Are leather sheaths becoming obsolete?

Horsewright said:
Ya wanna know why it was horse butt? Look down at your feet. Almost all shoes and boots are made from horsehide. That industry wants large square pieces of leather. What's left to us little guys? The strips they cut off at the butt to make the hide rectangular. So its called horse butt strips. Great leather by the way very dense. Makes great holsters and sheaths and we use it for horse headstalls too. As its a remnant its pretty inexpensive. So why is it used for shoes and boots? For the same characteristics that makes great holsters and sheaths. Horsehide once formed and stretched to a shape does not keep on stretching, cowhide does. Problem with the horsehide butt strips is they are odd shaped pieces, not very wide. Ya might get a couple sheaths out of a strip but you are not gonna cut out sixty sheaths like I do with a side of saddle leather. The other problem is its not always available. Sourcing it is here and there.

My wife makes CCW purses that incorporate her IWB holsters in them. She exclusively uses horse butts for her IWB holsters whether sold alone or as part of the purse system.

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This holster is horse too.

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Very nice

I use Great Northern Horsehide Bow quivers on my hunting bows

Very tough


 
JParanee said:
Here is a neat sheath from a Winkler knight Collaboratiion that someone just posted on the custom forum

Looks like a Leather Kydex meddle

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I've had 4 winklers, 2 tad edition belt knives in 3v, his regular belt knife and a bushcraft model in 52100. All had his hybrid leather kydex sheaths lined with suade. I very much like them.
 
Kydex, leather...I don't care much as long as it keeps the blade from poking me.
I fell down a muddy hill and went tumbling end-over-end while wearing my ZT 0102 tomahawk. It has a Kydex sheath that kept me from being stabbed or cut, which was a good thing. :)

As for preference, it depends on the knife, and the sheath. There's some awesome Kydex, and some awesome leather...and some truly terrible offerings in each as well.
 
Mecha said:
Well I heard about it from Storm Crow Storm Crow , something with a fancy name that sounded even more futuristic than "kydex." I believe he said he's "never looking back" or something to that effect. It's because I only offer leather sheaths made by Ms. Oye, but I have a diving knife to make and it needs a hard plastic type sheath! :D Storm Crow is a real gent and will make the sheath for the dive knife.
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It's nothing secret, or too different from Kydex: it's Boltaron. They're related, the price is the same (from my supplier of choice, anyway), and they work pretty much the same (Boltaron needs heated 30 degrees hotter before molding), but the real reason I'm swapping over is because it is supposed to be more resistant to changes in temperature than Kydex. A looooot of the pro pistol holster makers seem to like it.
 
Storm Crow said:
It's nothing secret, or too different from Kydex: it's Boltaron. They're related, the price is the same (from my supplier of choice, anyway), and they work pretty much the same (Boltaron needs heated 30 degrees hotter before molding), but the real reason I'm swapping over is because it is supposed to be more resistant to changes in temperature than Kydex. A looooot of the pro pistol holster makers seem to like it.
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Boltaron.

I like it. Sounds like serious business.
 
Pomsbz said:
That's an interesting stitch, I use the cross stitch a lot with my leather work but never thought of going back through it with a single stitch for the above effect.
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She calls it the "Crow's Foot." It makes the long sheath stiffer and eliminates floppiness. That's something like 40 feet of cord pulled through those holes three times. It twists the whole sheath like a corkscrew 90 degrees, then on the way back around it twists it back flat again, full of tension.
 
I like leather sheaths, but mostly I just wanted to post in a 16 year old thread. Not sure I will top this one anytime soon!
 
Mecha said:
She calls it the "Crow's Foot." It makes the long sheath stiffer and eliminates floppiness. That's something like 40 feet of cord pulled through those holes three times. It twists the whole sheath like a corkscrew 90 degrees, then on the way back around it twists it back flat again, full of tension.
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Interesting, thanks!
 
Mecha said:
She calls it the "Crow's Foot." It makes the long sheath stiffer and eliminates floppiness. That's something like 40 feet of cord pulled through those holes three times. It twists the whole sheath like a corkscrew 90 degrees, then on the way back around it twists it back flat again, full of tension.
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Very Cool and very Interesting .
Where does this stitching idea originate from ?
To my uneducated mind it seems to expose the thread to undue outside influence and abrasion , but it must be noted that it's aesthetic brilliance is high on the agenda of 'YEEEEAAAAHHH "

Ken
 
harronek said:
Very Cool and very Interesting .
Where does this stitching idea originate from ?
To my uneducated mind it seems to expose the thread to undue outside influence and abrasion , but it must be noted that it's aesthetic brilliance is high on the agenda of 'YEEEEAAAAHHH "

Ken
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Thanks harronek. :) She and I "invented" it, though surely it's been used before at some point. The aesthetics are a big part of it, because it's not purely practical and takes a lot more stitching work than is needed for a normal leather stitch. That exposed nylon cord is really quite tough and the knife sheaths have held up well, but if a thread ever gets worn or cut, the rest of the stitching seems to remain tight. Been looking for a proper woven kevlar cord for the purpose, and even considered very thin flexible stainless steel cable at one point.
 
Natlek said:
You don t like fishing :D

https://www.tackledirect.com/tuf-line-western-filament-kevlar-cord-300lb-100ft.html
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Thanks Natlek, yup I've seen a lot out there, just need to order some black kevlar but they way it's woven matters, the exact diameter, etc. and I don't want flat stuff that has to be indexed, hence "proper" kevlar cord. Also from what I've seen I'm not even sure kevlar is necessarily tougher than the nylon cord.

Sorry not trying to hijack the thread, just saying that there's a lot of different leather types, and a lot of different ways to use it for a sheath, and it's a lot tougher material than some folks think, and there are a lot of ways to care for it also and keep it nice. I love leather.
 
shinyedges shinyedges

I recently bought a Winkler Belt Knife. Love it. The sheath wasn’t really my thing so I made an ambidextrous leather sheath for it. So as for the original question. Leather isnt obsolete

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