Embarresing Newbie Blunder

I lay mine out using a scratch awl. But that's just what works for me. Your sheath looks like it's turning out nice. As Dave said, nice tooling!
 
Thanks. It does. You do very admirable work. I only wish mine could be as neat and clean.

I've already finished the antiquing and top coated it with Tan Kote..........two layers. I'm down to the stitching. One of the many things I've learned (the hard way) on my first sheath is my "construction" order is out of whack. I thought I had it worked out, but I got my steps turned around a couple of times. (i.e. forgot to put the stud on the front of the sheath before gluing the wedges onto the front of the sheath.) As I've said, I'm learning as I go and I've a whole lot yet to learn.

Oh, what kind of oil do you use to oil Veg-tan? Don Gonzales recommends Olive Oil. I tried that and it made my leather a whole lot darker than I'd wanted.
 
Robber58 said:
I am in Dave's camp. I always use a pencil and make the marks as light as possible. Mistakes will happen. Part of the learning process. Unfortunately, I never seem to stop learning some days.:(
Randy
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I also use a pencil. Another tip is to make sure the tip is not sharp. Round it a bit, so it does not dig in.

OP, your sheath turned out great. Much better than my first!!
 
Chris 54326 said:
Thanks. It does. You do very admirable work. I only wish mine could be as neat and clean.

I've already finished the antiquing and top coated it with Tan Kote..........two layers. I'm down to the stitching. One of the many things I've learned (the hard way) on my first sheath is my "construction" order is out of whack. I thought I had it worked out, but I got my steps turned around a couple of times. (i.e. forgot to put the stud on the front of the sheath before gluing the wedges onto the front of the sheath.) As I've said, I'm learning as I go and I've a whole lot yet to learn.

Oh, what kind of oil do you use to oil Veg-tan? Don Gonzales recommends Olive Oil. I tried that and it made my leather a whole lot darker than I'd wanted.
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Pure neatsfoot oil, not the compound. I warm it first in a dedicated crockpot. Thanks, just practice.
 
Okay. Got this durned thing all stitched up. When I finished, I noticed some of the stitching is the color of the stitching as it's wound on the roll. In other places it's dark...........as if it's dirty. (I liked that..........it matched the color of the sheath) So I tried to clean the stitching with rubbing alcohol. It took some of my Top Kote and antiquing off.
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So I tried to rub more of the antiquing off so it would be more uniform. While I was at it, I removed the brown Edge Kote I didn't really care for. I think I'd rather have black. Put on a new layer of Pro Resist as a top layer. Will let it dry and do a second coat.

Am I happy with my sheath? Hard to say. I'm a gal-darned perfectionist, so from that standpoint I'm totally disappointed. However, I'll seldom carry this knife and no-one but "me-I-my-picky-self" will ever see it, so in this case it'll do. I learned a ton making this sheath. First off I learned I'll never learn! By that I mean I always have to start with a project far beyond my experience. Most of the time I can get away with it..........but this time I didn't. Second, I think it will be a long, long time before I tackle another stacked sheath. (WHEW!)
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It was a fun project and I thank all of you who contributed input to help me through the process. I'll do my best to absorb all that was shared and apply it toward the next one.

I'll post a pic tomorrow after the second coat of Pro Resist dries.
 
I think it turned out pretty nice. Certainly would not have guessed it was a first attempt.
 
Chris 54326 said:
Dave, I can see a few "pieces" of line on the leather.............and see the pencil in the picture, so I'm assuming you are showing me how well pencil shows up. But I can't really see anything on that leather I could follow with a knife. Guess it's my eyes. Even tried to open and modify the image in PhotoShop and couldn't see it.
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If you don’t already have one. Get yourself a inexpensive headlamp. I use one that takes three aaa’s battery’s. I use a #2 pencil also, the headlamp really helps indoors to see lines. I got mine at Tractor supply 3pack $4.99 cheap. If there’s plenty of sunlight I’m good but otherwise headlamp is on. :)
 
My wife uses one too when she carves. Hers was a little more pricey I think, $35 ish but she uses it for hunting as well.
 
I apologize for not responding sooner. We lost power to our home due to a severe ice storm on Tuesday morning. Just got it back on a few minutes ago. 4 days without power means not only lights and heat, but water from our well. Good taste of what it will be like if some country decides to hit our grid with an EMP!!!

Thanks for all the comments. Very helpful.
 
ANovinc said:
I lay mine out using a scratch awl. But that's just what works for me. Your sheath looks like it's turning out nice. As Dave said, nice tooling!
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I have the same idea but I just lightly use a stylus.
 
Chris 54326 said:
Alrighty then, here ya go.

I still need to put Black Edge Kote or something similar on the edges. Think it will look a lot better with the Black handled Buck.

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Seriously nice work there. I'm just about to post some first attempts myself, but I have to admit I think your first attempts look better than mine!
 
Thanks for all the positive comments guys. It's always intimidating for a newbie to show the more experienced craftsmen examples of his work. I feel a whole lot more assured in going forth. Would like some more variation in my stamp inventory, but know I can make do with what I have right now for a good while.
 
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