Soliciting advice on new sheath design for me.

[weo]

Hello all. I'm looking to expand my sheath making abilities and options and would like some critiques/suggestions on the following. This is just a rough sketch, so don't feel the need to comment on making my lines straighter or improving the uniformity of my spacing....

I like Dave Ferry's (would you prefer Horsewright ?) method of making the belt loops on his pancake sheaths and think this would provide a better frame for carving than my typical pouch sheaths.

My main questions are: (1) are the belt loops(slots) are OK where they are, or should they go higher or lower?
(2) Should the sheath be deeper or is it too deep to allow easy access to the handle?
(3) Does the stitching have to follow the swell at the choil or will the glue be sufficient to secure the welt here?
(4) Am I going WAY overkill with double stitching? I'm not worried about the extra time and effort involved, but more on how the added width will effect the overall proportions of the sheath.

Thanks all and have a great week.

 

[Hengelo_77]

You won't be able to pull the knife out if you make it like this, the leather goes in to far in where the index finger goes

 

[weo]

Thanks for the thoughts, Hengelo. Like I said in the initial post, it's just a rough sketch right now, and the proportions aren't exact.

 

[Gadsden]

Just my 2 cents, be careful where the choil locks the blade into place. It is a very good design and will lock the blade in the sheath perfectly. But you might have to "fine tune" that part for a secure fit. If you have a stitch line there it could be cut to allow enough room for the edge to pass by. Horsewright has an excellent way to adjust this with a rat tail file during final fitting. I have used this technique with great results. Be sure and post pics of the sheath when your done.

 

[weo]

Thanks guys, but I've been using this method on my pouch sheaths for the past couple of years and feel that I understand how to do this part.

I'd appreciate input on the position of the belt loops, overall depth of the sheath and if the stitching needs to follow the swell at the choil, though.

 

[Horsewright]

I do make a vertical pancake style sheath. I don't make as many as my regular pancake but I do make some.

I'd suggest having a less acute curve back to the body of the sheath after your slot area. This will give you more room for punching your slot and will also allow you to tailor your slot placement more. I think the placement of the slots partially depends on the knife. Higher, lower, canted forward or back all can depend on the knife, the customers request and right or left handed. I'll often hold the knife up to my belt during fitting and before punching the slots to see what seems right for that knife. Then you can have a pattern you can adapt to many different knives just by changing the inside stitch line for that specific knife.

Yes the inside contour of the welt does need to be sewn down. I like to have the stitch line about an 1/8" to a 1/4" in from the welt edge. That gives me room to fine tune the fit with my rat tail file if needed.

That particular knife has a great handle for getting out of a sheath. Ya could go deeper if ya wanted but ya get the welt right and ya won't need too. I often go much deeper than necessary because I've found that its a perception deal with many customers. Deeper means better retention. It doesn't but that is the perception.

I've never seen the need for double stitching. Decades ago when I first started making holsters for folks I double sewed a few and sewed around the slots too. I did this because some personal commercial holsters I had were sewn that way. I soon quit doing that as it simply does not add anything and does create more bulk than necessary. I'm all about the svelte.

 

[weo]

Thanks Dave, especially for the thoughts on the double stitching. I was hoping this was the answer, because of the look more than the time involved. The following are a couple of older sheaths I did, and I do think the bottom one does look a bit bulky to me.

 

[Horsewright]

Thanks Dave, especially for the thoughts on the double stitching. I was hoping this was the answer, because of the look more than the time involved. The following are a couple of older sheaths I did, and I do think the bottom one does look a bit bulky to me.View attachment 1110896
View attachment 1110897

Ya bet glad to help. Yeah gotta agree the bottom one could be svelter. Bout the only time I double stitch is on some belts and its purely cosmetic. Course on a belt too you aren't changing the size by adding another stitch line as it goes on the inside. We tried black stitching on this water buffalo belt. I don't like how it came out, can hardly see it but I've done black quite a few times for folks. Some seem to really like the low contrast deal. Me I'd gone red or blue.

 

[weo]

Hello again, all. Sorry for the delay, but here's how my rough draft (so don't feel the need to critique the stitching or lines on the leather) turned out. The retention is good, not too hard to get in or out. The only thing I want to change for my final version is that it doesn't sit well on the hips/buttocks when wearing.

For my final version, I'm planning on modifying it so that the belt loops sit flat against the hip (in the above picture, imagine the right side of the sheath being flat). I have a couple of ideas on how to do this, but I'd be curious if any of you do this and how you go about doing this.