We are going to keep this relatively simple by making our own toggles and attaching them with leather looped through the wool (and reinforced with more leather on the backside)

Why choose toggles over buttons, lacing, clasps, etc?
- Button holes use a lot of thread, they wear out and can't be replaced easily, buttons are weak by their design.
- Metal clasps are cold to the fingers, are not field replaceable, and are hard to find (they look cool though).
- Lacing is easy to replace, requires some manner of grommet to facilitate tightening, Isn't as adjustable for airflow.
- Velcro? Wears out quickly, sounds like you're ripping the feathers out of a young chicken, isn't very colorful.
- Zippers are easy to implement, easy to break, aren't replaceable on the spot, can be cold (metal),
- Snaps make good fasteners in many cases, but are prone to tearing out - similar to grommets. i.e.- they don't spread the strength over a wide enough area.



I made my toggles out of some leftover maple. Any hardwood will work. Trees native to your locale make a nice touch. I suppose the hardest wood we have in Cawlaradie is Pinion Pine. You can make the wood stronger/harder by soaking it in a liquid acrylic for 24 hrs. This stuff can be found at hardware stores for fixing rotten wood.
Other things you can use:
- Antler tips
- Antler pieces soaked in acrylic hardener
- Horn pieces (must be stabilized or water will cause flaking)
- Bone
- Leather
- Shell
- Synthetic like micarta, G10, Fiberglass, plastic, etc.

The dimensions must allow a hole to be drilled in the center (and leave enough on the sides to not be weak).
They can be round, square, triangular... pretty much any shape that you can slip a small noose around.



These are just small rectangular pieces with a small bevel on the ends, and a chamfer along the longer edges. Cut a whole bunch of them... you'll end up using them later. You can also sew a few into the body seams as spares!


Although maple is a pretty hard wood to begin with, i wanted to make it more durable under wet conditions. I soaked these in a small jar of Thompsons water sealer until they sank. Pull them out and let them dry for a couple of days.



The larger holes drilled in the center are smaller at the bottom. I also added a few smaller holes (not drilled all the way through) to be filled with glow-in-the-dark powder. The most reputable company on the internet is Glow Inc. This stuff never stops glowing. Ever. Get the 24-36 hr. stuff in powder or grain form.
You can decorate your buttons or leave them plain. A little creativity in this area goes along way. it's the first part of the jacket someone stares at.



This illustrations details:
- The pink strip at bottom is a leather backing reinforcement
- The larger green strip is the wool shell (liner and laminate would be inbetween the leather and wool)
- The grey curvy line is 8 oz. leather lacing
- Brown is the toggle
- Blue is bamboo skewer
- Black Dashed lines on the inside of the toggle showing angle hole through center

To make the hole tapered, i used a tapered dremel bit after drilling a regular 3/16" hole. If the hole is not large enough to fit 2 lacing ends through, use a sharp knife and make the entry area a little wider. The tighter your lacing is, before wedging the bamboo skewer in, the stronger the toggle will be. Don't get worried about precision too much. The hole can be bored out with a sharp knife or similar tool if you go slowly.



The glow powder is poured into the holes and then a carefully placed drop of Cyanacrylate (superglue) is placed on top to soak in and harden overnight.

 

While your toggles are drying, let's get our leather reinforcements made up.

- Decide how many toggles you want to have. 3-4 will work.
- Cut a few pieces of leather 3/4" x ~8"(dependent upon the length of your chestline)
- Punch holes corresponding to the layout of your toggle placement. The holes for the lacing should be about 3/16" apart and the diameter should be slightly smaller than the diameter of the lacing. If there's no resistance pulling the lacing through, then it's too large.
- Trim the ends of the leather with a nice rounded edge.
- Center to Center of your toggles should be about 2.25-2.5" from each other so that the toggles do not interfere with each other. but no further apart as to leave gaps in the chestline when closed.
- ....and cut some leather lacing in 4-5" lengths.

In some of the photos, throughout this guide, there are toggles on the pockets. Although i thought this was a good idea at first, i later came to reason that the pockets i designed did not warrant closure toggles. To be honest, they got in the way and caught on things. The pocket design used stays shut on it's own and holds 90% of what's in it... even when shaken upside down!



Now we want to lay out one side..

- Lay the leather reinforcement on the chestline leather flap we left on from our trim.
- Use your marker to transfer the holes to the leather chestline flap and punch the holes. Our lacing will be reinforced by 2 layers of leather for a total of 10-11oz. of thickness.
- Use your awl (heck, the bamboo skewers can work well for this) to pierce through the liner and wool. Wiggle, in a circular motion, as your going through and try to get the awl to pierce through BETWEEN wool yarns and NOT SPLIT an existing yarn.
- Place your leather reinforcement strip on the leather flap and push the leather lacing through, then pull from the wool side.

TIP:
If the leather lacing bends too much going through the hole...
- make the tip of the leather pointy by snipping an acute angle on the end, and push/pull it through.
- If you have big fingers like me, snip an acute angle on the end, dab a little superglue along 1/2" of the pointy end, let dry for a few minutes (or longer), and then push through. The hard ends will be cut off later anyway.

Now, we can match up the other side and do the same thing. Pay close attention to placement so that when your toggles are looped and closed, your loops meet your toggles nice and squarely (horizontally. not at different angles).



Should look something like this on the front. Notice the angles snipped on the ends of the leather? You may have to make them even more acute when we go to pull them through the wood toggles!

For the toggles on the collar I just used little round 1" leather reinforcement tabs . Make sure these do not interfere with the snaps.



Now we can pull the lacing through the smaller side of the tapered hole and set our bamboo tips for compression wedging. DO NOT cut any of the lacing extra yet.

- Dull the bamboo tips a little by swiping them a couple times on some rough concrete... lightly.
- Make sure your lacing is aligned vertically inside the hole.
- twist the bamboo skewer in between the lacing as far as you can without breaking the shaft.
- DO NOT break the bamboo off close to the hole ( we'll use scissors or dykes to do that), you can break it off leaving an inch or two.
- Using electricians pliers or Heavy-Duty Scissors, cut the remaining lacing and bamboo as close to the hole as possible. do this on all of your toggles.
- If there are big gaps in the hole where the bamboo and leather did not fill, Use a few more bamboo tips to fill them. You may need as many as 3 skewers per hole. Try to wedge the secondary skewers into the gaps without pushing the leather downward into the hole.
- When you've got all your holes filled and snipped ( shown above), put a drop or 2 of superglue on the ends of each filled hole and let dry completely (like we did for the glow-in-the-dark fills).

Using your trusty dremel or sanding block, you should smooth down the bamboo/leather glue impregnated lumps on the top of your toggles. Be careful not to damage the toggle going too fast!

Woohoo. We are so close...

It's time to condition the leather and...
Get schooled on Maintenance >

______________________
MENU:
Jackets and Pullovers
Hats and Headbands
Mittens
Bags and Cases
Sheaths and Knives
Miscellaneous
HOME
omnabashi@gmx.com