Questions about sheath design

[C Craft]

When designing a sheath for fixed blade I always kind of struggle with this decision. If I do a pouch type sheath I always start out with more leather up top of the sheath than I usually end up with. What I am trying to say is I almost have to see the knife in the formed sheath to determine if I have enough their to corral the knife and still not to high up to get a hold on the handle of the knife.

I have seen sheaths where there is only enough of the knife sticking out that you have to use two fingers to retract the knife, I like to have a little more to get a hold on! Yet I know if I leave too much of the handle sticking out the knife is not going to be easy to keep in the sheath! So I usually end up making the pouch type/ fitted sheath a little taller than needed and trimming back on the height till I feel it looks and feels right.

OK am I just weird or does anyone else struggle with this decision?

Next question on design. I don't do a lot of tooling because the period of time I like to build knives for it wouldn't have been appropriate. However we all got to eat and a buyer wanted a fitted sheath with tooling on it for another of my knives. My solution was to do the form fitting and then letting it dry quite a bit to make it hold the fit, before doing the tooling. However by the time I got thru and stitched the whole thing up I had lost some of the form fit. In other words what was a tight form fit seemed to relax out quite a bit, by the time I got thru tooling.

How do you achieve this, a form fitted sheath, with tooling on it?

I am going to throw one more out here. Fringe on a knife sheath I have tried this several ways. One of the first ways I attempted was while doing a Spanish braid stitch or some call it a Mexican braid stitch and weaving in a fringe with each stitch. It worked but was one humongous pain in the back side. The last one I did I layed out on one piece of leather each and every strand of the fring and cut the thing out attached to a shaped strip acting as a welt in the sheath and used a two needle saddle stitch to sew it all together. Anyway I have looked at it there is a lot of time evolved in making a sheath with fringe!

Is there an easier way?
Anyone want to share how they go about fringe on a sheath?

 

[C Craft]

Come on some of you great sheath makers surely have a few secrets to share! After all some of the leather sheaths I have seen on this forum ...........well those makers ain't got anything to worry about sharing, I ain't gonna live long enough to get that good! Here are a few pics of some I have made. They are serviceable but have a long way to go to catch up with a lot of the sheath makers here.

Seriously some of you all have got to have pity on a fellow maker and share a few secrets.

 

[Paul Long]

I don't have time to type the answers to your questions, but if you want to call me I'll share what little I know. Phone number is below in sig line.

Paul

 

[Sandy Morrissey]

Ah ! Sheath design ! This is something that does create quite a problem and probably will never be solved to everyone's satisfaction. There are several factors involved in the creation of any sheath that must be known prior to constructon. The first is the configuration of the knife: Length and width of the blade, guard (single or double), size of handle (length and girth), Edge of blade (single or double). The second factor is how the knife is to be carried: Right or left strongside, right or left crossdraw, straight or angled drop, high or low mount on belt. The third factor would be dictated by the knife as to whether it would be a pouch (fold over) or standard (two piece, front and back). Blade edges would indicate location of welts . Type of guards, present or absent, would indicate necesssity of and/or location of restraint straps or flaps. Factor four would apply to the required appearance of the finished product: Plain, simple or complex stamp tooling. figure or floral carving, desired color, type of applied finish.

One must remember that wet forming , hard or soft, is not practical on tooled or carved sheaths as it will eliminate the crispness of the work where the leather is stretched or forced. Knives that have heavy handles and short blades must have some sort of restraint, in pouch sheaths the handle will have to sit deeper in the sheath than that with a long blade in order to "attempt" better restraint. Even a one finger withdrawal is better than a lost knife.

Often a customer will specify what he wants in the way of a sheath that is not feasible. One does not fit a 16" tire on an 18" wheel----a comparison. Inform the customer what can be done with an explanation of the reasons involved----------AND GO FROM THERE! good luck ! ---Sandy---