Boot leather scrap for sheaths

wall e

wall e

Well-Known Member
I know many on here started this trade with shallow or empty pockets as I am, what are the experts opine for using whats affordable at the moment for me to make sheaths?
Due to having to buy the tools to make the sheaths I am scrounging to get what I can. There is a boot maker two businesses away from my second job that sells scrap for 5 bucks a pound (give or take a quarter lb usually they give. Lol)
 
Scrap leather is fine for making sheathes. You will probably have to scrounge for pieces large enough to make one though. My guess is they are all small pieces. Doing what we can with what we have is part of the knife making fun. I'd love to have more tools and an endless supply of money, but it just isnt the way it is. I make a lot of the tools and jigs I use and I am always looking for any kind of scraps or discarded things I can use in the shop.
 
Thanks Lagrange. Most of these scraps are decent size. Here is the last pound I got. The black is folded in on all 4 sides 3 to 5 inches lon by 4in wide flaps

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There are a bunch of video's on you tube on how to make a sheath if you need some info/help
 
I know right? Lol been watching the teaching channel. Lol gotta get the tools. Just gotta sell knives so I can get the tools to make sheaths to go wih the knives I need tk sell. Oh the cycle of grind.
 
That is some nice heavy leather in the pic. It will make a fine sheath. Lucky you! Check out Ebay for used tools. Try NOT to buy the fist full of tools from china for $9.99. The steel is soft and the chrome will flake off. Don't ask how I know this. LOL! There are some really good deals on quality used tools.
 
Words of wisdom from the man who makes bargain choices like I do. Lol thanks will do slatroni
 
my first few sheaths were made from scrap packs I picked up at hobby lobby. I felt always limited by what you can do with scraps though. Get on Tandy's mailing lists. A couple of times a year they will do a sell on economy sides. Last year I picked up some 7 to 8 oz economy double shoulders for like $60. Eleven square feet has lasted me for quite a while. Just make sure it's veg tanned, you don't want chrome tanned.

Tracy also sells 12x12 leather for sheath making at a pretty decent price if you just wanted to do them one at a time. I think I'm going to go that route from now own because I've invested in kydex stuff and am trying to do as many kydex as I can. They're cheaper and easier in my opinion if someone isn't particularly worried about the sheath as much.

I picked up a vintage stitching wheel for like $8 on ebay to draw my holes, I already had an hook and loop sewing awl, I just use a knife and razor blade for cutting and shaping and you can use the grinder to edge instead of an edger. You won't get fancy leather sheaths this way, but for us on a budget, you can make a good quality heavy duty sheath that will do it's job for many years.
 
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If you are getting lots like that for $5 a lb, grab me some, I'd love to get started on some sheaths myself.
 
Walt, Dont let anybody convince you that you need top of the line tools and expensive machines to make good sheaths. As with all tools buy the best you can AFFORD. Stress on the word "afford"

I've watched too many up and comers go out and buy up all the expensive custom tools and machines only to find that they dont need them.

The leather is where you want to be careful, it looks like your on the right track, the leather is where the line ends. A good knife in a bad sheath is dangerous. A good friend of mine almost died when the knife he was wearing fell out of the sheath during a fall and ended up nearly killing him. He then decided my prices weren't so high after all :what!:

Tools dont make the craftsman, technique and knowledge do. Practice, learn, and listen to the older makers. Knowledge is power, I know cliche but its true.
 
N.N. thanks for the tip on the types, companies and sales. Bodam will get ahold of you soon leatherman I am looking at just getting what I know Ill need to make a plain simple sheath.
 
Yes, boot leather will make a sheath, but it is chrome tanned leather which will promote rust. If that matters to you. Vegetable tanned carving leather does not promote rust, and if oiled will retard rust formation.
 
Here's a sheath made entirely from one boot...
I've made them from saddle pieces, nail aprons, coats..ect..





This one made from a rawhide dog chew...



All ya need is desire, everything else is laying around...
 
http://www.tandyleatherfactory.com/en-usd/9052-72.aspx?tcd=14-L07TEM

^this is pretty good stuff for not much and can probably last you for 15 sheaths. That about $6 or $7 a sheath before shipping. I've found better deals than that though getting the economy stuff. The economy sides are not quite as nice with marks and such, but after dying it, you can't see most of that anyway.

I've never tried kydex and leather together. I really don't see the point unless you just want it though. I fold the leather tight without the blade in it. It offers excellent retention. I do tell customers that they shouldn't store it in the sheath or that retention will loosen. I just do kydex as a simpler, quicker, less worry, more cost effective alternative. It takes me about an hour to make a kydex sheath. A normal leather sheath without anything extra done to it is close to 4 hours. If people aren't going to care for it like they should, I explain that the kydex might be a better hassle free option for a user. That and I hate stitching leather. Tedious, poking myself with the sharp awl, time consuming, leather work is the bane of my knifemaking world, a necessary evil.
 
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Ok N.N. Thanks for the tandy link. The kydex was an idea just to try a different retention idea. I felt that kydex would look funny with an antler handle knife. Have you tried drilling the leather instead of using the awl? Have yet to make a complete sheath due to missing tools to make one properly. Am going to use the improvised tools Ive fou d.
 
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