Leather Cobra wrapped Thai Stick from Aranyik distict of Thailand!

[ndoghouse]

Well It wasnt even an hour after I finished gluing the snake skin down and I decided to take a break and walk the dogs. I got them all leashed up and we stepped out the door and as I turned around to close the door I realized we all just walked past a Copperhead about a foot away all coiled up and ready to strike! Luckily it didnt and I got to strike first. Anywayz I got another snake skin to make a sheath with! Its been in and out of the tanning solution and now ready to go.

My tools finally came in and I finished the project but just been too lazy to process and upload all the pics and stuff but here goes.

I got me a few Wuta Edgers. They are Japanese made and really nice precision tools from what I can tell. Also got a few Pricking irons (fork looking things) to get the stitch spacing right and a few different colors of Tiger thread. Seems most people agree that this is one of the best threads to use but Im now tending to believe that the artificial sinew looks nicer when done. I think I know why Pugs uses it! On the right is a groover which cuts a "vee" groove on the inside of the leather when you want to make a sharp bend in something like a belt loop. It thins the leather and makes it easier to bend.

To attach the belt loop I needed to thin the leather since it ended up being about four layers thick. I tried my little spoke shaves to skive it and they worked pretty dang good. Next time Ill integrate the belt loop etc. in the same piece of leather. Theres many ways to shave the leather down but this worked best for me now. Ill prolly just use my Kiridashi knife next time then maybe one day Ill finish my head knife or get me a French skiver?

All thinned down and ready to glue.

All glued down and stitched in. I left one side unstitched . It gets stitched when I glue the other panel on.

There it is done. Now time to glue the panels together.

Once dry I clamp together and hammer them home.

No way I could punch for the stitching. I had to use Pug's method of drilling the stitching holes. It was just too thick to make holes even with an awl.

Time to stitch! Note the thickness. Man that was a lot of stitching! I finally got in the groove and got it done. I decided to omit the rivets since the stitching was recessed deep enough.

After getting it all stitched up I needed to dye the edges but disaster struck. Dangit all! I didnt realize I was droolin dye all over the other side. That Pen wasnt such a good idea I guess. Maybe I shouldda used a smaller one or a brush or something?
Oh well I considered doing it in black anyway but I think the brown matched the blade handle better. Too late now!

All black now!

After edge dying and burnishing it came out looking pretty good anyway. I couldnt get the layers to disappear like some people can. Maybe I need to work on the glueing process. What do you think Pugs? You use regular contact cement eh? I might try that next time but Ill have to do that in the shop so I dont stink out my wife.

I wrapped the cobra skin around the entry part which may end up being a mistake for wear reasons but I figure I can always remove it dye and burnish it if it dont work out.

Baldric straps came out pretty good but I burned the snake skin when trying to burn the ends of the threads. Snake skin burns way faster than regular leather. I got me a plasma cigar lighter now for that. Hope that works out next time.

I put a few layers of carnuba wax first to condition the leather then about three coats of acrylic resolene and a good buffing. Dont know if thats right or wrong but it looks good!

There's the back and I'm calling this project done. I'm still happy with it even though I made plenty of mistakes. The fact that its black kinda hides some of the defects but Ill get more practice soon and hopefully get better as I learn more. Thanks for all the help Pugs! Cant wait to do a Khukri sheath. I think I got to do a draw knife cover first tho. Thanks for all the comments and suggestions folks. I can use all I can get! Enjoy!​

 

[Bawanna]

Looks really fine to me. A maker see's every little goof but I don't see any. A ton of work in that leather work.

Love the knife too.

 

[EricTheRedBeard]

I love the black. Like you said it will hide the imperfections. Easier to touch up over the years. Great job!

 

[ndoghouse]

Yeah, Thats true too Eric. I havent thought of that but black is the easiest to repair! I think i need to make a baldric carry strap for it now. It has to fit a few other knives I have as well so It needs to be adjustable. Ill add it to here when I get around to it.

 

[ndoghouse]

After carrying this knife a bit I decided I didnt like it hanging straight down like the smaller knives. It seems to ride better with the handle tilted to the front so I had to make a modification to the sheath and move the ring to the front.

Not to big of a deal tho. I just cut out some of the welt on the front removed some stitching then put it all back together again. The stitching in the opening is only cosmetic for the most part so it could stay. I only had to remove about an inch or so.
Now its time for a proper carry strap. This is what I came up with. I waned plenty of adjustment in case I wanted to use it for other things like water bottle etc. Heres the idea:

Since some of the knives I carry are monsters I think its a good idea to add a shoulder pad. WTH?

I cut the straps one inch wide to accommodate all the hardware I bought. I meant to use 3/4" but oh well this is what I got so its got to work. Im using all brass hardware except for some copper rivets on the belt loops. Those btw were a bit of a pain in the arse to make. They worked out very strong and fit perfectly so I aint complaining. I still need some practice on them rivets tho. I think ill round off the edges of the rivet setter so them lines dont get imprinted.

Thats pretty much the end result. I think ill polish out the belt a bit more to improve the shine but thats easy enuff later.

Now for the shoulder pad!

The parts. The snakeskin is spitting cobra.

Had to stitch the letters on first before I added the back. I had to rub the skin with epoxy to seal it because aparently they used some kinda of water based dye to "enhance" what I thought was a natural skin and it wasnt. Anyway the epoxy cracked up and mad a real mess of the thing. Disaster to say the least. What now. Well spen about 20 hours picking all that crap orr and peeling the skin away and cleaning the leather underneath to start over. I didn't want to remove all the stitching so I decided to put it on the scanner and make a patter with all the stitching cut out. I could then glue it down and tuck it underneath all the letters and edging to make it look like it was there before i sewed the pieces on. Well thats what I came up with. I like the contrast of the first one but the brown cobra skin worked out good to so Im calling this done!

What a pain. I think this pad took longer than all the rest of the project!

My stitching is getting a little bit better too I think.

Done deal!!!
​

 

[ndoghouse]

Got another wild hair up my yang fellas. Im going to add it to this post since its related. Not that it was an easy task but finally got it done. Its a pretty whacky looking knife but I bet theres a few of you that know exactly what it is....especially Pugs! Its called a head knife or half moon knife or the many other slang names it seems to sport? Its for cutting leather. I thought it would be very useful but some task I thought it would be useful for were a bit different than I thought when I started using it.

The construction method is pretty self explanatory. I used a piece of a saw blade for the blade. I forged it out and tempered it and had plenty of warping problems. I should have normalized the blade several times before tempering but managed to get it straightened out anyway after considerable grinding. It was ground on diamond stones mostly but on the finer grits I went with Japanese waterstones and finished with a strop. Let me tell you this is as sharp as my Japanese Yanagiba blue steel no.2 (sushi knife)! It will more than shave. I didnt mirror polish as I kind of like the grinding and polish markings as they are.

Since its a right handed knife the left side is flat like a sushi knife which makes it very precise and sharp. Not full tang because I ran out of saw blade in that direction.

And of course I had to make a sheath for it! Its a side entry which worked out better than I expected for such a weird shape.

The round head makes it easy to roll across the leather for precise cuts. Also I found out that putting the heal into the cutting board and holding it stationary allowed me to pull the leather across it to cut long pieces very accurately while watching your markings. That rabbit hole is getting deeper Pugs! Still no rabbit in sight? Hmmm? Enjoy!​

 

[Bawanna]

Dang that's cooler than cool. Now I want a Head Knife. I'd say the rabbit hole is turning into a sink hole. Your really getting the hang of this leather stuff.

 

[ndoghouse]

Thx bawanna! yep some of them tools get pretty expensive if you want a good one. Bout ready to pour some concrete in the bottom of that hole!

 

[davidf99]

The blade is a lot like an Ulu, but the handle is different. Some Ulu's -- probably most -- have pointed tips like yours, but mine seems a bit safer to handle (and store).

My Ulu:

 

[ndoghouse]

Nice Ulu BTW! Yeah actually thats what I was thinking I could use but like you said the handle ergonomics is different. Now after using it a bit more I can see why. Ha! Today I discovered another use for it! Its great for cutting fletching for arrows! I have a template I use made of tape and stick it down to the feather and trim around the template and it works wonderfully! I dont have an Ulu but want to make me one soon! I love the utility of an Ulu! An Ulu blade is considerably thicker than a head knife and it would need a double bevel for sure. That would be a fun project! Damn! I guess Ill have to make a sheath for it too

 

[davidf99]

All Ulus are basically the same, but there's a surprising number of variations in blade and handle shapes, within the genre. You might want to do a web search to get ideas for yours.

Here's an image I found of an Ulu design that's actually kind of silly, but each to his own taste. I suppose it could be called a "tactical Ulu".

Possibly more dangerous to the holder than to anyone else. Rather beautiful with all those curves, but looks like it belongs in a slasher movie. I don't think I'd want to be in the same room with it.

 

[ndoghouse]

Yep! I have done plenty of exploring already. That one is pretty crazy. The handle is in the wrong place. Id move it way down behind the recurved part and call it a Khukri! ..er KLO. I guess thats in case you get attacked by a seal?
Oh man! I should have covered that sheath in that piece of copperhead skin! Oh well. That piece of leather I used wasnt the best quality. Im learning that I dont know crap about leather quality. Im getting better tho. That stuff Ive been using is kind of fluffy and when you burnish the edges it fluffs up more than it packs down and gets shiny. Got to use chemicals to harden it so it will polish out. I do have some better leather now so Ill try it soon. I think theres a whole lot less work involved when you start out with the good stuff. Like anything else. Live and learn.