So I finished the hams. There was a lot of work in the stuffing and closing, perhaps half the total time, which surprised me. And they're not without their faults, but I think that they will serve me well.
The planer shavings work well. Because of the small, uniform size, I can continue to mold the shape as things shift around inside. You had mentioned the benefits of a slightly squarer ham. I think that I will be able to reform mine to whatever shape a projects requires, within reason.
Given all of the effort, I could have used a more robust fabric for the cover. The wool I have is fulled so it shed a little from the rough handling during the stuffing process. It will be fine long-term, but I tore the sewn tack through the cloth when I went fishing for the end of the opening of the skeleton layer. It may have been overstuffed and overstressed but it also appears that such a soft cloth is somewhat destroyed by all of the fine stitches at the tack. This was for the long ham where the seam is flatish (not on a corner as it is for the round ham) and difficult to sew without a curved needle. I used a baseball stitch again to close that seam and reinforced the area with a separate, hidden stitch. It should last longer than the cloth...
I am in no rush to make more hams at the moment but I would like to source some moleskin for future projects. No one is selling any in the US and I wonder if you have some suggestions from the UK. I have seen it from some cloth merchants for fancy prices... I am wondering if there are more utilitarian options.
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This was a great project. It catered to my current level of cloth mind, the inflated. I also really enjoy making my own tools.
Thanks for all the hard work.
Hams are looking fantastic Matthew, awesome job! I sourced moleskin from mood fabrics in NYC.
The website is very inconsistent, much better to visit the retail location. Ask for Elliot in the cotton section, great selection in colorways, only had 2yards of heavyweight (which I grabbed ; ). Allways call in advance and be pretty detailed in what you want.
If you're interested maybe they can mail it to you, dosen't hurt to ask.