Lots of activity happening in my kitchen workshop lately. First up is an upholstery project. There's a bike swap meet that happens roughly once a month in my town, and the last time I attended I scored a couple of old Selle gel saddles (my personal favorite.) The covering on both was in pretty rough shape, so I decided to recover them in leather. Here's the first one:
And after removing the old covering:
There were some larger chunks of foam that came off while removing the cover, so I filled in the voids with some thin leather:
The second saddle:
Minus the covering:
The leather scrap I wanted to use wasn't big enough, so I stitched two pieces together, hopefully with the seam in a place that wouldn't chafe:
The finished saddles, which are now both in use and are quite comfortable:
Speaking of scraps, I decided to make another large wallet that utilized thin scraps of black doe kidskin. I figure if anyone wants it I can either make it a chain wallet or give it a wrist strap, depending on how they intend to use it:
Fun times modifying knives continues - I picked up a Kershaw OD-2 knife for my girlfriend so I could make some scales for it in the toxic green she likes so much. It was close enough to the color of an artichoke that it seemed like a good idea to shape them like one. This project was quite a bit more difficult than the previous one, as the knife is an assisted opener and there are moving parts inside the handle.
For my girlfriend's birthday she asked if I would make her a belt. So I did. This extra-fancy belt is tooled with animal imagery and includes giant anteaters, a giraffe, an octopus and a pelican, and has edge braiding all the way down the length of the belt. For the buckle, I took a polished solid brass buckle, ground off a thin layer in the shape of giraffe spots and dunked the whole thing in acid. Only the ground away spots tarnished:
Last but not least is a fairly large bag. A buddy of mine works for a local brewery, and frequently travels to bars to set up unique casks of their brew for special events. He needed something that could hold all the gear he needs to accomplish this - tools, the spout, a collapsible stand that holds the cask, etc.
