Classic & Vintage - Deerskin (Deer Hide) bar wrap

Figured since this is on an '83 Moto, it belongs here. Should go well with an old leather saddle coming by way of Ebay soon.

My Grandfather had a pile of trimmings left over after making gloves, so I stitched together strips and wrapped my new Nash Stash bars. I hould have made them just a bit longer so as to make the wrap fatter, which I'll do later this week. No adhesive. Stretches wonderfully, smells great (wonder what it'll smell like after this summer...)

and, if you get really hard up, it's edible! (sorta...)

Looks good! Are you planning on selling th bar wrap???

I have enough to make more, so I guess if anyone wanted some - sure, I'd sell it. PM if interested.

Nice job! Those bars look great.

What's buckskin like when it gets wet; does it tacky, or just stay the same? I know that goatskin gets slightly tacky when it's wet, but it smells like goats.

What did you use to sew the scraps together? I know that buckskin very soft, but I don't know if a household sewing machine would do the job.

Gramps has an old leather stitcher - basically an awl with a sewing machine-type needle. Works great. Place the work on a 2x4, punch thru the 2 layers, then move the work over a drilled hole to punch through. Pulling back opens a loop, string thru the loop, tighten, and you have a good lock stitch.

The bar is 25.4, and certainly feels narrow - the deerskin stretches easily and gets quite thin, so I'll need to add some length to get more cushion / width. Gramps says it'll loosen slightly when wet, and then tighten as it dries. After I wrap it I might drench it on purpose, just to see.

Next year get some antlers and make handlebars. :D

I have a little 3" tall souvenir of a stag's head - perfect size for a head badge...10 pointer, too!

Sounds like you have a cool Grandpa. Learn all you can from him or that knowledge will be gone.

Nice bar wrap by the way!

~jg

I have a little 3" tall souvenir of a stag's head - perfect size for a head badge...10 pointer, too!
If the green paint on the frame was slightly darker, then I think that the label from a tiny, airline-sized bottle of Jägermeister would make a perfect headbadge.


Next year get some antlers and make handlebars.:D
If you had some antler to work with, then you could make scales for your shifters (like the handle scales on a full-tang knife).

My Gramps was a deer hunter, too (we called him PaPooh cause he was Greek) and he always had the hides tanned after he returned from the hunt and did the butchering. Thing I recall was how durable Deerskin is, it's counter-intuitive cause it's usually so soft and stretchy. But many glovemakers will tell you that Deer and Elk leather wears like iron. I always wondered why "buckskin" usually means it's rough-out (suede finished on the outside) and not that it's just made from a buck as opposed to a doe...The tanner he used is no longer in business, due to EPA laws, but I think they "chrome-tanned" his deer hides and the result was fairly water resistant leather. But, it was hell on the water quality of the Bay!

....thinking about going all-out deer rig now....Like the Jager idea.

Uh-oh -- I smell an order for Jaegermeister decals coming...

:D

....thinking about going all-out deer rig now....Like the Jager idea.

I have a honey colored Brooks saddle on the Lemond. The deerskin bar wrap would look great and match the saddle. BTW, I am the king of thread killers! :D

Thing I recall was how durable Deerskin is, it's counter-intuitive cause it's usually so soft and stretchy.

Soft?
Strechy?
Durable?
Water-resistant?

Sounds like the perfect alternative material to cover a Brooks saddle frame with...

-Kurt