Some tips and thoughts on folder sheaths

Damn, that was really cool to see!

Now I'm trying to think of what knife needs a sheath!

Awesome work Gary! :thumbup:
 
Gary, I'm starting making my own lefty sheaths, and this posts really surprised me.
Your jobs are amazing!!!! Thank you, I'm learning a lot seeing your pícs and comments.

Leandro
 
Thanks guys and Leandroc, when I do left handed sheaths
I have to sit and work in front of a mirror to get them right ;)
well, maybe not, but it might help!
G2
 
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Hey Gary, I really enjoyed this thread (and wish I would have read it before I made my first sheath!). There is one area that I haven't been able to get much help on - how the heck do you burnish the edges so nicely?!? I have tried gum tragacanth and a bone folder, a brass rod chucked up in a drill press... I can get the edge ok but not great looking at all. Any pointers?
 
Good question, one thing that is key is good leather, if the leather's grain isn't very tight
you'll not get it to smooth well, if at all.

After sewing it up,
I trim close with the knife
and then sand it down so it's as even as I can get it.
Then I dye that area,
burnish it a bit,
let it dry
Then I lightly hand sand paper the edge with 600 grit or so
and dye again
then some Gum trag
then burnish with the bone folder
then lightly sand again
usually don't have to dye again, but I will apply some more gum trag
and burnish a last time and that does it.

But if the leather is not tight grained, it just won't take a burnish!
Hope that helps some,
G2
 
I know you discouraged using latigo but at my local tandys that's really all they have in scraps large enough to do a sheath. I know buying a shoulder is more economical but I'm a grad student and it's just not feasible right now (a $5 piece of latigo is more in the budget!). Is that tight grained enough or not? I might not have sanded it enough before burnishing the edge, went to 400. Some areas look alright but its a mexican style sheath and the top has 5 layers of leather at the opening and for the life of me I can't get it to look much better than terrible... Maybe I should start a thread and ask, I just really don't want to show pics of my first sheath ;)
 
Latigo is a "stuffed' leather and is filled with oils and it's for specific uses and that's good. What is not good is that it is far less than ideal for something that will require a finished edge, particularly multiple layers on sheaths. Try to square the edges the best you and then sand them smooth and then apply paste saddle soap and water and then burnish with a cloth. The finish you get with that will be about as good as it gets on latigo.

Paul
 
Thanks Paul, I will have to grab some saddle soap next time I'm in there. I knew latigo wasn't ideal by any means but just couldn't rationalize buying a shoulder. Their veg-tanned scraps were all like 1/2" wide and/or funky leather with cracks, cuts, blisters and such... They have a ton of latigo scraps that are fairly large which, to a semi-desperate newbie, looks like a gold-mine of large sheath-sized pieces :)
 
Thanks Paul, and of course, he's dead on accurate! I would be very careful with latigo
if the knife is a fixed blade type and sharp, you may end up pushing the knife through
that material when you least expect it, so please, take care!
G2
 
It will be hard to push the knife through the sheath. The reason there is 5 layers at the mouth is so the guard rests nicely on the stacked leather. The 5 layers are front, back, welt and 2 wedges to get the right sized opening for the guard.

Anyway, thanks for the comments, I don't want to take up any more space on this thread as its purpose isn't to talk about latigo and my sheath :) Thanks again, Gary, for the thread and Paul for the comment!
 
Hi Gary,

Thanks for this tutorial, it has been very inspiring to me in learning leather work. I was curious as to what specific type of thread you use? I have been experimenting with a wax thread from Tandy but the wax seems to be taking on the color of the dye, even a couple days after letting it dry.

Thanks in Advance

JR
 
I use stuff I bought from Weaver leather a long time ago

IMG_0504.jpg


But sounds like you may still need to wait until dye has dried, are you making the holes
and then dyeing the leather? as the holes may be filled and not quite dry yet.
I dye, glue and then stitch, holes are made after I've dyed the surface.

G2
 
Thanks for the reply Gary. I actually follow exactly what you describe, dye, make holes, then stitch. Perhaps the wax thread I'm using is prone to rubbing the leather dye off as I pull it through the holes. I find that even when I apply the atom wax after the project is finished that the threads will turn a shade darker from the dye as it slightly rubs off. I have been using Fiebing's standard dye as opposed to the professional oil based dye, but I'm not sure if that could be part of the problem.
 
That sounds like the problem, where the oil base dye probably isn't as affected
when you apply and buff out the atom wax...
G2
 
Gary!

Thanks for sharing the methods of your madness! You make some very cool sheaths and these tutorials are super nice! Very cool of you to go to so much effort to show others how they can make a sheath if they desire!

Keep up the great work!

Jon
 
Thanks Jon, I hope it does spark an interest in leather work.

Making two sheaths for a set of Buck 110's the fellow ask if I could shoot some
shots as I progress through it, that of course takes more time but sharing
it here may help answer some questions. Some shots will be similar to the
earlier posts, but I'll keep them all together here for continuity.

Starting with a block of leather kind of in the shape of a cleaver
I use the square to trim straight the one side, using a VERY nice
knife made by the one and only, Mr Tony Bose, thanks again Tony!

IMG_0681.jpg


I then set the knife on it's spine so I can measure how thick the handle is
this will be how wide I make the front curved section so it's more flowing
around the spine to the side of the knife, I mark the leather with a small cut;

IMG_0682.jpg


Then I start at the point where I cut down straight and free hand the curve
with that cut point as a reference where to slope down a little bit;

IMG_0683.jpg


Then I use an groove tool to put in a border along that top edge, going over it
a couple of times to get it deeper

IMG_0684.jpg


Then using a #1 Edger, I edge/champer the sharp edges along the sheath
both there and the belt loop side as well, also doing the inside parts too

IMG_0685.jpg


I wrap the knife with plastic wrap, to help keep the wet leather from transfering any moisture to the knife.
Here I've folded the leather around the knife and with a bone folder, start forming
along the spine of the knife

IMG_0687.jpg


I make an indentation at the end of the knife, this can be tricky so take care
where you cut, you don't want to be too high or too low

IMG_0688.jpg


then, again using that wonderful pointy blade, slice a line into the sheath

IMG_0689.jpg


Then opening the sheath up so you can cut out that area, this is necessary as
you are folding the leather around the knife at this point, if you didn't you would
end up with a very larger pucker of leather sticking out

IMG_0690.jpg


continued in the next post, 10 image limit rule
G2
 
Here you can see that now I can form around the end of the knife, folding
the leather up against the end of the handle, you do end up with a small
slit there, but as there isn't any pressure against that part, it's never been
a problem to have it like that.

IMG_0693.jpg


Notice how my fingers are pressing down on the leather as I'm forming with
the bone folder along the blade's spine? you want to be as in control of the
forming as you can, because as you press one spot, another area wants to
move too, it's all connected but you want to STRETCH that leather so that
later on it will retain it's shape for a long time and not grow to be loose.

IMG_0694.jpg


A shot of the forming, some people had thought you just sew up a pouch like
sheath and then shape it to the knife, that would just end up being pouch like
again and not retain it's shape well at all.

IMG_0699.jpg


IMG_0698.jpg


and tightly around the end of the sheath as well

IMG_0700.jpg


More to come, drying time takes, well, Time :) one very important thing to remember
you need to put the knife back into the sheath and keep forming/stretching
it about every 1/2 hour or so, as the leather will want to move back to it's
original shape otherwise, so keep doing this while it's drying.
I do not put the bone folder on the very top of the sheath, just where I need
to form along the edges, as the bone folder will compress those areas and that
makes dye harder to penetrate, you can see the pores of the leather in that
end shot of the sheath, where the bone folder presses down you can see
that the leather has a burnished look to it now.

G2
 
Rayban, not much more than what's there, emboss and dye and glue down and stitch
those are shown in the earlier posts of the other sheaths, so didn't have time
to shoot them on this, been pretty busy as of late!

Here's a shot of the two sheaths, they'll be heading home on Monday...

IMG_1068.jpg


I've always asked folks for their knife in order to a fitup and with the Buck 110
I tell them that the knives can vary from one to another and it proved itself
in this case, one is slightly thicker than the other.

G2
 
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