novice leatherworker needs adult supervision

[Curt Wommack]

Hi all,

I am working on a project that I think is going to require a leather sheath and I'm not sure what my best approach should be. The knife is fairly large and has a very dramatic raised swedge and guard. I hope some of you veterans will take a look and offer a bit of advice on how to attack this sheath design.

Here's a pic of the knife in its current state. I thought I should make the sheath before final polish just in case.

The blade is roughly 6.5" and the overall knife is just over 12.5"

I have some veg tanned 9 oz for the body of the sheath and 4 oz to use for building up the welt. I also have some black kidskin leather I would like to use as a liner. I don't think a pouch type sheath is a good idea but I don't have enough experience to know if my instincts are right.

Another concern is how to finish the sheath. The G10 is supposed to be black and red but the red is so faint that it really looks sort of bloody brown. It does have a red liner. I thought about simple black with red stitches would look good but I am second guessing myself. Maybe dying it red and antiquing it is the way to go. Here's another pic showing the layers in the G10.

I know there are some excellent sheath makers that look at this site, and I hope some of you are willing to share some of your wisdom. I appreciate any advice you may have to offer.

 

[roughcountry]

I would use a pretty heavy welt on top. The raised swedge will most likely wear on the welt. Maybe try wet forming a few scrapes and see how it feels to you. The guard may not be a problem at all.
I don't know anything about Kydex but that might be a way to go.
Let us know what you come up with.

 

[Curt Wommack]

Thanks RC!
I plan to do some experiments this weekend to see what I can do. I have been working on a template I want to try but I may have to do a little trial and error to get it right. I also want to try some finishes on some scrap to see how they look.

As for Kydex, it would be pretty easy to do but this knife is too nice. I think the knife and the sheath should be worthy of each other. Besides, leather just feels good!

 

[Leatherface]

you CAN use a plastic welt on the front of the sheath instead oif leather...just get some plastic that is as thick as you want the welt to be and go from there...works like a charm

 

[Leatherface]

ok let me be slightly more cleear

mmmmm clear

anywho

What I has done with blades like that, is to take a thick piece of plastic cutting board material that is the same color as the sheath (or close) and use it as a welt instead of a stacked piece of leather...all ya gotta do once you drill the holes is to break the burr on the inside of the holes to lessen the chance of the thread cutting

that make more sense?

and

If you felling particularly frisky, you can carve the edges of the plastic similar to how you would do the knives...

 

[Josh Dabney]

Curt,

If I were sheathing that knife I go with a butterfly design. This way the sheath's welt would protect the entire edge and ALSO cover the swedge area. You never know down the road someone may just decide they want that swedge sharpened.

As I was taught the #1 job of the sheath is to PROTECT the person wearing it so I'd be more comfortable with a welt over that swedge rather than just the folded over body if going with a true pouch style design.

You've definately got options for retension with that knife design
1- Sam browne stud or snap with keeper strap part of the sheath.
2- Sam Browne stud with a seperate keeper strap
3- Make the sheath deep and mold the "face" of the sheath body into the "finger guard" area

Take care- Josh

 

[Justin King]

I would consider going totally non-traditional and leaving the back open over the remainder of the spine behind the swedge. You could then make a flap that folds over this area from the back and snaps down onto to the face, catching the back of the swedge to hold the blade in and covering the lower part of the grip. Just an idea and I'm not sure if my description is understandable without a sketch, but the knife design looks pretty progressive, I would try to be creative and non-traditional with the sheath design as well.

 

[Curt Wommack]

I decided I am going to make this a learning experience. After some thought (and professional advice), I abandoned my first design. I originally began by making a butterfly-type sheath but decided to go another route, no sense in showing the first images. These pieces are for the second design.

Here's a sample of how I want the flames to look

Everything organized and ready to begin assembly.

First I have to dye the inside of the belt loop.

Skyving the flap

Roughing up the welt pieces. I'm going to stack these to build up the sheath to the right thickness.

Gluing down the first welt. I placed the knife to make sure everything clears and the blade seats properly.

Here are the welt pieces creating the thickness I need.

Welt pieces are cemented down. I had to add an extra piece to one side to adjust for the handle thickness. I'll skyve up the edges so that the top will seat nicely.

The fun part begins! Here I've cut in the flame design.

A little shaping and shading.

Another shot of the tooling. The dye and glaze should look nice when done

Here's a blurry shot of the flames. Sorry about that

More to come...

 

[Curt Wommack]

It's getting close to the end. I think I'm gonna make it. Woo Hoo! Here's where we are to this point.

Front piece has been applied and the edges sanded

Here is the whole thing

Gum tragacanth is used to help with burnishing the edges.

Cutting the groove for the stitches.

Rolling out the stitch locations.

I like to mark the hole locations so it's easy to see at the drill press.

I use a sharpened piece of 1/16" rod to make the holes. It doesn't remove material and polishes the hole as it drills.

Holes drilled. I'll connect the dots on the back to cut the stitch grooves and move on to the dye process. Stitching will come later.

First the red...

Now the black

Adding a burgundy gel to soften up the contrast of the red and black.

Here is a better look at the color combo after removing some of the gel.

Here it is buffed out a bit to bring out the shine.

Here is a bad shot of the knife in the sheath. It really locks in nicely and the colors work well together. I can't wait to get this one done. It's looking really good to me (even though the photos don't always show it)

I still need to put in the stitching but I think I'll let it dry overnight and finish it up tomorrow. It won't be long now!

 

[Josh Dabney]

Looking GREAT !!!

Novice ????? Looks like your past the point of needing supervision to me. Thats just good clean work your doing there

Nice WIP thread to boot, keep up the good work !

-Josh

 

[Pieter]

Looking GREAT !!!

Novice ????? Looks like your past the point of needing supervision to me. Thats just good clean work your doing there

Nice WIP thread to boot, keep up the good work !

-Josh

X 2 can't agree more

 

[BRad704]

WOW! Great Great work!

 

[Curt Wommack]

Thanks all! I learned a lot on this one by "just doing it". I have some work to do to make the quality sheath I want to make but I'm pretty happy with the final result.

Here's a pic of the finished knife with the sheath.