Vomir le Chien said:
I have one right here in my hand looking at it,,now if you were to look at it point on,looking toward the handle, the steel is a Flattened Oval +- more flattened on top and rounded on the bottom. The one I have is an antique with hours of use, in the shoe shop, where my uncle hand sewed shoes for 30 years. I used it when I did leather work, never had a problem with damaging leather,poked holes in my hand and fingers from time to time..You working leather or just gathering tools??
Thank you for that information. That is more specific than what I remembered from the Cordwainer at Colonial Williamsburg and is very interesting.
Yes, I do enjoy working leather, though it is not and never will be my profession. I consider myself a somewhat advanced Hobbyist and Novice, though the number of tools I have purchased or made and used since the mid 70's has gotten a little out of hand. Chuckle. But there is always some new tool that one just "has to have."
Most of the leather work I have done over the years was for my own use in reenacting or living history, though I sometimes made items for others and especially when those accoutrements were not easily obtained at the time. I have been fortunate to have had mentors and assistance where I was allowed to closely examine, measure and take notes on authentic period items that I needed or wanted to replicate as exactly as I was able to do. For example in the 70's when I did Rev War and War of 1812, I was very fortunate to be allowed to examine many original items that were not on display at Historic Fort Wayne, IN.
In the 80's when I did WBTS reenacting, I was mentored and befriended by those who had original items and was even allowed to borrow some original pieces to replicate. When I started WBTS reenacting, no one was making Civil War period Cap Boxes that were really good copies of originals and no one was making the brass closure studs. So I made my own forming blocks for a few common cap boxes and used original "dug" brass pieces that I repaired and reused. I put the sheepskin liners in them and even the little leather loop and wire pick that few, if any others were doing at the time. I did not make enough of them to get replica makers' cartouche stamps, though. Thus my cap boxes were much more authentic than say the ones Dixie sold then, but of course mine had to be more expensive. I made the boxes in my Off Duty hours, though it was never a high volume thing. I think Dixie sold there's for about $16.00 each in those days and I sold mine for $28.00. I probably was not making 50 cents and hour on them, but it gave me some extra money and more importantly an opportunity to get more leather working experience. A few years later a close acquaintance bought some Industrial leather sewing machines and starting making more authentic copies than Dixie, though not as authentic as mine, but certainly "good enough" for most Reenactors and NSSA shooters. I actually thanked him as I wasn't making much on my cap boxes at all.
In 1982 when I and a few friends formed a new Confederate Infantry Reenactment Unit, I did not have a revolver, sword or Officer's Leather Accoutrements. Making an accurate period holster was rather easy (compared to other items) and I used an original/dug brass stud I refurbished and was able to find the correct copper washers and rivets. No one was making a good reproduction of a M1850 Foot Officer's Sword then and I was not going to use the Original Sword handed down through my family. Very few Reenactment Officers in those days used original swords, though a very small number did. Then I found a NOS M1850 sword blade that had never been mounted. They were sold then as "Civil War" Sword Blades, though I found out at The Marine Corps Museum they actually were Marine NCO Sword Blades made in the 1880's or so. Since they were full size and made as combat blades, I didn't care. I gathered dug and non dug original brass guard, pommel and scabbard hardware. I considered myself lucky to have identified and found three original dug Confederate Sword Hooks and bought all three along with some some Federal ones, though I only needed one Confederate one for my sword belt. Some friends helped me find an original wood grip that I covered in leather and twisted wire and made the leather buffer and assembled the sword. The sword, itself, proved easier than the scabbard, though.
I did not know how to butt seam leather and that was necessary to make the leather part of the scabbard. I learned how to do that from the Cordwainer at Colonial Williamsburg. I made a curved awl and practiced on scrap leather until I was confident enough to make the scabbard. Later on I replaced the really poor Post Civil War replaced leather scabbard portion on our Family M1850 Foot Officer Sword. I actually wore that sword on Active Duty a few times for ceremonial purposes and for my final reenlistment in the uniform of a Confederate Marine Sergeant Major.
When I got back to my favorite period of the 18th century in the mid/late 90's, I made all my own leather gear except the leather flap covered belly box. I was excited to get copied photo's and information on original British Scabbards and Frogs that were dug up at Fort Ligonier, PA a few years before that. There were details on both items that few, if any people knew about before they dug up quite intact leather items at Fort Ligonier. The soil there was almost perfect to keep leather items in amazing shape. About a half dozen bayonet scabbards were found and we learned new things about them.
They have been making reproductions of the lockets and small brass tips for British Bayonet Scabbards for some time. There is a small almost triangular projection on the tips above the spear point tip. What we did not know until the Fort Ligonier scabbards were dug up was that they soldiered triangular cones of tinned iron to the triangular brass section and these cones were inside the leather scabbard. This kept the small brass piece from coming off the end of the scabbard and provided more insurance that the bayonet point would not pierce the leather near the tip. I might have been able to find tinned iron as I knew a couple of sites that used it, but decided to use sheet brass for mine. After I made my own bayonet scabbard like that, I made a few more for other members of the unit. Now I don't know if ALL British Bayonet Scabbards had these internal triangular shaped cones in the F&I War and Rev War Period and it may be that only the ones purchased by the CO of the British Forces who served at Fort Ligonier had scabbards made with them. I do know that it makes the scabbard much longer wearing and makes it more authentic to the period.
Now that I finally was able to get my eyes fixed, I want to make some shooting pouches and accoutrement sets that are as accurate to Mid 18th century “Virginia Made” as I can make them. That is part of the reason I asked the original question in this thread. I also want to do Artificer repair work on guns and leather goods at living histories and reenactments, so I want to get or make tools and supplies as historically correct as possible.
Gus
