Before and After

sheathmaker

sheathmaker

Custom Leather Sheaths
Joined
May 18, 2005
Messages
4,650
The photos below tell the story.

The first photo is all the parts and pieces represented by the pattern in the center. I generally cut out all the parts for each sheath before I start assembly. Just habit with me, but it seems to speed things along a little.

The next three , are about 2 hours or so later of the finished sheath from those parts. Wickett and Craig, of course, 7/8 lined with 2/3 in tannery dyed brown with Dark brown Shark inlay and a flat loop on the back. This sheath is designed for sash primary carry, but the belt loop could be used also.

Paul
 
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Wow!
Thank you for sharing, your work is absolutely stunning.
Now, once again I have a question. I take it that your leather is already dyed, how is it dyed? The pre tanned leather I have had so far had some kind of coating make the embossing kind of hard as it would not take water. Or is dyeing and tanning something different?
 
The leather I use from Wickett and Craig is drum dyed at the tannery. It cuts, carves and stamps just about the same and the undyed Russet. Dyeing and tanning are two different processes. All veg. tan is tanned, not all is dyed. Most tanneries use about the same techniques. Wickett and Craig produces only veg. tan (no chrome tan etc.) The leather you have had sounds like it is chrome tanned or some process other than veg. tan since it won't case easily.

Paul
 
Jup, i guess I should pay more attention to those details. And yes I think it was chrome tanned. Hmmm... This opens up new possibilities.
Thank you for your reply. I am always amazed when I see your work. Maybe because I like the smooth clean style.
 
I can attest to the efficiency of his process. There is hardly a moment of down time and, if I'm not watchful during a visit, he'll run me over! He can pick up a knife and have it sheathed, in a fancy sheath no less, within 3 hours. Besides cutting every single piece of leather, including the welt, up front, his gluing is down to the second. He knows exactly when to apply a layer, lay it under the fan, move to the next step, and so on. It is very much a one man assembly line in efficiency.
 
hmmm, i give up, i contacted some leather suppliers over here and they all told me that there is no veg tanned leather in different colors which takes tooling well. before further derailing this i will maybe start another thread.
 
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