Gonna try making a wet-formed horse hide belt sheath. Advice?

[jacobconroy75]

I have no experience with leatherwork, other than tinkering around with a Tandy kit as a child. If memory serves, I didn't manage to make anything impressive. Lately, I've been watching UTube videos about the process of wet-formed belt sheath/pouches and think it might be fun to try.

However, I'm a big fan of horse hide. It's thin and tough and I've been told it doesn't stretch.

The goal is to make a belt sheath for CRK folders and it will need to fit nearly all of the large ones (Regulars, Inkosi, and 31s) with no clips installed. Don't have an Umnum yet, so it is exempt from this project.

My questions are these:

1. Am I going to need to build a foam press to wet mold horse hide (like a Kydex press)?
2. What weight/flavor of hide should I start with?
3. Where would I get it?

Of course, if this is a dumb idea, feel free to let me know. I expect my first attempt to suck, but experienced advice would be awesome.

Thanks!

 

[Old Biker]

I made a press for this style sheath out of some scrap plywood and wood.

There are other ways to wet form leather as well. Look in the tutorial threads. there is a sticky thread at the to of this forum that links to them. The problem you may have, is that if your leather isn't veg tanned it won't wet form well if at all. I don't know enough about horse hide to know if you can get veg tanned horse hide or not.

O.B.

 

[JJ_Colt45]

I'm not an expert, but I read this method awhile back and gave it a try and was very happy with the results.

Wrap the knife tightly in saran wrap and insert it in the sheath ... I used a wet sponge and dampened the back of the sheath ... then wet the front of it pretty good using some pressure to get the leather supple. Then used a vacuum sealer around the sheathed knife ... suck all the air out of the bag so it's drawn tightly around the sheath and leave it overnight. It worked like a charm and took very little actual effort to do.

 

[jacobconroy75]

I made a press for this style sheath out of some scrap plywood and wood.

There are other ways to wet form leather as well. Look in the tutorial threads. there is a sticky thread at the to of this forum that links to them. The problem you may have, is that if your leather isn't veg tanned it won't wet form well if at all. I don't know enough about horse hide to know if you can get veg tanned horse hide or not.

O.B.

The veg-tanned part was told to me in a thread a while ago...but I had forgotten. Good tip. I'll look to find out if HH comes in veg-tan.

I'm not an expert, but I read this method awhile back and gave it a try and was very happy with the results.

Wrap the knife tightly in saran wrap and insert it in the sheath ... I used a wet sponge and dampened the back of the sheath ... then wet the front if it pretty good using some pressure to get the leather supple. Then used a vacuum sealer around the sheathed knife ... suck all the air out of the bag so it's drawn tightly around the sheath and leave it overnight. It worked like a charm and took very little actual effort to do.

That sounds similar to the plan I have, except the vacuum sealer part. I hadn't thought of that. Did you use horse hide for that sheath?

Thanks guys!

 

[JJ_Colt45]

The veg-tanned part was told to me in a thread a while ago...but I had forgotten. Good tip. I'll look to find out if HH comes in veg-tan.


That sounds similar to the plan I have, except the vacuum sealer part. I hadn't thought of that. Did you use horse hide for that sheath?

Thanks guys!

I did not. I haven't personally used horsehide so I can't answer that question.

I'll tag Dave Horsewright ... I'd be he can answer that for you and may have better ideas too.

 

[jfk1110]

Horsewright any knowledge to share on this, you being the master of the craft...

 

[Horsewright]

Interesting project. Yes horsehide comes in veg tan. You are looking for Butt Strips as far as pieces goes or Russet Horsebutt Narrows as Maverick Leather (where we get ours) call it these days. But other folks carry it too. The russet ones are vegtan and they have some others CXL Horsebutt Strips in colors. These are veg tan retan and may not mold as well. For the price though if a guy wanted to experiment with the molding and having the retaned leather it sure wouldn't hurt much if it didn't work out. Quite a bit of info on the leather on their site.

For the project as explained by the OP to fit several different knives and I assume to make several different sheaths, I might go with the block method as shown by Old Biker. A little work and cost involved in building your blocks but repeatable, repeatable and repeatable. Ya can make more very easily. And look how nice they come out! Great job O Old Biker

 

[jacobconroy75]

Interesting project. Yes horsehide comes in veg tan. You are looking for Butt Strips as far as pieces goes or Russet Horsebutt Narrows as Maverick Leather (where we get ours) call it these days. But other folks carry it too. The russet ones are vegtan and they have some others CXL Horsebutt Strips in colors. These are veg tan retan and may not mold as well. For the price though if a guy wanted to experiment with the molding and having the retaned leather it sure wouldn't hurt much if it didn't work out. Quite a bit of info on the leather on their site.

For the project as explained by the OP to fit several different knives and I assume to make several different sheaths, I might go with the block method as shown by Old Biker. A little work and cost involved in building your blocks but repeatable, repeatable and repeatable. Ya can make more very easily. And look how nice they come out! Great job O Old Biker

Awesome info. Thank you. Now I can buy some leather and get started.

For clarity, I have a sheath that fits my needs for this project, but I want another with a cant (angle for the non-pistol people) and I don't need it to be boned for the clip. Lifters Leather made it for a CRK Regular and I bought it on this forum 10 or 12 years ago.




I do not know if it's horse hide, but it's thin and hard. Reminds me of my Kramer holsters. Eventually I discovered that it fits large CRK Regulars (with or without inlays), Inkosis (tip-down), and 31s. Perfect for me. One sheath for all the folders I EDC. The belt loop is very tight on my 1/4-thick belt (which I really like) and it is not stretching out (which is also good).

What do you folks think? Does it look like horse (if it's possible to guess from the pictures)? I've had several similar sheaths made lately and they are all much softer leather than this thing is. The softer leather doesn't really make me happy.

 

[Old Biker]

Interesting project. Yes horsehide comes in veg tan. You are looking for Butt Strips as far as pieces goes or Russet Horsebutt Narrows as Maverick Leather (where we get ours) call it these days. But other folks carry it too. The russet ones are vegtan and they have some others CXL Horsebutt Strips in colors. These are veg tan retan and may not mold as well. For the price though if a guy wanted to experiment with the molding and having the retaned leather it sure wouldn't hurt much if it didn't work out. Quite a bit of info on the leather on their site.

For the project as explained by the OP to fit several different knives and I assume to make several different sheaths, I might go with the block method as shown by Old Biker. A little work and cost involved in building your blocks but repeatable, repeatable and repeatable. Ya can make more very easily. And look how nice they come out! Great job O Old Biker

Thank you

O.B.

 

[Horsewright]

Awesome info. Thank you. Now I can buy some leather and get started.

For clarity, I have a sheath that fits my needs for this project, but I want another with a cant (angle for the non-pistol people) and I don't need it to be boned for the clip. Lifters Leather made it for a CRK Regular and I bought it on this forum 10 or 12 years ago.

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I do not know if it's horse hide, but it's thin and hard. Reminds me of my Kramer holsters. Eventually I discovered that it fits large CRK Regulars (with or without inlays), Inkosis (tip-down), and 31s. Perfect for me. One sheath for all the folders I EDC. The belt loop is very tight on my 1/4-thick belt (which I really like) and it is not stretching out (which is also good).

What do you folks think? Does it look like horse (if it's possible to guess from the pictures)? I've had several similar sheaths made lately and they are all much softer leather than this thing is. The softer leather doesn't really make me happy.

I can't tell if it is horsehide or not from the pics. There are numerous ways of making other leathers firm too. I personally bake all my sheaths and holsters. They come out very firm. There are other ways too.

 

[jacobconroy75]

I can't tell if it is horsehide or not from the pics. There are numerous ways of making other leathers firm too. I personally bake all my sheaths and holsters. They come out very firm. There are other ways too.

Great. Thanks for the info Sir.

 

[Horsewright]

Great. Thanks for the info Sir.

Ya bet

 

[Horsewright]

Horsewright any knowledge to share on this, you being the master of the craft...

Thanks for the kind words! Just lots of practice.