Third sheath attempt..

D

Dogpiss

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Oct 7, 2017
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Im making a kabar style leather sheath for an Ontario sp 48.
It's a large full flat grind.
My leather seems to be ~1/16".
(Old craftsman belt, still stiff-ish)
Since my spine is a bit over 3/16", can I make it 3 layers (including the outside layers) against the edge, and 4 layers against the spine?
I'm even considering using my old thinner saddlebags leather on each side. (One on each.) Will it work out to mismatch the edge and spine sides?
Thanks for reading!
 
Yes, you can stack leather in order to get the desired thickness of each panel. Test stack your leather before gluing. If you're going to make a 3 piece stacked sheath, you'll have your back and front panel, and your welt between the two panels ( 3 pieces. ) If you're doing a fold-over style, laminate the entire piece of leather with another to the desired thickness you want. Lay your welt of desired thickness between the piece once it's folded over. The welt on this style will run the length from the mouth of the sheath to the tip, outlining the cutting edge to protect the stitching, and give space for your blade thickness. Once everything is the way you want it, glue it up, then stitch it all together.
 
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Well done on that mini tutorial High Standard :)

I agree, and yes stacking the welt is plenty acceptable and does help with the stiffness of the sheath, especially when using very thin leather.
 
High Standard said:
Yes, you can stack leather in order to get the desired thickness of each panel. Test stack your leather before gluing. If you're going to make a 3 piece stacked sheath, you'll have your back and front panel, and your welt between the two panels ( 3 pieces. ) If you're doing a fold-over style, laminate the entire piece of leather with another to the desired thickness you want. Lay your welt of desired thickness between the piece once it's folded over. The welt on this style will run the length from the mouth of the sheath to the tip, outlining the cutting edge to protect the stitching, and give space for your blade thickness. Once everything is the way you want it, glue it up, then stitch it all together.
Click to expand...
That all makes sense, but is it okay to put different thicknesses of layers on opposing sides?
Say 3 layers against the edge, and four against the spine?
(Sorry if you answered this and I couldn't see it. I read your post four times before replying)
 
Dogpiss said:
That all makes sense, but is it okay to put different thicknesses of layers on opposing sides?
Say 3 layers against the edge, and four against the spine?
(Sorry if you answered this and I couldn't see it. I read your post four times before replying)
Click to expand...
What type of sheath do you want to make ? A fold-over or a 3 piece ?
 
A 3 piece sheath is what's called a stacked sheath. You have the front and back panel, and the welt which outlines the entire knife. A 1/2 inch wide welt is a good enough to stitch and sand/final finish your edges all the way around the sheath.

I'm not sure why you would need 4 pieces to make the sheath. I think you're getting confused.

Glue 2 of your thin pieces of leather together for the front panel, do the same for the back panel. So far, 2 total pieces. You may have to use 3 pieces glued together for the thickness of your welt depending on the thickness of the blade. Whatever thickness you decide, you still only have 3 finished pieces of leather to construct the sheath with. The front and back panel as well as the welt.
 
I think I understand your wording now.
I'm asking specifically about the welt.
I'm thinking 2 stacked pieces for the spine welt, and 1 piece for the edge welt. Then 1 piece for the front panel, one piece for the back panel.
So since I'm making the edge and spine went out of scraps, (3) I have 5 pieces of leather total, prior to glueing.
Question is in regards to making the spine welt thicker than the edge wept.
I hope I'm not irritating you because I'm daft.
 
The edge welt should be thicker than the one thin piece of leather you have in my opinion. You want to protect the stitch line, especially on the cutting edge.
I use 9-10 ounce on my standard welt, which is 9/64 - 5/32 thick.
The knife you mention is pretty big. If you like your knives real sharp, putting that knife in and out of the sheath over time will eventually cut/destroy your stitches with such a thin welt.
 
Ok now I see it too, darned if we both missed that part!

Going with High Standard here again and add that its much easier to join equal layers at the tip of the knife sheath. Skiving that welt down to size there at the tip can be done, but its a practice that can make even the most experienced maker pull their hair out.

Master of masters Sandy Morissey taught that welting should be equal to the thickness of the blade of the knife. Occasionally he would slightly thin toward the tip so it grabs the knife a little, it also gives a nice slight wedge shape to the sheath spine, but that is the aforementioned skiving best left to the practice bench before attempting.
 
Dogpiss said:
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Here's a link to a sheath I did. Look at the third photo. I used the same thickness welt all the way around the sheath. I added a piece of thinner leather about 1-1/2 - 2" long on either side of the mouth of the sheath, which I skived down to "0" as it goes towards the tip of the knife. This allows for a tight blade fit, but, more importantly, this allowed me to get the knife in at the mouth opening without destroying the leather at the opening. Doing it this way allows for real nice retention of the knife.
https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/my-1-year-anniversary-sheath.1558705/
 
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If you're unsure about how thick your welt should be, lay your final thickness of your back panel flat on a table. Take the opening up to the edge of your table leaving the knife handle hanging off the table. Now you will see how thick your welt needs to be to come up to the top of your blade. ( This is if you're going to have your guard above the opening of the sheath )
If so, keep laminating your thin leather for the welt. It's OK if the welt height is a little below the blade thickness. Once the sheath is glued and stitched, It will stretch a bit around your blade for a nice tight fit.
 
High Standard said:
Here's a link to a sheath I did. Look at the third photo. I used the same thickness welt all the way around the sheath. I added a piece of thinner leather about 1-1/2 - 2" long on either side of the mouth of the sheath, which I skived down to "0" as it goes towards the tip of the knife. This allows for a tight blade fit, but, more importantly, this allowed me to get the knife in at the mouth opening without destroying the leather at the opening. Doing it this way allows for real nice retention of the knife.
https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/my-1-year-anniversary-
sheath.1558705/
Click to expand...
After seeing your post, I couldn't wait to get home and work on it!
That's a great idea!
I'm trying it. I added some semi-sanded scraps to emulate that taper.
It's all glued, other than the top panel.
I'm gonna wait to show it to a buddy before I do that.
So I started awling some holes in it.
Tough because it's a wide knife, even with this huge belt I'm using.
He has proper tools too, so I may be able to embed the stitching a little. (I don't know the proper term)
I'll be sure to figure out how to post pictures when I finish.
Sure won't be a work of art like yours though.
If this turns out to be a failure, I may consider trying wet forming..
 
Glad you got it worked out. Wet forming is usually used for a fold-over or butterfly type of sheath in which majority of the handle is inside the sheath for retention of the knife. It would be difficult to wet form that particular knife due to the guard. A 3 piece sheath is the way to go with that SP-48 having the guard rest on top of the mouth of the sheath.
 
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