Cammo leather sheat

M

Macan

Joined
Apr 7, 2014
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349
This sheat I made for a customer which is my leather supplier. He has got a lot of knives so I hope if he likes this I will have a lot of others to practice with. The leather for sheat is pre dyed. This time I made bigger space bitween stitches so it looks more even. Can someone tell me if there is a problem if space is bigger(functionally)?
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That is a really nice sheath. I use 5 stitches per inch myself which is rather large stitching. I do not know enough about leatherwork to answer if there is any function gains for smaller stitches. I do know the smaller stitch adds a little more difficulty to the project therefore elevating it a little. But once again, as far as function I have no clue. I would think it would strenghten your stitching but weaken the leather. I'll be looking forward to the awesome knowledge I'm sure one of the pro's will share with us.

Thanks for posting,

Todd
 
Nice sheath :thumbup:

I am the biggest fan and proponent of simple working sheaths , so to my eye it looks great .
My love of simplicity also leads me to liking larger stitching spacing and even though the vast majority of sheaths I've made have been small folder sheaths I still used what is probably considered too large a spacing on them .
In my uneducated opinion you should just make what you want to make , with designs and techniques that please you and you alone .
If you do that you will start to develop a style that is easily recognisable as your own .
Don't follow the crowd , be out in front :)
Nice job .

Ken

Edit - I don't believe that larger stitch spacing causes problems with the sheaths structure if the adhesive has been properly applied .
 
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Macan nice work. I've seen some camo chap leathers and always thought it would be fun to make a pair of my leggings out of that but havn't ever got around to it yet.

Great question on the stitching, When I hand sewed, I did everything at 5 stitches to the inch. When I got a machine I experimented with different stitch lengths. I have settled on 7 stitches per inch and I have not moved it for decades. This stitch length seems to work well for the very large variety of projects I do. To my eye it just looks right and I know it is very durable. I have a holster of mine still in use that I hand sewed many years ago with the larger stitch length. This holster has seen many, many miles of hard use on the ranch carrying a heavy Smith and Wesson revolver and is still servicable today. Like Ken mentioned the edges are still good and that is where the weak spot is with the larger stitching

Making as many sheaths for other knives besides my own I get to see a lot of different leatherwork as many of the knives I receive to make a sheath for come in a sheath. I've seen stitching from huge looped stitches maybe 2 to the inch to tiny little stitches that had me asking "did ya do this on purpose?" Those huge stitches; the stiching wasn't very strong, the thread was loose and edges were separating. Those tiny tiny stitches; the leather isn't very strong, its been perforated like a postage stamp.

A lot of this also (to me) seems to be a matter of proportion and what looks right to the eye for the project. We leave Nichole's smaller flatbed machine set up with smaller thread (138 where as I use 202 almost exclusively) and her stitch length at 9 per inch seems about perfect for her pursework, headstalls, wallets even belts. But something lke a sheath or a holster that I'm sewing with a heavier thread the larger stitch "looks" right.

So in my opinion a larger stitch length does not weaken a project as long as you don't go too big and conversely a smaller stitch length does not weaken a project as long as you don't go too small. Here's one place in life where the average might be best.
 
Forgot to mention love the handle on that knife. Use to be able to get some Barbados goat horn that would finish up like that. Havn't been able to get any for years though.
 
Thank you guys! I wish I could dye leather like that, but it was pre dyed at tannery. I made a couple mistakes however, so I am trying to fix it now. First is that I made a wedge so now when the sheat is upside down and shake lightly knife wouldn't slip, but if its shaked vigorously it will, so I will have to use Dave's advice and glue a piece of leather inside to make friction better. The second problem is that I cannot made a perfectly flat edge, but we discussed that earlier. I dont have a belt grinder ( I think that would help to make it even). The leather was already folded couple of times with some wrinkles, so I am not shure could that also be a problem? I wanted to know which RPM you guys use for sanding on belt grinder, and edge burnishing on wooden lathe?
 
I have a Grizzly 6x48" belt grinder with a 9" disc. This is the machine I use for most of my sanding and I do use a dedicated leather belt. Its not hooked up to my VFD so the belt speed is 3200. Same with my lathe for rubbing. It does have adjustable speed but I leave it at its fastest at 3580. The wrinkles can be helped (prior to construction) by getting the leather damp and then slicking it or glassing it. Ya want to rub it when the color is just coming back from getting it damp and you do this firmly on your stone. I'll see if I can find a pic.
 
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Here it is, this is from the pancake sheath tutorial:

BQuQS7Q.jpg


So this piece of wood is Ligum Vitae the hardest wood there is. If I read the Janka chart correctly its 100 times harder than oak. Anyhoo its hard. I rounded the bottom corners of this block so as not to make indentations in the leather. As the leather is coming back to color you rub hard "slicking" the leather. This compresses the fibers uniformly so that any tooling is better but it also helps with any imperfections (it is just a dead cow after all) in the leather. It will help with rangemarks, wrinkles, inscet bites etc. Now it won't make these things go away but it does help. A LOT! I slick almost every piece of leather I work with (veggie tan I should say). It just makes it more uniform. With tooling it really helps to keep your depth of stamping uniform and consistent throughout your project. I rub the stick away from me and then turn the leather around to finish always rubbing away from me. Not sure that that matters all that much, just how I was shown to do it many years ago.
 
Thank you Dave for helping me, and from know on I will pay more attention to what you pros talkin about. Every advice should be memorized because it will spare some time and/or money. I think I figured out where I make mistake. I usually bigger bumps first sand with Dremell and then sand with two different sand papers with wooden block and then edge burnish with wooden stick on battery drill which cannot have I think big RPM. Mistake was in my opinion that I somehow didnt know that I should dampen the leather before sanding. When I tried that the result was much better (now I have to find some gum or that new stuff that you Dave Use, cause I use only water for edge burnishing) I dont have the before picture

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Macan, if you don't have gum tragacanth or the Wyo Slick that Dave uses, glycerin saddle soap can be used to help slick the edge as well.

Keep up the good work!
Chris
 
Nicely done. The camo leather is cool.
 
Beeswax and or parrafin wax also works for edge rubbing if ya can't find the others.
 
Spit on your finger , spread it on the edge and rub like hell with 800 grit paper :)
That's how this one was done .

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Ken
 
Thanks again guys! Ken I always loved that picture its just great!
I have got another question. When I hold sheat upside down and shake it up and down lightly, knife will not slip, but if its vigorously shaken it will. What is the rule for this type of sheat ?
 
Horsewright said:
Here it is, this is from the pancake sheath tutorial:

BQuQS7Q.jpg


So this piece of wood is Ligum Vitae the hardest wood there is. If I read the Janka chart correctly its 100 times harder than oak. Anyhoo its hard. I rounded the bottom corners of this block so as not to make indentations in the leather. As the leather is coming back to color you rub hard "slicking" the leather. This compresses the fibers uniformly so that any tooling is better but it also helps with any imperfections (it is just a dead cow after all) in the leather. It will help with rangemarks, wrinkles, inscet bites etc. Now it won't make these things go away but it does help. A LOT! I slick almost every piece of leather I work with (veggie tan I should say). It just makes it more uniform. With tooling it really helps to keep your depth of stamping uniform and consistent throughout your project. I rub the stick away from me and then turn the leather around to finish always rubbing away from me. Not sure that that matters all that much, just how I was shown to do it many years ago.
Click to expand...

For compression and burnishing I've been using Tandy's glass. It does really help a lot. But I really like Horsewrights "cowboy way" using a block of wood that probably even works better.

For my edges, I've been using a table top 4" belt sander. Slap on a heavy grit to shape a glued up project prior to drilling and stitching. Then put on an old worn out belt (any remaining grit is actually pretty loaded up) that I use to smooth the edge out. But still hand burnish with a dowel and/or boning tools to finish up.

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harronek said:
Spit on your finger , spread it on the edge and rub like hell with 800 grit paper :)
That's how this one was done .

IMG_1070_zps85da3b33.jpg


Ken
Click to expand...

Did I mention that I absolutely LOVE well burnished stacked leather? Probably will a few hundred more times. One of my favorite sheaths is 7 layers at it's thickest point of at least 4 different thicknesses. I can't find the pic right now, but have posted it before (for my fixed zt). When I have it out, I find myself rubbing the edge like a worry stone. Ok, I'm weird, but have always loved leather.

Oh, and to the OP, great job above. I like it. Since I'm still drilling and hand stitching, your spacing looks pretty close to what I use.
 
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