Leather stitching pony

I’ve been buying knife blades and putting wood handles on them. I’ve made myself a few for shop use and as utility knives. They’ve also been quick and easy gifts for friends. As part of that I’ve been stitching simple leather sheaths. I’ve been enjoying it and I’m planning to do a few more leather projects. Up til now I’d been using a hand screw to hold the leather as I stitched. That works OK, but the thread wants to catch on the screws. So, I made myself a stitching pony. It goes in my face vise and holds the work at a good height for stitching.

Most of the ones I’ve seen on-line use a screw turned by a knob to clamp the work. I decided to try using this sliding clamp to add tension. I was thinking I’d use a mallet to tap it tight before putting it in the vise. I’ve tried it out and I think I get enough clamping pressure just by pulling it up by hand. If it doesn’t want to come loose I can just tap the bottom of the pony on the bench to knock it loose.

This was just some red oak and a little bit of soft maple. I decided to run an oak dowel through the joint at the bottom as reinforcement, since this basically a big clothes pin. I thinned out the middle section of the oak arms to give it a bit more flex, and to make a bit more space for bulkier items I might stitch.

I haven’t put any finish on it yet. I’m deciding whether I want to glue a little block on to capture the tension ring, or leave it removable. Once I make up my mind I’ll just wipe on some BLO/varnish mixture and probably rub a little wax on the inside of the tension ring to help it slide better.

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Also, my phone is doing some interesting color correction - in person the color matches the two warmer pictures.

Thanks for sharing this Ben!

Very cool solution for your needs. Love the creativity!