A clutch leather may be cut from a wide piece of leather belting of uniform thickness, usually 1/4 inch. If the piece chosen is too thick, it will be impossible to release the clutch fully. Take off the old clutch leather, lay it out flat, and use it as a pattern for the new leather. (See Fig. 331.) As the leather will stretch somewhat, it is not essential to have the new leather curve as much as the old one. Cut the new leather about 1/2 inch short, and punch and countersink holes in its ends for the rivets, whose heads should be below the surface of the leather. Soak the new leather in water until it is thoroughly soft. Stretch it over the clutch, and put temporary rivets in the ends. Mark the central rivet hole, remove from the clutch, and punch that hole. Put the leather on the clutch again with temporary rivets, and punch and mark the remaining holes. When all have been punched and countersunk, rivet the leather in place. For this purpose it is necessary to have a bar whose end diameter is about the diameter of the rivet heads. This bar is used as an anvil against the rivet heads. Two men are necessary, and the whole job, after the leather has been taken out of the water must be done quickly, else the leather will shrink so that it will not go on.

Fig. 331 - Putting on a new leather.