Let me tell you the whole story: After six weeks I found myself sitting outside Linden Police station, room A05,
with my license card in my hand slowly
checking every detail before I could crack
a smile and breathe a sigh of relief. I had
just received my license for Musgrave
375 H&H Deluxe - 22 inch barrel, deluxe
stock, Winchester style safety topped
with a Zeiss Duralyt telescopic sight. As
with these journeys the acquisition of the
rifle is just the first step in the process
and I was now looking for a rifle sling
that would do justice to the rifle and
compliment the craftsmanship that is
synonymous with Musgrave Rifles.
It was purely by chance that I stumbled
across the Facebook page of NAVA
LEATHER and the uniqueness and
craftsmanship of their rifle slings appealed
to me. NAVA LEATHER is owned by Didi
Otto and is based in Standerton.
Didi’s creativity comes from her parents.
Art, leather work and woodwork has
always been a part of her life and her
mother Sonja van Dyk is an accomplished
artist painting with oils on canvas. Didi’s entry into the
Leather industry did not come from the
unique rifle slings that she produces but
in the form of dog collars. She got her first
Whippet (a medium sight hound) four
years ago and heard about these beautiful
leather collars that you could get for
them. Her Whippet won a photographic
competition and the prize was a
handcrafted leather collar from Spain and
since then Didi has not looked back she
now exports these collars overseas. Nava
is Hebrew for Beautiful or pleasant and
these words aptly describe the product she
produces.
Rifle sling manufacturing came about
when Didi’s husband inherited a Lyttelton
Musgrave .308 Winchester and he needed
a new sling. She tackled the task with the
same level of creativity and her “never
compromise on quality” attitude has led
to her rifle slings becoming an extension
of her product offering. Didi sources
the finest first grade leather from Oasis
Tannery and apart from the laser engraved
logo’s the entire sling is handmade. From
cutting the veg leather and the treatment
thereof with special oils as Didi puts it
“you have to remember you are working
with skin and you have to treat it as such”,
stamping, tooling, staining and using the
traditional hand saddle stitching method
with two needles to assemble the sling,
puts the production time per sling at 5 to
10 days.
The braiding is Cobra style and is
unique to NAVA rifles slings and is seen as
their signature item. The manufacturing
process is very interesting:
In (fig1) you see the template that will be emailed to you where you can layout your sling. For my purpose I left the
creative side up to Didi and on a blank she sets up the type for the stamping
and that allows her to work out the measurements before cutting starts.
In (fig2)
the sling is cut out of the veg leather.
In (fig3 and Fig 4) the edging is
completed and the stitching holes are prepared.
In (fig 6 and fig 7) the
stamping is done and the riempies are cut.
In (fig.8 and 9) the riempies are
stained and the logo is mapped for laser engraving.
In (fig.10) the staining is
done it is important here that you send her a picture of your rifle stock this
allows her to match the colour of the sling to the colour of your stock.
In
(fig. 11) the Cobra braid is completed.
In (fig.12) the laser engraved logo is
saddle stitched to the sling and the saddle stitching process is depicted in (fig.13)
in (fig .14) you get the full effect of the braiding.
As mentioned earlier the process takes 5 to 10 days depending on what your requirements are and this allows Didi the time
to ensure that you are shipped a top quality affordable unique creation. Didi
Otto can be contacted on email: navaleather@gmail.com
or through her Facebook page: www.facebook.com/NAVAleather.com.
Greetings to all GearTester friends in Germany! All the best from South Africa, Andrew!