Goatboy’s Leatherworks

I’ve never been what you might call a frequent poster, but since I started this blog I don’t think I’ve gone this long without offering up content before. It’s been over six months since I last posted, so I guess it’s about time I remedied that.

In fairness, I should point out that since the beginning of the summer, our little family has been going through some difficult times. One of our number has had some fairly serious health issues to contend with, and for a while all our time was taken up with hospital visits and suchlike. For a few weeks there wasn’t a great deal of time for fun in the workshop.

The long road to recovery still stretches out before us but things are slowly getting back on an even keel. A few weeks ago I started a little line of Snowpeople on the lathe, to be ready in time to sell around Christmas time. I have made a separate blog (link on the side bar) to showcase them for friends and family, but most of them are on sale now at a local shop.

Before I started on them, however, I did manage to finish a project that I had begun before our troubles kicked off in the summer, and this is the main subject of this post.

Working with wood is my main pastime, but I have always thought that leather can greatly enhance a project, and so I try to incorporate it wherever I can. I have amassed a few rudimentary leather working tools over the past few months, as well as leather related paraphernalia (eyelets, rivets, press-studs, needles and thread and the like)  and I needed to build a dedicated box to house them. So, inspired by this video, I have done just that.

The box is made from cherry and walnut and incorporates hand cut dovetails and housing joints. The main box has two dividers, a lift out tote and storage in the lid. There is also a drawer for some of the smaller components. This drawer showcases my very first attempt at half lap dovetails, and is subdivided into 12 compartments.

Obviously, since this is a box for leather working tools, I needed to incorporate some leather into the design. This comes in form of leather handles stitched to the wood, as well as a leather clasp to hold the drawer closed. I also made a leather decal for the top with a modified version of my logo burned into it. The box was finished with my oil/varnish/turps home brew.

All in all, I am very pleased with the results, and the box has been of great use to me in the production of my little Snowpunks. I’ll be up to my eyes in them for a while yet, but I must try to post more often in future. I feel a New Year’s Resolution coming on…