cross draw sheaths

Well I received the knife and sheath today. I was scared the knife handle would have bad teeth marks. It has a couple but they are really minor. He has had the knife for barely longer than a month. It has likely been used more in that time than any other knife I have made. The blade isn't as dull as I had feared it might be, but it definitely needed touched up. He told me he has castrated roughly 80-100 calves along with normal every day ranch use.
As far as changes this time around, the primary changes that come to mind are I will make sure to get a thread that stays white and I won't tool the backside this time. It seems it was a good thing I tooled both sides originally. The user of the 2nd knife of the pair is right handed, but wears his sheath in the left handed cross draw position.
Thanks
Chris
 
Good deal Chris. When making a pancake sheath I ask the customer where they want to wear it. Helps to know that. Since most of my sheaths are crossdraw what is a left handed sheath to me might be right to someone else since they are gonna wear it on their right side. Did you antique before or after sewing? Sometimes the antique can do that to your thread. A coat of finish after antiquing prior to sewing will cut down a lot on that.

Sounds like the knife got a good workout. If the customer is happy then you did a good job. He knows what he normaly puts his knives through and if he is happy with your product, he'll tell his buddies.
 
I didn't antique either of those sheaths, I only dyed them. It was just the wrong thread. It stretched and went translucent when I pulled everything tight.

It sounds as if both of those knives are getting work outs. The 2nd user has implied interest in 2 more knives. I must have done something right.

Chris
 
Good deal. Hmm thats interesting on the thread. Pulled one over on me, I'd of said they were antiqued. Heck I did say they were antiqued! Repeat customers are the core of any business. In our deal they might be even more important.
 
Chris, what are you using to make the holes? Translucent, were you using artificial sinew?

Depending on your steps (not sure how you're doing it now), groove the front and space your holes, dye, let dry very well, then punch your holes, groove back, touch up the groove, let dry and stitch.

White thread can be tricky from my limited experience. I prefer black or other colors. I suggest Ritza/Tiger to anyone hand sewing. Best stuff I've found or heard of. Try Etsy and grab some John James needles. Damn near unbreakable.
 
Pancakes take up a lot of real estate on a belt. While good looking, a knife normally isn't heavy enough to need or benefit from a pancake. I carry a Mayo fixed as cross draw, but for cross draw I prefer a traditional belt loop appropriately canted on the knife's sheath. Also, since I'm cross dominate (left handed but right eye dominate) both gun and knife must me on same hip if I'm carrying knife cross draw and not carrying handgun cross draw (which is what I normally do when carrying a fixed blade).

Even if one were not cross dominate and carried handgun on strong side hip and knife on weak side hip cross draw, he'd likely be carrying spare mags on weak hip also and not want to give up so much belt real estate to a pancake knife sheath. Just takes up too much limited belt space usable for carrying stuff for quick access.

Just my two cents, but I do use cross draw sheaths and also carry a handgun. Handgun carried in a pancake. Knife not.

Mayo%2520Sheath%25202.JPG
 
Dave, I agree on the repeat "users"(don't want to say something I haven't the subscription for :D). I think the only thing that might be more important, would be the word of mouth that is a direct result of of repeat happy users.
Anthony, I use a needle chucked in a drill press to make the holes. On the thread I had 2 different types go translucent. One was artificial sinew and I think the other was a polyester(unsure on this) waxed thread but I really didn't care for it at all. It left huge amounts of wax build up behind as you stitched. Right or wrong, my order of procedure is glue and clamp, flush the edge on the belt sander, groove the front, space and drill the holes, groove the back, touch up the dye and finally stitch. I have also found I like to touch up the edge very lightly 1 more time after stitching to remove any minor irregularities in the edge that the stitching might have caused. I too prefer and mainly use black thread but I can also see how on certain sheaths the white contrast really sets off the whole project.

Leghog, I agree a pancake isn't always needed and I'm positive that is why Dave carries several different styles of sheaths. However, this was a user request and I fully believe the best option for him being a working cowboy. The flat profile will be much less likely to get hung up or catch on things. As far as the positioning to allow a firearm, I think when he carries a firearm it is much more likely to be a long gun in a scabbard on the saddle.

Thank you all for your input,
Chris
 
Finally had a chance to finish the replacement.
TghjhfG.jpg


Made my first attempt at a belt and made a belt to match.
ARPDCW0.jpg


Chris
 
Salolan said:
Finally had a chance to finish the replacement.
TghjhfG.jpg


Made my first attempt at a belt and made a belt to match.
ARPDCW0.jpg


Chris
Click to expand...
Chris, first of all, very nice work! Love it. :)

Your steps look good to me. Very similar to what I've settled into.

About the thread... I often use this huge spool of black Tandy thread that I got a long time ago. It's good stuff but it's not great in terms of how waxy it is. That's the biggest difference between meh quality and Ritza thread from my perspective. Anyway, I run the waxy stuff through the eye of the needle with a little tension against the eye. If the thread is particularly long I'll have my wife help. You should have a build up at the eye that you can remove. After that I pull the thread quickly through a tightly held piece of canvas. It still has wax build up when stitching, but I've found that a quick pass with a lighter melts it and gets rid of the uglies. You may already know all of this but thought I'd mention it just in case.

Thanks for posting your work. I'm guilty of forgetting to post mine, but I love to see what everyone else is doing.
 
Thanks Anthony.
I doubt I'll ever use the overly waxy thread I have. That is unless I light one end and use it like a candle. :D I had purchased some woven thread for this last attempt on the project and the wax content I think was perfect. However, it still didn't hold the white color I wanted. I'm not sure if I'm still not getting the proper thread or if it is just the dark color of the sheath making the white appear darker.

I appreciate all the feedback and guidance I've received on this project and others. We are all blessed by the willingness to share and pass on experience.
Thank you,
Chris
 
Looks good Chris, really good. I wonder if the thread deal is just dye transfer? Another thing a guy can do on overly waxy thread is to burnish it with a piece of paper bag. Seems to help prevent it from sticking to everything. Nice work on the belt, matches very well. I like how you stopped the basket stamping for the holes and then started it up again. Cool design feature.
 
Dave, you were exactly right on how to handle this situation. I contacted him today to let him know I would be available for delivery. He was quite pleasantly pleased and informed me he had been worried he would have to wait until after the first of the year. In visiting, he informed me he planned on me doing at least 4 or 5 more projects in the next year. This might not have been the case had I not handled the situation as I did.

I don't think it is a transfer issue with the thread. There was a slight amount of transfer on the thread at the eye of the needle where it was the thickest but not along the rest of the thread. I think I'm going to try some Tiger Thread in the near future to see if that corrects some of my issues.

Have a Merry Christmas everyone!
Chris
 
Good deal my friend! Glad that worked out. Merry Christmas!
 
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