Embarrassing Sheath I Made

burly-guy

burly-guy

Joined
Apr 26, 2021
Messages
103
So awhile ago my farther wanted to lean to work with leather. He lost interest in a few days so he gave me all his stuff. Well I didn’t research techniques or even what each tool was. So I set to work and this is what I turned out. I still have leather and the tools.

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I mean it works. The blade rattles, there’s basically no stitching, and I’m sure I wasted so much leather. The thing is real ugly too🤦‍♂️
 
burly-guy said:
So awhile ago my farther wanted to lean to work with leather. He lost interest in a few days so he gave me all his stuff. Well I didn’t research techniques or even what each tool was. So I set to work and this is what I turned out. I still have leather and the tools.

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I mean it works. The blade rattles, there’s basically no stitching, and I’m sure I wasted so much leather. The thing is real ugly too🤦‍♂️
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Yeah, but you're learning - that's all that really matters. Don't get discouraged. Press on.
 
Rome wasn’t built in a day…


But seriously that’s much better than I could do.
 
Peruse the sheath forum, much great advice!! I have learned so much!!

Look up saddle stitching, welt construction, etc.

A belt sander does wonders for cleaning up the edges.
 
Your on your way, just keep at it !!!
 
Your lucky your knife fit. 5 tries and mine didn't fit. You showed your first one, I threw my first 5 in the trash.

As others have pointed out. Sanding the edges does wonders and learn welt construction.
 
Thanks for the words of encouragement everyone. I was thinking if I could deconstruct the sheath to fit it better to the knife. What are your thoughts???
 
burly-guy said:
Thanks for the words of encouragement everyone. I was thinking if I could deconstruct the sheath to fit it better to the knife. What are your thoughts???
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If it were me , I’d start with a new piece of leather. Keep the done piece as is for learning piece. I have plenty of my old sheaths kicking around here lol.
 
duramax said:
If it were me , I’d start with a new piece of leather. Keep the done piece as is for learning piece. I have plenty of my old sheaths kicking around here lol.
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Ya do? Heck I toss em. Tossed one yesterday in fact. I still screw em up once in a while! Miss marked the welt and the stitch line and had two stitches fall off the welt. Felt it happen too. $%^&*#$%!!

burly-guy said:
Thanks for the words of encouragement everyone. I was thinking if I could deconstruct the sheath to fit it better to the knife. What are your thoughts???
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I agree with my friend duramax, I'd start over. The leather in the original sheath looks a little thick for that knife too. I'd suggest something like 6/7 or 7/8 oz for that knife. For a horizontal style sheath like that you are gonna want some retention in the sheath so you don't lose your knife. Check out when doing your research "Loveless welts", yeah after that Loveless. I've written a couple of tutorials that might help ya out:

Horizontal Sheaths.....A Tutorial

I would say that my Horizontal sheath design is one of my most popular. This is the sheath I've personally carried for many years on a daily basis. Follow along as we build a few. We'll be doing seven total for some of these guys: My pattern is basically a heart shape. I have several...
www.bladeforums.com www.bladeforums.com

And this one on Pancake style sheaths. While not the specific style of sheath you are after, here is some general leather working tips in here that will help as well as some stuff on the welt:

Pancake Sheaths and how I go about them. (PIC HEAVY)

I'd had a couple of requests about more info on how I build Pancake Sheaths. I had one to build for a knife I'd already sold and the customer wanted this sheath instead of what came with it. Thought I'd pictorially document the steps I go through. Here I've grabbed a front and a back...
www.bladeforums.com www.bladeforums.com

A lot of this leather working is just practice. Analyze what went right and what didn't and then go again. In the cowboy world, working cattle, we often say: "Ya got to see what ya did caused and then adjust," Same kinda deal. Welcome to Sheaths and Such, lots of help here. A guy only has to ask.
 
Usually takes me two or three tries and lots of leather before I get a sheath right.:( Even then it's nowhere near the quality that the makers on this forum routinely create.
 
well, I can't help but agree- it looks pretty horrible. I commend you for having the balls to show it. I'm not being mean, I'm being honest.

if it were me, (I've been there so I do speak from experience) I'd put that sheath in a box somewhere and try to forget about it. Then I'd make another one.
that's what I did do, and I've made dozens of sheaths now and they just get better and better every time.

just the other day, I found the box I hid my first sheath in. Seeing that sheath again was a good reminder of where things started for me, and made me feel confident that the improvements I've made over the years aren't just figments of my imagination.

I hope you make another one, and post it up too. One of the things I love the most is seeing people improve and the only way to do that, (for me, anyway) is to make mistakes, own them, and keep going.
 
burly-guy said:
Thanks for the words of encouragement everyone. I was thinking if I could deconstruct the sheath to fit it better to the knife. What are your thoughts???
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My art teacher admonished me once after I was caught wadding up a sketch I was working on. Told me to never destroy my work and keep it to look back on.
You did a good job for your first time. Keep it to look back on.
 
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