I'm making some arm guards and wanted to know where you leather guys get lace hooks and how do you attaché them?

I buy all that kind of stuff at Tandy leather and everything you ever want to know about leather working is on YouTube.

Thank you!

I carve mine out of deer antler using a Dremel tool.

Darren

I get mine from Tandy, but the rivets they sell for them are a tad weak and a bit small in diameter. I've had a couple of them come loose.

How many do you need I may have some extra I could send.Kip

When I did my 1st one I found a cobbler to attach the hooks. I used rawhide lace.

Now I use antler buttons and I attach them with rawhide and use stretch cord.

Longbowman,
To properly set the lace hooks, you need to get press with the proper dies. They can be set by hand, but it still requires a bottom die of sorts so the hook isn't bent. The presses can run any where from $200.00 to $800.00, depending on what you can find. The best place to find a press and the hooks is from the guy who supplies the shoe cobblers.
Antler buttons look cool, and they are very traditional looking, but due the nature of all the stuff leather can do when exposed to various elements, they usually don't last as long as an armguard should.
Thanks,

I had some buttons from an old German jacket and wish I could find a source for some more. These buttons were turned from antler, but with the "grain" of the antler running parallel to the surface rather than perpendicular. If the button is simply sliced from a tine, the pithy center is not strong enough to keep the stitches from pulling through. With the button cut or turned from a flat slab of antler, you get all the character of the antler on the surface instead of just at the edges and the center is solid.

Anybody know of someone making these, as I don't own a lathe (yet)? I guess I could cut some from a knife handle slab of antler and then file them round.

Thank you all for your help!

QuoteOriginally posted by Bladepeek:
I had some buttons from an old German jacket and wish I could find a source for some more. These buttons were turned from antler, but with the "grain" of the antler running parallel to the surface rather than perpendicular. If the button is simply sliced from a tine, the pithy center is not strong enough to keep the stitches from pulling through. With the button cut or turned from a flat slab of antler, you get all the character of the antler on the surface instead of just at the edges and the center is solid.

Anybody know of someone making these, as I don't own a lathe (yet)? I guess I could cut some from a knife handle slab of antler and then file them round.

You should be able to cut them with a hole saw or a plug cutter rather than needing a lathe. Might have to do a bit of sanding on the edges.

I think most hole saws have a drill in the center. I don't want a large hole in the center - just two small ones to sew it on. A plug cutter should work, though. I'm going to look into it and If I get a method to work for me, I'll post some pics. I think they look cool on an arm guard.

Thanks Alan. My apologies to longbowman for hijacking a thread.