Charlie's Shed - a leather tool holster

 As some of you know I volunteer on the North Norfolk Railway as a steam fireman, trainee DMU driver and trainee guard. Some of these roles need a few bits of equipment which can be bought or made. 

Some of you also know that I have a 1930 Ariel Model A which needs two toolboxes and that I have a hankering to make these myself from leather, so I've concocted a few little jobs to learn about the leather work. 

This latest one is a little holster for a ticket clipper - that old-school tool that you used to see bus conductors and railway ticket collectors using to make holes in your ticket.

We start with a bit of 2 mm leather, soaked in the sink. Add to that the ticket clipper wrapped in cling film and a wooden form cut to the shape of the clipper plus a few millimetres.

Using the clipper and that form we can squash the wet leather around the clipper until it dries and miraculously it will have formed the shape of the clipper. Behind that there is a thicker bit of leather which will make the backing and the belt loop so that I can carry this around up and down the train.

When I've cut the backing to shape I can use my stitching punches to make the holes for the stitches. This is quite hard work on the thumbs! Since I made my key wallet a few weeks ago I have learnt to stitch in a box shape in order to make the belt loops rigid.

The next step is to glue and stitch the formed shape to the backing. We will be gluing flesh side to skin side, which will never work unless we use some sandpaper to rough up the skin side. We are going to stitch this joint as well but the stitching will go more easily if we glue it first.

We use the stitching pony to hold the work firmly whilst we sit in front of a YouTube video and sew it together using the normal saddle stitch.

The final step is to use the knife to cut the waste away.

There's always a question about belt loops but this time the design fits nicely against my waist and is easy to use. I can get the clipper in and out and the holster doesn't move at all.