Low Cost Leather Working Kit

I want to start of by saying that my main use for this kit has been to make axe sheaths, and as such it has been completely satisfactory. You can certainly make other items with it, but it is not suited for all projects.

You will also note that I use Tandy Leather Factory for my price points and links. That is not because I think their products are somehow superior, but because it is a good place to get all you tools and equipment online.

The kit is comprised of a piece of leather, a bottle of leather glue, a set of snaps, a set of rivets, and a setter kit.

For the leather, I usually get the cheapest tooling leather they have for sale at the time. I prefer a single shoulder cut, and I like mine to be about 5 oz in terms of thickness. That however gives a fairly thin sheath. I think most people would prefer 7 oz or so thickness for their sheaths. You should be able to get a whole shoulder cut for about $20.00. That will give you a good number of sheaths. For the type of leather I am talking about, you can look here. Keep in mind that some prices are listed for the whole cut, while others are per square foot.

The next item is the leather glue. You don’t necessarily need it, and can certainly get away without it, but I like to use it. A bottle will cost about $8.00 and will last a long time. You can see the one that I use here. I use it because it is cheap.

The thing that will actually hold the sheath (or any other project) together in this kit are the rivets. I like to get the extra small ones, and they cost about $4.00 for a pack of 100. You can see an example of them here.

Each rivet set is comprised of two parts. You will have to perforate the leather, and fit the parts, one on each side.

The snaps are also a very important part for an axe sheath. A great way to buy them is in a kit, which comes with its own setter. You can see the kit here. 20 snaps and the setter will cost you $10.00.

The snaps have four parts, two for each piece of leather.

The setter is just a small anvil and dye with which you strike the rivet or snaps. I find that the setter that comes with the above kit works well on the rivets I listed above as well as on the snaps.

The way to use it is to first make a hole in the leather, using either a drill or a hole punch or awl, and thread the rivet through it, making sure that the two parts connect, one on each side of the pieces of leather. Then place the rounded part of the rivet on the anvil. Place the dye on the other end of the rivet, and hit it with a hammer. The metal is soft, so the portions of the rivet that are inserted into each other will deform, creating a connection. Make sure not to hit too hard, because it is possible to drive the river through the leather completely. The same process works for the snaps as well.

Here you can see a sheath that I have made using this kit. I cut the leather with a pair of scissors, and the holes were made with a drill. For those wondering, the sheath is made of a folded piece of leather, which forms the sides, with a strip of leather inserted between them at the front and, being held by the rivets and glue. The strap is held by a rivet on the back side and a snap on the front side.

The total cost of the items listed above it $42.00, but that will give you a whole lot of leather sheaths. The thing you will run out of first is probably the leather, but you should be able to get 10 sheaths out of the cut I talked about above.

Next week, I will post the items needed for a more advanced kit, which will allow you to make a greater scope of projects, but these are items that in my opinion belong in every leather working kit.

A Brief Look at the Gransfors Bruks Mini Hatchet

I was again fortunate enough to have the kind people at Omaha Knife agree to lend me one of their axes for this review. Considering the cost of the product, I would not have been able to do the review without their assistance, and for that I am very thankful. The axe in question is the Gransfors Bruks Mini Hatchet.

Specifications:
Manufacturer: Gransfors Bruks AB
Axe Head Weight: About ½ lb. The total weight of the hatchet is 12.4 oz.
Axe Length: 10.25 inches
Axe Head Material: Unknown Swedish steel
Handle Material: Hickory
Cost: $160.00

Without a doubt this is a very expensive axe, especially for such a small tool. I think that is part of the reason for the high price. Such a small hatchet must be quite difficult to manufacture.

Here you can see the Gransfors Bruks Mini Hatchet next to the Gransfors Bruks Wildlife Hatchet for comparison.

Even though small, the handle is comfortable and well made. Similarly the head is of nearly identical shape to that of the Wildlife Hatchet, although noticeably smaller. No metal wedge is used in the attachment of this axe head.

The head has a harsher transition between the bit and the eye than I would like, similar to that of the Wildlife Hatchet.

Overall, the Mini Hatchet has a good feel to it, and all the elements work well together. The problem however is that it is just too small. It is fun to use, but has very little practical value. There is nothing that you can do with the Mini Hatchet that you can not do with a knife. Considering that the Wildlife Hatchet is much more useful from a practical stand point, and costs a good amount less, I see little value in the Mini Hatchet. It is very light weight, but in my opinion it is dead weight. If you have a mid size, or even a small knife in your pocket, the Gransfors Bruks Mini Hatchet will add little practical value to the outing.

Brasslite Turbo II-D Alcohol Stove Review

In the interest of reducing weight, I have been playing around with alcohol stoves. They tend to be some of the simplest stove designs on the market, and as a result are usually very light weight. The one I want to look at here is a commercially available stove, the Brasslite Turbo II-D.

Specifications:
Fuel Capacity: 2 fluid oz
Stove Weight: 2.8 oz
Stove Height: 2.75 inches
Stove Width: 3 inches
Burn Time: 9 minutes on 1 fluid oz of SLX denatured alcohol (as tested by me)
Boil Time: 7 minutes for 2 cups of water (as tested by me)
Cost: $32.00

Brasslite has been making alcohol stoves for a while, and they have gone through several different designs. I always avoided them in the past because I was not a fan of those prior designs. The current one however is one of my favorites. It features a double wall design, which produces a very hot burning stove.

Here you can see the Brasslite Turbo II-D next to the Trangia Mini 28 stove for size comparison.

The Brasslite stove comes in at 2.8 oz in weight. In comparison, the Trangia Mini 28 weighs 5.8 oz together with the pot stand you see in the picture, and 3.9 oz for the burner alone. The Brasslite clearly saves you a good amount of weight, but is not nearly as indestructible as the Trangia. While both stoves are made out of brass, the Brasslite is made of much thinner metal.

Using the stove is fairly simple. Put some alcohol in the pan, and light it on fire. The stove can hold up to 2 fluid oz of alcohol, which I find to give you about 18-20 minutes of burn time, which should be enough to cook most backpacking foods.

There is no preheating time, so you can put the pot on the stand immediately.

The Brasslite Turbo II-D has a preheating pan, where you can put some extra alcohol in cold weather conditions. It also has a simmer ring, which encompasses the circumference of the pot. The way it works is by covering the air intake holes on the sides of the stove. Here you can see the stove burning with the vent holes opened:

When the ring is rotated and the holes closed, the flame is reduced significantly, allowing for simmering.

Like all alcohol stoves (of which I know), the Brasslite Turbo II-D is not terribly user friendly. Once the stove gets going, the whole assembly heats up, making it hard to handle. For example, it becomes very interesting trying to turn that simmer ring once the stove is going and is scorching hot. Witht he Brasslite Turbo II-D, it is also very hard to put out the stove, and it is impossible to recover any unused fuel. The Trangia stoves are the only ones I have seen where the fuel can actually be stored inside the stove.

All that being said, if you don’t mess with the stove too much, the Brasslite Turbo II-D works very well, and does it at a very low weight.

Brasslite also makes another model of this stove, the Turbo I-D. The I-D model is a smaller version of the one you saw here. It has a fuel capacity of 1 fluid oz. I find that to be too small for cooking food like rice, but if all you do is boil water, it may work for you. It will save you some extra weight. 

There is a DIY version of this stove, and I will show you how to make it next week.

Fiskars Softgrip PowerTooth Folding Saw Review

This is a saw I ran across at Home Depot. It was being sold for about $10, so I figured I would give it a try. Usually, the Fiskars saws available on the market are the ones with the sliding blade, and not the folding model you see here. I tried to search for it online later on, and was only able to find it in a few places. It does not appear to be a common model. You can see it here and here.

Specifications:
Overall Length: 10 inches
Blade Length: 8 inches
Weight: 7 oz
Cost: $15.00 (can be found for anywhere from $10 to $25)

In design the Fiskars saw resembles the Bahco Laplander. You can see the two of them here.

The Fiskars is longer by about an inch, both in overall and blade length. The blade of the Fiskars saw appears to be made by Sierra Saw for this particular Fiskars model. The tooth pattern of the two saws is very similar. I am not sure about alignment or specific tooth design, but the size of the teeth looks about the same.

In terms of performance, I could not detect much of a difference between the Fiskars saw and the Bahco Laplander. I expected that the longer blade of the Fiskars would give it an advantage, but I could not see any. Maybe in a different type of wood, the difference would be more noticeable.

The handle of the Fiskars PowerTooth saw is comfortable, and the added length allows for more leverage to be applied with both hands if necessary. The blade locks when both opened and closed just like on the Bahco Laplander. The only problem with the handle was the locking/release button itself. Unlike on the Bahco Laplander, where it is placed on the side of the handle, the button on the Fiskars saw is placed on top. Because of that , when one chokes up on the handle, it is very likely that the release button will be pressed. I found that to be rather annoying.

Other than that one design issue, I found the saw to be very serviceable. For the $10 I paid for it, it turned out to be a solid and well performing tool. It is nothing that would change saw design, or win any awards, but will do just fine for a backpacking saw. If you can find it for a low price, you may want to give it a try. I would not spend $25 or more on it. For that price I would just get a Kershaw or Bahco Laplander.