USS Constitution 1812 Marines Leatherwork Projects by popeye2sea

[popeye2sea]

As some of you may already know, I run a non-profit corporation that serves aboard the USS Constitution as its Marine Detachment. We recently had some new members join and I need to stock up on some new equipage for them.

 

In addition, I will now be portraying the Captain of the Marine Guard, so I need to make a new baldric and sword hangers for my officers sword.  I also need to make a shoulder hanger for our snare drum.

The pictures show the items I need to replicate.

 

This won't be so much a build log as much as a little taste of something I have yet to see here on the forums.

 

The first item is a baldric, also known as a shoulder belt,  to carry the bayonet.  The one in the picture is for the sergeant and has a double frog to carry both a bayonet and a sword. The other enlisted ranks would only have a bayonet.

The next item is a cartouche box. This holds 26 rounds of ammunition for the musket in paper cartridges.

Here is the neck stock.  This is where the US Marines get the name "leatherneck". Contrary to popular belief, the neck stock is not designed, or capable of, stopping sword cuts.  It is there simply to keep your head erect and improve your military bearing, so you can't do what is termed in the modern military, "eyeball the deck."

Next up is the snare drum carried by our musics. "Musics" is the word used back then to refer to the drummer and fifer, or musicians, assigned to every company. 

Finally, here is my new officers sword.  The regulations of the period did not specify the sword that an marine officer could wear, except that it have a gilt (non-leather) scabbard. This is a Georgian period, horse head saber.  It would have been worn by a gentleman of means due to it being more elaborate than the average sword of the period.  Since I am portraying a more senior officer, Captain, I thought it appropriate.

Next steps are to create patterns for the pieces and source the leather.

I have also started to acquire the leather working tools needed for the project.  The new Gerstner tool chest a recently acquired will house these new tools so that I can keep them organized and separate from the rest of the tools in my very small workspace.

 

Regards,

Henry

[popeye2sea]

Some of the tools I have purchased for this project.

The t-shaped, wooden tool on the left is a strip cutter.  There a various sized stitching irons, stitching awls, hole punches, end punches.  Also shown are edging and burnishing tools, stitching needles and thread, and the tool on the right with the harp shaped extension is a stitch grooving tool. It is used to allow the leather stitching to end up flush with the finished leather surface and not get abraded or cut.

 

I purchase vegetable tanned leather for these projects. Depending on the item, I will get it either dyed or natural.  All of the items we use are either black or white.  Already dyed black leather is easy to find, but getting white leather can be a problem. Leather is purchased by the cut and the weight (thickness)

You can get whole sides, half sides, single or double shoulders, bellies, backs, or panels. Leather weight is by the ounce, for example an 8 to 9 oz. single shoulder.  But I always have trouble figuring out what thickness that is going to be, which is what I am really interested in. So, you can also convert that weight to an average thickness in millimeters.

 

In the picture below are a half side of 8-9 oz. (on the right), a single shoulder of 5-6 oz natural, a half shoulder of black dyed 5-6 oz, and a black dyed 3-4 oz. panel.

The natural half shoulder will be cut into strips, etc. for the cross belts for the marines, while the black leather will go into the various parts of the cartouche boxes.  The 9 oz. half side will be patterned out and then dyed black and will form the bulk of the cartouche boxes.

 

Regards,

 

Henry

[Kenchington]

Looks like you have visited your local Tandy Leather store! The one near here is my go-to option for leatherwork tools and material, though I've had to reach out through the Internet for some things.

 

I've not tried dying leather white but stronger colours are easy to do, so I'd recommend experimenting on some scrap and seeing whether you can't turn the natural leather to the white that you need.

 

Just a thought though: The Royal Marines (and other British soldiers) or the period you are recreating were issued with pipeclay for whitening their equipment. Did the US Marines do the same? Or was the pipeclay applied to leather previously dyed white? I have no idea of the answers but maybe something to check, if you haven't already. 

 

Have fun with the leather!

 

Trevor

[popeye2sea]

Pipe clay was used to keep the white leather white.

We also use black ball (animal fat + lamp black) to make shoe leather black and slightly water resistant, as well as brick dust mixed with oil to polish brightwork like brass, buttons, and musket barrels.

 

Dying leather white is certainly a challenge.  Companies don't even make a real leather dye any more. They all use an acrylic white paint now.  The brand I am using is Angelis and it is taking multiple thin coats to produce a flexible surface that will resist cracking with wear.

 

Regards,

Henry

 

[Kenchington]

4 minutes ago, popeye2sea said:

Pipe clay was used to keep the white leather white.

Thanks for that!

 

5 minutes ago, popeye2sea said:

multiple thin coats to produce a flexible surface that will resist cracking with wear

I wouldn't want to use paint for your application. (Great for small bits of decorative work, but that's very different.) I guess Tandy's "Pearl" waterstain isn't white enough for you?

 

Trevor

[Old Collingwood]

What a fascinating  project thank you for bringing it here.

 

OC.
 

[popeye2sea]

1 hour ago, Kenchington said:

Thanks for that!

 

I wouldn't want to use paint for your application. (Great for small bits of decorative work, but that's very different.) I guess Tandy's "Pearl" waterstain isn't white enough for you?

 

Trevor

Tandy recommends the Angelis flat white dye for this type of application. But the product is technically an acrylic not a real dye.  It is the same stuff you would use to dye a pair of shoes white. Apparently no-one makes a real white dye anymore.

 

Regards,

Henry

[popeye2sea]

The first step in making the patterns is to pull apart one of the existing items. I do not have a picture of the sergeants baldric pulled apart because after I made the pattern I had to put it back together to wear it aboard Constitution last weekend. But, you can see how it is stitched together. The cross belt halves are stitched on to the frog that holds the sword and bayonet scabbard.

 

Since the Captains sword is a new item I will have to design the pattern pieces myself.

 

Regards,

Henry

[popeye2sea]

I had to search a few different places to find the hardware to make the Sword baldric and slings.

These are the items I finally settled on to design the baldric around.  Basically, the two halves of the shoulder cross belt and the front and rear sword sling all attach to the large ring which will sit at my left hip.

The hanger hooks will attach at the end of the slings and the sling length will be adjusted by the buckles,

 

The large hook on the ring is to hang the sword from while walking so that the sword hangs more vertically.  The two pieces were purchased separately and I opened the small eye to get it on the large ring.

 

The sword scabbard has two loops for the hanger straps to hook in to.  They are carved to look like infinity snakes with the snake swallowing its own tail.  I happened to find these snap hooks that are also styled as infinity snakes and they match quite well except the hooks are silver color and the loops on the scabbard are gold.  I may just live with the difference, or I might find a way to plate the hooks sometime down the road.

 

The sling buckles are brass lion heads. 

 

All in all, some very cool finds.

 

Regards,

 

Henry

[popeye2sea]

Patterning the cross belts.

 

The cross belt patterns are pretty straightforward.  After taking all the measurements off of the originals I lay them out and mark off the locations of all the punch holes.

Round holes for the length adjustment, button holes for the breast plate and scabbard, and diamond shaped stitching holes.

 

 

Regards,

Henry

[popeye2sea]

Anyone ever heard of a stitching pony?

 

I only learned what it is when I got into leatherwork.  Back in the day carpenters would use a clamping or shaving horse. The carpenter would sit on it and the clamp was operated by a foot treadle.

 

Leather workers have a similar bench called a stitching horse.

 

 

I purchased a stitching pony.  The difference between a horse and a pony is size.  A stitching pony is tucked under one thigh.

The wooden block is a wedge to open the jaws of the clamp. The jaws are leathered so as not to mar the surface of your work.

 

 

Regards,

Henry

[popeye2sea]

Here is the pattern for the cartouche box.

It's fairly complicated. The box itself is made in one piece and will be grooved and folded along the dashed lines (right side) to form the bottom of the box. The angled rectangles take the straps for the cross belt buckles.

The v-shaped stitching at center holds the cross belt keeper ( the long rectangle at bottom of picture). The two oblong holes take the marine emblem plate for the cover.

There is a closure strap at the cover end (decorative curved left side). The leather toggle that will hold the cover closed is not shown. That will be fastened through the three small holes to the right.

The trapezoid shaped flap cutout on the right is to access the tray that will be inside the box. Your supposed to be able to access that tray while the box is closed to get at spare flints and the like.

At the bottom are the various pieces that get stitched on to the main body piece. The circle (will be two half circles when finished) form the side walls of the cover. The domed rectangle is the side walls of the main box. The triangular piece with the trimmed off corners will be gussets for the access flap.

The last two items are the closure strap and the buckle straps

 

Regards,

Henry

 

[popeye2sea]

First cuts.

 

First up is to cut 2 1/4" strips of leather from the veg tan sides.  Using a long straight edge I squared up one side of the hide.  Then it is a simple process of setting 2.25 inches on the strip cutter and running it down the trued up edge. I was able to get enough strips for 6 sets of cross belts.

 

Next is to punch all of the holes according to the patterns.  Using an edging tool I knocked off the corners of all the edges so that they can later be burnished to a smooth rounded surface.  The grooving tool is then employed to prepare the stitching lines and then the stitching irons are used to punch the holes for the saddle stitching that holds everything together.

 

After all the tooling is done it is time for the dye.  I am using Angelus Brand flat white acrylic leather paint.  As I have mentioned previously, I do not know of anyone who is currently making a true leather dye in white.

First step in preparing for the dye is to go over the leather with isopropyl alcohol. This cleans the leather and also raises the grain a bit so that the dye adheres better.

Next, I started applying the first coat which is about a 50:50 mix of dye with water.  Apparently the water allows the paint to penetrate the leather a bit so there is less tendency for it to crack and flake off. This will be repeated for a few coats with gradually increasing concentrations of dye/water. The idea is to build up multiple thin coats of dye to create a more flexible robust surface.  It is always better to lay down the dye in thin coats rather than one thick coat.

 

Below is after two coats of white dye. It is hard to se in this picture but you can still see the natural color of the leather through the white.  It is going to take a few more coats to get the depth of color that I want.

The top piece is actually from the officers sword belt, which I have just started to cut. I also need to start cutting the pieces for the cartouche box and making the pattern for the neck stock.  All of that cross-hatching ought to be fun. I may have to buy a new tool for that in order to get consistent depth grooves for the cross-hatching.

 

Notice, also, that the button holes punched in the top belt are what happens when you don't keep your tools sharpened.  There is a big difference in how clean the holes are from the bottom two pieces.

I will post something about how to keep these tools sharp, soon.

 

 

Regards,

 

Henry