About A Bag II: Hedeby Bag Refit

When the handle of my Hedeby bag broke at its first event, someone told me that back in the day, people wouldn't necessarily replace things when they broke, but repair them instead, in order to save resources and time and work - he cited several examples of repaired and patched wooden items that he'd seen in his studies.  The bag would have a story, he said, a life of its own, and he assured me I'd get A&S brownie points if I made period-appropriate repairs.

What I really wanted to do was replace the handles entirely, and do a better job at creating them in the first place.  Sadly, my efforts failed, and the new wood I was working with didn't survive the creation process - and I couldn't afford to get new wood to try a second replacement.

So:  repairs it is!  I don't know anything about period repair techniques, but I did the best I could with what I had:

The first step was to un-tape the broken handle and use a solvent (WD40) on a cotton swab to get the sticky residue off the wood.

By the way, you can click on these pics to make them bigger, to see detail.

Then I used a small paintbrush to apply a thin layer of wood glue to the broken edges, and pushed them back together again. I used clamps to hold it together while it dried, with scrap wood blocks to help keep even pressure on the cracks.

Next I made a tiny little scrap of wood to use at a patch, which I glued over the crack.  The patch is about 1.5" long x 1/2" wide x 2mm thick.  I'm hoping this will help hold the crack together.

I used a cotton swab to stain the patch to match the rest of handle and to fill in around the broken edges (Minwax's Jacobean, to match the original stain); and also to apply a tiny bit of polyurethane over the areas to seal them.

There! Two bag handles, ready to be pressed into service once more.  (The repaired handle is in the front;  you can see the original repairs to left side of the rear handle).

All that was left was to sew the handles back onto the bag. I used  embroidery floss to whip stitch the handles onto the bag, which is how I affixed them the first time.The repaired handle is in the back here.











I'm nervous about the strength of this repair - I've never done a repair like this, and the wood is so thin and weak to begin with, I just don't know if it'll hold or not.  I mean, it should: the original repair to the side of the other handle has held up just fine.  The way the bag opens puts a little pressure on the center of the front handle, but that one's held up just fine over the years - and I put the broken one in the back.   The broken handle broke because of a sharp blow, which, with any luck, won't happen again. Anyway, it's finished, and we'll see how it works at the upcoming event.

Have I mentioned that I ADORE this bag?  Hearts.  

What's Next? 

At the moment I'm painting a wooden chest, and I have a parasol I'd like to recover soon, too.