Dog Collar

Directions

1. Cut a long strap of leather that is the width you want. For this collar, I made it with a 1” wide strap.
2. To determine the length of leather to cut, take the dog’s neck measurement and add about 10”. You can always cut the leather short, but you can never add extra leather.
3. Bevel the edges and make them nice and rounded.
4. Take a ruler and add a mark on the flesh side at 7” from one end. This will be the buckle end of the collar.
5. Using a skiving tool or leather splitter, remove about half the thickness of the leather from the 7” mark to the end of the buckle side.
6. Use the round end punch to round off right at the end of the buckle side.
7. On the grain side, measure in 3.5” and make a tiny mark.
8. Take the 1” oblong punch and center it on that mark. Using a mallet, give it a few firm whacks, making sure it punches it all the way through.
9. Next use the #02 round drive punch and punch the holes on the buckle side as shown in the pattern.
10. For the tail end, follow the instructions on the template and line up the second hole at the dog’s exact neck size. Mark the leather at the end of the template and use the point end punch to cut off the excess. Bevel the tail end.
11. Follow the instructions on the template for the holes for the conchos.
12. At this point you can either leave the leather as veg-tan or dye the leather. For this collar, I used the Bordeaux Eco-Flo Water Stain. Once the leather is dry, buff it with a soft cloth and apply a leather conditioner.
13. Add the buckle and rivets. Weave the punched leather through the buckle and fold the tail underneath. Set the first rivet. Slide the strap loop onto the leather and add the second rivet. Do the same with the D-ring and last rivet.
14. Add the conchos using a screwdriver, and Viola! Your concho dog collar is finished!