Making of 'Conan the Destroyer' Headband

[Leatherworker]

So its getting tricky now. We have to sew in the borders. We have to stitch everything in shape – no way to do this on a flat surface! Without wetting the leather and modeling the band in its final shape you will end up with tons of folds. The band will be much to massiv to bend it strongly aferwards ...

A sewing clamp like the one I use to hold everything in place helps – but requires to protect the leather of the borders from the nailheads ...

 

[nick daring]

 

[Leatherworker]

Phew ... several hours later and fingers hurting the thing starts to take shape ...

Time to start with the nose piece section ...

 

[Leatherworker]

The parts adjusted prior assembly ...

There is a small leather wedge to fill the hight difference. The 1mm steel spring giving strength to the nose piece was carefully bend in the appropriate shape (potentially a thinner, much easier to handle brass plate would also do the job, but we want barbarian armour ). The main nose part is a double layer of 4,1 mm (i.e. 8,2mm!) leather consistent with the original ...

 

[Leatherworker]

All 5 layers in place ...

Borders do not yet perfectly overlap. Here some fine tuning is necessary. Here again comparison shots ...

Now we are facing the most difficult steps. To make it perfectly durable the final stitching has to go through the whole construction. We are talking about 1-1,5 cm of leather consisting of many different flexible layers and different orientations. In particular poking the seam holes strainght will be a challenge. Another big problem that came up during my first trials with attaching the nails is that they tend to bend and do not enter straight or interfere with the seam holes that are more or less located at the same positions. Since we are working very close to the borders and the nails also poke into the headband itself, it can easily happen that they are comming out at the borders. Then everything would be ruined! At this stage – I don't even want to think about it ...

 

[OzReturner]

Looking great! Can't wait to see end result!

 

[Leatherworker]

Rock solid! Everything sewed together, nails attatched and all open edges sealed with Gum Tragacanth ...

It is not a helmet but I rate this to provide quite some protection. Now the fun part starts. Trimming to old and final surface treatments ...

We are almost there ...

Comparison shows coloring, dimensions etc. are ok. The nailsheads in the original seem a little bit more domed – maybe one thing to optimize in the future, when I am able to find suited nails ...

Last thing on the list is now to attach a suede inlay that covers the open edges of the french binding and make the headband more comfortable – the thing is quite stiff ...

 

[Leatherworker]

Suede and a foam layer prepared ...

Both glued into the headband ...

We have to be aware that usually such an inlay has to be sewn or rivet in place. This will not last to eternity in particular when the band is used a lot and gets bended often. But there is no other option, apart from very small nails, without changing the original look. Looking at this picture I feel that I should have lined the nose piece also ...

 

[Leatherworker]

I think I am done. Final pictures of this project ...

Hope you enjoyed the show. I will make the "barbarian" version also in another thread (different coloring, modified nosepiece) ...

 

[OzReturner]

Outstanding work, love it!

 

[Leatherworker]

As announced, I have now also build the barbarian version. If anyone is interested you find some pictures here ('Conan the Barbarian' Headband) ...

 

[Storm]

Amazing built !!!

 

[Kypropguy]

Just now finding this absolutely amazing