Newbie Question???

DonL

DonL

Well-Known Member
I just finished my first sheath ever. A simple pouch sheath made for a fixed blade Case Commanche I've had for a long time. I experimented quite a bit while making it and it shows. It's pretty crude but I wasn't going for perfection on this sheath.

My question is, the sheath is still somewhat soft. I have several sheaths from custom knife makers and their leather is hard and the knife "pops" into place. How do you get the leather stiff?
 
Vegetable tanned leather should naturally be fairly stiff. You wet it and mold it to your knife and when it dries it should stiffen and hold it's shape.

Are you by chance using chrome tanned leather? That is often softer and used for furniture and other applications. However, it contains chemicals that WILL eat up a knife blade.
 
Mike Carter said:
Vegetable tanned leather should naturally be fairly stiff. You wet it and mold it to your knife and when it dries it should stiffen and hold it's shape.

Are you by chance using chrome tanned leather? That is often softer and used for furniture and other applications. However, it contains chemicals that WILL eat up a knife blade.
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To be honest, I have no idea how it was tanned. It came out of the big scrap bags that Hobby Lobby sells, which is probably from Tandy by the looks of it. I have some 8-9 oz leather I bought for making sheaths, but I wanted to practice on scrap before using the good stuff! I guess I'd better use the good stuff on the next one and see what I get...
 
I've seen those Hobby Lobby leather packs and most of them are that odd in between leather, its chrome tanned then veggie tanned to give it some body. It makes for a strange feeling leather both dry and wet. I have some of it from a supplier (not to be named) that stuck in in a roll I bought with trust that it was all vegetable tanned leather. Well, technically it was.

Tandy sells odd lots, and pieces in a bin at the front of my store, I assume they all do this, but if you dont see it I'd ask. Its a sure fire way to make sure you are getting good leather right off the bat.
 
Leatherman, you're probably right about the tanning. It's not super soft like furniture leather, but it's not as rigid as the side I bought off of my local Tandy store. I figured that the stuff in the bag would be good to practice on. Afterall, it was only five bucks! My bad :(

I think I'll redo the sheath from the side I bought at the Tandy store (8-9oz).
 
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