If you string as many traditional pockets as
I do (and for the sake of my business, I
hope you don’t) then at some point you
get fed up at what you have to pay for the
leather strips. Quickly that feeling boils
over into rage and fortunately for me, it
found a creative outlet. I started seeking
out pieces of leather wherever I could
think of. I went to craft stores and bought
scrap bags and salvaged what I could. I was
saving money but there wasn’t any
consistency and I had a lot of waste. I
knew there had to be a better way.
I found a saddle/tack shop for horses and talked to their leather guy
for a while. He had a cool workshop with old and well used tools
everywhere and seemed to look like who I needed to talk to. He
spent some time explaining to me the different cuts from the
cowhide (and that I should use cowhide) and how to trim it down to
useable sizes. He walked me through the tools he would use and how
to treat the leather to help preserve it. There’s no sense keeping this
to myself so here’s a guide that can work for someone like me or just
a new stringer coming up in the world. You don’t have to buy the big
pieces that I do, it just helps reduce the cost even further.
I learned that I should be using leather cut from the shoulders of the
cow. Shoulders are commonly sold by the DOUBLE or SINGLE
shoulder and the double’s will be about 9-10 square feet while the
single’s are around 4.5-5 square feet. A single shoulder is great for
starting out; you can do the math on how many ¼” x 28” strips you
can get out of 5 square feet. When you figure that most leather
strips are sold for up to $1.99 each, you would only get around 1520 of them for the price of a single shoulder of cowhide. Again, you
do the math.
The next aspect I learned about was that leather is measured in
weight. The definition I have written down is “Weight = the
thickness of leather in ounces where one ounce equals 1/64” in
thickness.” So since I like using the thicker 9 ounce leather, I’m
going to assume it’s 9/64” thick. Precut leathers sold in lax shops are
8 ounce. This is fine but they are still at the mercy of Mother Nature.
Now that we know what kind of leather to get, it’s time to start
cutting.
The standard width for lacrosse
leathers is ¼” and I like to cut mine
about 28” long. You could cut them
shorter but I like to have extra just in
case. In addition to using thicker
leather, I also cut the strips wider,
sometimes going up to an inch! I’ve
found that pairing two wide leathers
with two more narrow leathers creates
a lot of hold in the pocket without
adding any extra whip at the release.
In addition to enhanced performance,
it looks really cool
Before we go cutting our strips, we need to look
at our piece of leather and see how we can get
the most out of it. If you can cut it into halves or
thirds, that will make it easier to work with. For
this I use a heavy duty pair of scissors and a
wheel/rolling knife. Once you have a smaller
portion to work with, you’re ready to learn how
to use the Strip Cutter.
The strip cutter is an old hand held tool that I assumed would have
become incredibly modernized. This is not the case. My brand new strip
cutter is identical to the ancient one I saw in the leather workshop
except it’s new. The tool allows you to adjust widths and thickness and
secure the settings so you can consistently cut the same size strip.
I start by feeding the leather sheet into the tool and adjust the
screw to lock in the thickness. Once that is dialed in, it’s time to
set the width. Loosen the top screw and slide the cutting part so
that the correct amount of blade is exposed. Once it looks correct,
tighten the top screw and you’re ready to go!
Push the leather piece through the cutting area until an inch or so of
the freshly cut strip is exposed. Now you want to pull the strip and
keep cutting.
Pull from the leather strip away from the tool, don’t pull with the
tool. Be sure to keep the uncut portion firmly against the tool handle
to ensure an even cut each time. If your leather piece has an uneven
or rough edge, cut a few strips to even it out before you start cutting
your usable strips.
After your leather strips are cut, you may need to treat them with a
blend of oils to help keep them functioning in bad weather. There are
several oils you can buy off the shelf(like Neat’s Foot Oil) or create your
own blends like I do. Get some oil on a rag and rub it over the strips.
Depending on how much oil you use, you will need to allow it to hang
and get absorbed. This process will vary depending on oils chosen,
amounts used and leather thickness.
Once your oil has been absorbed, I like to wipe them down with a
paper towel before I cut my slit in one end. Most leathers sold in
stores will have two slits and I’m not a fan of this because it can add
too much whip. I leave at least 2.5” of leather on the end before I
make my cut. I use the template I carved into my desk to help line
everything up and keep things uniform.
After marking the ¾” space, I use the utility knife or rolling knife and
lightly start cutting a line. Once the blade goes all the way through,
pull the leather across the blade in both directions to make the slit
¾” long. For wider leathers, I make a longer slit.
If you’ve made it this far, you’re ready to start stringing your own
head. Don’t be afraid to be creative and try something you haven’t
seen before. Most importantly, don’t be afraid to make mistakes. A lot
of my most valuable lessons came from making really big mistakes.