Looking to construct a handful of singlestick baskets for a club I'm running. I've found a couple of different patterns I'm going to start experimenting with, and I have a decent idea of how to shape, stitch, and harden the leather for the basket, but I still have a bunch of other questions relating to the project.

How thick should the leather be? I know that vegetable-tanned leather is desirable (soaking/boiling and wax-hardening works best on veg-tan, as I've been told), but the thickness in my handful of scraps don't at all cut it, in terms of protective potential. This stuff is thin.

Can anyone make sense of this pattern? Some of it seems super straightforward, but a lot of information seems to be missing. Like what are those tabs on the ends for? Where do the holes for the stick go? What is that weird ancillary tab for?

In terms of shaping and hardening, what's the best order to do it in? Stitch the hilt together with soft leather, then soak/boil, then wax harden? Soak/boil, then stitch, then wax? I'd just like to narrow it down to the best process so I don't waste a lot of time and effort.

Thanks for any input.