Braiding a leather fob and installing a bead

[Gary W. Graley]

Some folks have asked just how this is done, well I found one little bit of scrap soft leather that I could make this little tutorial up with, our friend John M Cohea is sending me some soft leather, really appreciate that to John!

A tip, you will need SOFT supple leather, not the kind you would normally use to make a sheath with, but something like deer skin, or Elk or Buffalo makes for a nice soft strong leather fob

First you slice a piece of leather that will fit into the thong hole of the knife using a ruler to keep the piece from moving, slice one side straight and then slide the ruler back to the proper width and slide while pressing down firmly on the ruler to keep the leather from moving on you.

Then slip the piece through the thong hole so you have equal parts on either side, take a sharp knife, I like the wharncliff for this for it's direct point and make two slits, each about as long as the leather is wide and spaced about that same distance apart, like this;

leather_braid_1 by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

then push one end through that first hole

leather_braid_2 by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

then pull the leather snug up to the knife, you want to make it so the fob won't slide around in front of the blade

leather_braid_3 by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

with that up as tight as you want it to be, doesn't have to be tight tight, as you do want it to pivot a little bit, just not a big loop, then on the other side you will also cut in two slits, like you did on the previous piece;

leather_braid_4 by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

and now we just alternate, insert the other leg into the newly made slit

leather_braid_5 by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

and then put the other one through the other leg, part of that braiding thing...

leather_braid_6 by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

until you end up with both 'good' or finished sides of the leather to the outside I then take and roll the braid between my thumb and index finger, rolling it to make it a bit smoother fitting

leather_braid_7 by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

next post for the bead part, limit of 10 images per post...

Edited to add this link to a paracord lanyard fob tutorial

 

[Gary W. Graley]

Found a box of beads in Walmart that had holes big enough to get the leather through, fairly inexpensive for the box of various colours

Slide the bead onto the leather up past the braided section, cut a wedge of firm leather to put in between the two pieces

NOTE: I've since found some RUBBERIZED CORK and use that, as it keeps it's memory better than compressing leather. In the posts below one fellow used regular sliced up sections of CORK and that should be easy to locate some.

leather_braid_8 by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

insert the wedge up against where the braid ends and slide the bead down on top of that, pulling tight, not SUPER tight as it won't take much to wedge it on

leather_braid_9 by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

ending up with the wedge like this;

leather_braid_10 by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

The distance the bead is from the end of the handle is kinda important as you want to be able to hook the bead with your pinky to help draw the knife from the sheath, so depending on your hand size you will have to experiment with that distance.

if you have an expensive bead, you might want to put a dot of glue on the leather wedge just to keep it from ever slipping free and losing that bead!

That's it gang, hope it helps clear some things up,
G2

 

[cdn_Bulldog]

Great post, thank you!

 

[Gary W. Graley]

You're most welcome, with the wedge piece you will have to experiment with how wide a piece to use, as it depends on how big a hole is in the bead and how thick the leather is, so it's what I call the Goldie Locks thingy not too thick, not too thin, just right
G2

 

[Dusty One]

Thanks for taking the time for this. Very well done....

 

[popedandy]

Thanks for the tutorial, Gary. Well done as always.

 

[hunterfisher808]

Thanks G2! I always wondered how to do this one.

 

[Buffalohump]

Thanks so much for sharing, G! :thumbup:

 

[WadeH]

Nice job Gary, you made it look like I could do it.

 

[Gary W. Graley]

Thanks guys and Wade, that's the idea, give it a try!
G2

 

[DaveinNY]

Gotta give that a try, looks like a fun project, Thanks Gary

Dave

 

[Gary W. Graley]

Great Dave, works nice and quite handy,
G2

 

[Dixieblade57]

Very slick idea and great tutorial. Gary, I still say I think you do some of the nicest leather work I have ever seen, bar none! :thumbup:

 

[Gary W. Graley]

Thanks Dixie, on that one I left the wedge showing a little so you can see the results, you can trim it down a little bit but not too much as you don't want the bead going past the wedge.
G2

 

[cdn_Bulldog]

Thanks for the tutorial!

 

[Diomedes Industries]

G2,

Man - you are tops! Your tutorials are always great and you have always taken the time to answer questions I had.

Thanks man - you are class.

TF

 

[Gary W. Graley]

Nice job Bulldog and you're both welcome
G2

 

[Gary W. Graley]

Someone was asking about this thread, bump it up for the new guys
G2

 

[JTR357]

Thanks for posting this.I've been wanting to do this for awhile,but never knew how.

 

[Gary W. Graley]

You're welcome John, one thing that isn't shown, just a cosmetic touch for me is I cut the very ends of the leather so they are at opposite angles and at the same length.
G2

Edited to add this photo of how I cut the tails of the leather, the left side is the top/good side the right is the underside of the leather, together the cut out looks like a V shape when spread apart...

leather_braid_11 by GaryWGraley, on Flickr