Sail Palm

[kaelln]

Our friend Ringulf has mentioned something called a "sail palm" several times now, and having no idea what that was, I went looking, and found this excellent article on how to make one for yourself:

http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/08/how ... /index.htm

Enjoy!

[Ringulf]

Wow Kealin that is a great article! I have never made my own sail palms.
I have mine, I have been using for many years and my Dad's and my Grandfather's, though due to the fact that they get very set to the user, mine is the only one I ever use.
I need to make a new one for my left hand so that I can work the saddle stitching. This article will help me do that, as lefty ones are very hard to come by. This is a picture of my rig:

I just made a buch of those bow stringers for my kids and their signifigants, I need to make another for myself but I am in the bad habit of just using the stepthrough methoed even though it torcs the bow, hard to be strong and lazy!


Palm, wax and sail needles along with some other of my sundries.



And yes a JoAnn's cupon found it's way into the pic!

[Menelgor]

Wow, this would make gambeson sewing so much easier!
Thank you!

[kaelln]

Here's another page with a simpler sailmaker's palm.

http://duckworksmagazine.com/04/s/colum ... /index.cfm

It's about halfway down the page, and all you need for this one is a small rectangle of leather and a bit of metal. It occurs to me that the bowl of a tablespoon would work. This page is referenced on the original page, but I didn't really understand the simplicity and beauty of this design until I actually clicked on the link and read the page.

[Eledhwen]

I always knew these as stitching palms. I've used one for twenty years or so now; I saw one when I was young at Mystic Seaport and asked him about it. Years later, after impaling myself a number of times while sewing heavy leathers I got one at a tack and harness shop. Life has been much simpler since. Did my hands a fine favor.

Eledhwen

[Ringulf]

If you do use a simple spoon or other dished piece of metal, make sure you punch the dimples into the surface. These help catch the back of the needle by the eye where all of the force is being applied.

Use the thumb and forefinger to hold the needle about a third of the way back from the tip, pulling the back of the needle tight up against the dish to firmly seat it. This guides the piont and the palm pushes the needle through the material.

However!

Do be careful to make sure the needle back is firmly set against the dish and try to always make sure that the dish stays at right angles when pushing through the material at all angles of the push, or you will have the back of the needle come unseated and end up like Eledwhen has mentioned, burried in the soft fleshy heel of your palm. (please learn the easy way and believe me on this, it is a rather painfull lesson and one I have not even fully learned!)

[kaelln]

Well, that's what I thought until I actually read the copy. You don't need dimples with the new,simpler design I posted. The metal is glued to the leather, you push through from the leather side, and the leather acts as the dimple! The leather actually holds the needle in place, keeping it from slipping. Check out the actual link:

http://duckworksmagazine.com/04/s/colum ... /index.cfm

The author got the design from a saddlemaker, who presumably knew his business! The author says it's much better than the commercial ones. However, being who I am, I am working on a much more complicated one!

[Ringulf]

Kealin I stand corrected!
After reading the little paragraph he has on it, I see exactly what he is trying to do. It is a very simple easy tool and one that an accomplished rigger might want to switch to to save time and size in his rigging kit or to use now and then.

The old fashion ones with the entire strap going around the back might be better if you are spending long hours rigging or doing other tasks that taking the palm off to achieve would be time consuming and repetitious.

It seems to me though unless you are doing large quantities or comercial rigging, that using the strap to keep it secure would not be needed. The other thing I like about this little guy, is that the leather holds the butt or back end of the needle firm, so no slippage.

A very nice little tool, easy to make, cheep and effective.