2 sheaths, help/avice on edges and tooling?

[MarkJeffrey]

Here are 2 sheaths, one finished.. for an unfinished knife, and the other still in the works for a clever I haven't even started yet. I know it's not the best way to go about it,. making the sheath before the knives are finished,. but its a wee bit cold here in eastern Canada and my shop doesn't have heat so I do this in the house when I get a little stir crazy. I find that the tooling on these doesn't seem 'deep' enough? Especially on the square cleaver sheath. And I'm still getting a bit of fuzz on my edges. Any comments much appreciated. Thanks!

 

[sheathmaker]

Well, first of all you are correct, the sheath should come AFTER the knife is completely finished, but the style sheath you chose is very forgiving regarding final fit so I think you'll be fine. The carving and tooling looks good and plenty deep. The only thing lacking are the decorative cuts in the carving. When they are added the whole thing will come to life.

Edges…..there's a standard procedure which involves a lot of elbow grease ala hand sanding and burnishing. There are a lot of discussion here on that subject if you use your search function.

Good work over all.

Paul

 

[MarkJeffrey]

Thanks Paul, I'll do some searching on burnishing

 

[bflying]

I use a belt sander with a worn out belt to get the edge close (could just be a very fine grit belt, just happened to have a course grit that is totally loaded with crap). Then it's all elbow grease from there. I start with a little dampness and a smooth boning tool to burnish the sides. The degree of tuning seems to be directly related to the time put in. For me anyway. I may also add a little leather cream like Friebings Aussie Cream, and keep going with the burnish.

Depending on the look that I want to end up with, I sometimes add a little Edge-Kote paint, let it dry, then keep going on burnishing. All depends if I want a smooth natural leather look, or a solid color for more of a rugged look.

The real jump in skill comes with practice, and reading as much as you can from the pro's here on the forum. I'm still a novice and thus still learning.

Here's a couple I brought to the office today. The top one I left natural because the leather color contrast from the liner looked cool. The bottom one has Edge-Kote to make it look more solid.

Oh, and nice tooling by the way. As mentioned above, a few well placed swivel knife cuts will really add to the finish.

 

[Chris Meyer]

While there is lots of good advice to be found here, there is a .pdf by a guy named Bob Park that gives some useful information on finishing edges and, at one page, is a quick download.