{"id":752,"date":"2014-06-18T19:35:14","date_gmt":"2014-06-18T23:35:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/westerntrailrider.com\/?p=752"},"modified":"2017-02-12T01:27:14","modified_gmt":"2017-02-12T08:27:14","slug":"finished-my-first-pair-of-chaps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/westerntrailrider.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2014\/06\/finished-my-first-pair-of-chaps\/","title":{"rendered":"Finished My First Pair of Chaps"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n\t\r\n\t

Finished! Well, almost. I just have to apply a leather finish to them.<\/p>\n

\"My<\/a>
My first pair of chaps<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The chaps are batwings, made from patterns from Bob Klenda Saddlery<\/a>. Bob is a well-known saddle maker, who makes some beautiful custom saddles. As I recall, one of his saddles once sold at auction for $20,000. Yet, when you call his shop, he answers the telephone and is more than happy to help you get just what you want\u00a0and offer all the help and advice you need. I ended up asking all sorts of questions about leather, hardware, fitting, etc, and he never once made me feel like I was wasting his time. A very pleasant and helpful man. I hope I get a chance to meet him in person sometime.<\/p>\n

\"24<\/a>
24 sf of 5\/6 oz chap leather<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The leather I chose is 5\/6 oz chap leather with a pebble-grain finish, which I purchased online from The Leather Guy<\/a>. \u00a0The leather offered on that website is generally #2 leather, which has some blemish or other, so they are priced accordingly. They have a large selection and show very good pictures of the actual piece you are buying. \u00a0Mine has a large brand on it, which I thought was sort of novel. I situated it to show up on the wing of the chaps. \u00a0I am pleased with the quality of the leather. It is exactly as described on the site. \u00a0I also purchased leather for two more pairs of chaps\u00a0at the same time.<\/p>\n

I bought the hardware for the chaps from Sheridan Leather<\/a>. \u00a0I looked all over the Internet to find a place that sold all the pieces I needed, so I wouldn’t have to pay shipping from several vendors. I couldn’t find anybody who had all the items, so I finally called Bob Klenda to see where he gets his stuff. He recommended Sheridan Leather. They had everything I needed to make Bob’s chaps, and a lot besides.<\/p>\n

These chaps required eight 5\/8″ spring clips (also called chap clips), eight 5\/8″ rings, eight 1-3\/8″ leather rosettes, eight 1-5\/8″ leather rosettes, and a 1-1\/4″ cart buckle (sometimes called a chaps buckle). Sheridan only carries the 1-1\/4″ buckle in brass. I ended up ordering several other leathercraft-related items as well. \u00a0Their prices are good and they shipped quickly. There was an error on my first order, but it \u00a0required only a phone call to straightened it out to my satisfaction. I appreciated their quick and courteous service.<\/p>\n

\"Yokes<\/a>
Yokes and pocket flaps<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The yokes and pocket flaps are\u00a0made from 7\/8 oz skirting leather, which is a little less expensive than tooling leather, but takes tooling just as well. I purchased it from an eBay seller named “leather_alternative”. \u00a0The price was right, shipping was reasonable and quick, and the leather was quite good. I bought about 14 square feet of it, but only needed a little of it for the chaps. I plan to use the rest to re-cover an 1860’s McClellan-type saddle tree.<\/p>\n

I figure the set of chaps cost me a little under $100 to make. Not bad, when I see equivalent chaps (maybe a little better than mine in the fine details) going for $275. For about $300 I bought enough leather for three sets of chaps with some left over. The hardware for all three sets of chaps I intend to make came to about $60.<\/p>\n

After taking the appropriate measurements for my legs, I realized quite happily, that the chaps pattern was made for my size. That was by coincidence, though, and instructions are provided on the pattern for adjusting it\u00a0to size.<\/p>\n

My first step, in making the chaps caused the most anxiety: Deciding where to place the pattern on the leather for marking and cutting. The side I bought was wide enough to allow me to place the yoke of the pattern at the back and the batwings at the belly area for both legs, which gives you consistent thickness and stiffness for the entire length of both legs of the chaps. However, since I wanted the brand mark on the leather to end up in a particular position on the batwing, I reversed that and put the belt in the belly area and the batwing in the stiffer back area. \u00a0The leather was sufficiently consistent throughout that it turned out fine. \u00a0Some sides of leather won’t allow this, so you must turn the pattern long-wise on the side to fit both legs of the chaps within the side of leather. Try to choose the position of each leg, so that you get consistent stiffness and color for similar portions of the chaps. In other words, don’t cut one yoke from the stretchy belly area and the other yoke from the stiff neck area of the side. Try to make the left and right legs of the chaps consistent in stiffness and texture.<\/p>\n

\"2014-06-05<\/a>Once the position of the pattern was decided, I positioned the paper pattern on top of the side of leather and used an Osborne #5 overstitch wheel to trace the pattern. The points of the overstitch wheel marked the leather through the paper without cutting it, so I was able to retain the pattern and all it’s written instructions intact. \u00a0After marking one leg, I cut it out, then used that one as the pattern for the other leg, marking the leather by following around it with the tip of an awl. Make sure you make a right and left\u00a0<\/em>leg!\u00a0<\/strong>A mistake here can be very costly, since you won’t likely have enough of the side left to make a third leg!<\/p>\n

I cut out all the leather pieces with a utility knife, because it takes less talent and experience to use than my roundknife. Make sure you have plenty of fresh blades, because you want to change them out often, or the knife edge will begin pushing and deforming the chap leather as it cuts. After cutting out all the parts, I edged and burnished the edges of all the parts\u00a0made of the 7\/8 oz skirting leather, using an Osborne #3 edger and a burnishing tool. I then prepared the decorative parts for tooling.<\/p>\n

For the yokes, pocket flaps, and belt parts, I wet the leather with a sponge, or quickly dipped it in water, and let it sit while I prepared my tools and work area. The leather is ready to tool when it begins to return to its original color. You really have to get the moisture content of the leather right in order to do the decorative tooling well. If it is too dry, the stamp will not imprint deeply enough, and will damage the grain of the leather. If it’s too wet, the leather gets sort of rubbery and the stamping will cause it to stretch and distort, and will cut too deep.\u00a0\u00a0I tooled the yokes, pocket flaps, and belt with a basket weave pattern I like. \u00a0I used a good weighted mallet, and a worktop of 1-1\/4″ granite, which helps get consistent hits on the tools, to make the stamps cut to a consistent depth. This is a talent that takes development (I’m not very good at it yet, but learning).<\/p>\n

\"Craftool<\/a>
Craftool stamps<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I laid out the pattern on the leather, starting with the border. I traced the border lightly on the damp leather with a divider, then cut it in with a Craftool swivel knife. The border needs to be wide enough to accommodate a stitching groove, wherever there will be stitching. \u00a0Then I did the basket\u00a0weave stamping, beveled the border around it, then added a border stamp to edge the basket weave pattern. \u00a0The stamping tools I used are the basic Craftool swivel knife with a 1\/2″ blade, and Craftool #B200 beveler, #534 Basket Weave stamp, a #511 Basket Weave stamp (a little smaller for the belt), and #431 Border stamp.<\/p>\n