's length.

Then beeswax it for weatherproofing

 

[longrifle78]

If its chrome taned it probably wont stiffen much. You can make a neck for a shot pouch from bone, antler or wood to make it stay open.

 

[paulvallandigham]

If all you need is a stiff neck for the opening, then sew some thicker leather to the sides of the NECK, using the same seams that already exist. The two layers can be Pinched to open the bag to pour the shot( or ball) out. When you release the sides of the neck, it closes, to help keep the shot in the bag. The thickened neck will lean over, of course, from its own weight. If you make a neck long enough you can sew a keeper loop down low on the neck, so that the neck is folded over, and shoved under the leather keeper to save the shot from falling out of the bag.

The same idea makes a great ball bag, that delivers lead balls one at a time.