It took much longer for the paint to cure than I expected, as the slight grooves between the plywood face and veneer edge held accumulations that were thicker and took longer to oxidize. Once this was done, I tried to attach the leather to the spine with pitch glue. However, I was reluctant to keep the pitch glue melted with the heat gun for fear it would make the veneer edging delaminate. All this could be avoided if I could figure out how to make a solid wood spine, but in the end, I peeled off the pitch glue, reattached the leather with rubber cement and finally started drilling a few days ago.
The stitching is soft hemp twine from a craft store, which I drew back and forth over a block of beeswax to lubricate it and reduce fraying. I'm not sure exactly how much I used, but I spooled out about 24 feet more than necessary, which does make the stitching process tedious.
I spaced the stitch holes half an inch apart and marked them with a pen on the leather, then ran the gorytos under the drill press. The size of the drill bit is dependent on the thickness of the twine. In this case, a 3/32" bit was just right. I could lace the first running stitch by hand with care. After drilling, I scrubbed the sawdust off with a stiff nail brush.
When doubling the running stitch, I had to flatten the end of the twine and put it on a needle. As the stitch hole was now crowded with the first stitch, I occasionally had to draw the needle through with a pair of pliers, but this became less often necessary as my fingers got sticky with beeswax.
After completing the stitching, I tied the twine off a bunch of times and cut it with about two inches of excess.
The fit is a little more snug than I'd like; I think the string and tip of the bow should not rub against the spine at all, so an extra inch of leather would've been a good idea. This leather will stretch with time, but whether it will stretch enough is another question.
Anyway, the next step will be to make the belt attachments and then the cover.
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