Custom machete sheaths - Thread Updated 06/15/12

wildmanh

wildmanh

Part time Leather Bender/Sheath maker
Joined
Jul 9, 2000
Messages
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Since shipping sheaths for Blade show I've been working on a few sheaths and thought I would share pictures of some of the Custom machete sheaths. All are ready for the welt to be glued and stitched. Each sheath will be double stitched and have a 1.5" D-ring and Dangler loop.

From left to right; #1 Fitted for a 12" Ontario (will fit a fiddleback with a touch of wiggle room), #2. Pouch sheath based off a 12" Fiddleback pattern For a Ranger knives RD 7, customer will wet mold the sheath to his RD-7. #3 12" Fiddleback.

custom_machete_01_med.JPGcustom_machete_02_med.JPG

Hope to have pictures of these 3 finished by Monday or Tuesday evening. Thanks for looking!
 
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Looking good Heber and i'm looking forward to recieving my 12" machete sheath. ;)

Doug
 
d762nato said:
Looking good Heber and i'm looking forward to recieving my 12" machete sheath. ;)

Doug
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Thanks! Yours is #3. Last night I finished stitching the first row of stitching. Am landscaping part of my mom's yard right now but will get to finishing your sheath ASAP. Thanks!
 
Sheath's #1 and #2 are done so here are some pictures:

#1 All ready for this weekends campout!
custom_machete_03_med.JPGcustom_machete_05_med.JPGcustom_machete_04_med.JPG

#2
custom_machete_06_med.JPGcustom_machete_07_med.JPG


I'll get pictures of #3 up tomorrow. Thanks for looking!
 
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Great work Mr. Wildman. Your stitching is looking really straight, clean and tight. Looks like you've been getting lots of practice haha ;) Keep it coming :thumbup:
 
pveiled said:
Great work Mr. Wildman. Your stitching is looking really straight, clean and tight. Looks like you've been getting lots of practice haha ;) Keep it coming :thumbup:
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Thanks! I'm glad the hard work shows. And I can't wait for the customers to get their sheaths and put them to use.
 
Heber it looks like you have made a sheath that will help my RD get more time in the woods. All of your work is impressive :thumbup:
 
fishiker said:
Heber it looks like you have made a sheath that will help my RD get more time in the woods. All of your work is impressive :thumbup:
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Thanks fishiker! I'd love to have pictures of it after you have a chance to wet mold it to your knife. I can post them to this thread if thats okay.

#3 is done and here are the pictures:

custom_machete_08_med.JPGcustom_machete_09_med.JPGcustom_machete_10_med.JPG

The sheath has some character marks along the spine side near the middle and on the back. The leather I used was really thick too. The edging along the welt is some of the best that I have ever done. That sheath was hard to let go. I know the new owner will like it!

Thanks for looking!
 
wildmanh said:
Thanks fishiker! I'd love to have pictures of it after you have a chance to wet mold it to your knife. I can post them to this thread if thats okay.

#3 is done and here are the pictures:

View attachment 283672View attachment 283673View attachment 283671

The sheath has some character marks along the spine side near the middle and on the back. The leather I used was really thick too. The edging along the welt is some of the best that I have ever done. That sheath was hard to let go. I know the new owner will like it!

Thanks for looking!
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That's a beauty!!! Heber, I'll be waiting by the mailbox for this one. My FB Machete is soooo! naked right now i can't take her out of the house.:D

Doug
 
wildmanh said:
Thanks fishiker! I'd love to have pictures of it after you have a chance to wet mold it to your knife. I can post them to this thread if thats okay.

#3 is done and here are the pictures:

View attachment 283672View attachment 283673View attachment 283671

The sheath has some character marks along the spine side near the middle and on the back. The leather I used was really thick too. The edging along the welt is some of the best that I have ever done. That sheath was hard to let go. I know the new owner will like it!

Thanks for looking!
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Heber i recieved this sheath today and you did a great job on it. It fits my machete just right.
Thanks Doug
 
macmiddlebrooks said:
Can you please post a brief tutorial on how to "wet mold" a 12" FB machete to on of your sheaths?
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The wet molding or wet forming (interchangeable term) that I do on the machete sheaths is very simple. Once everything is glued and stitched to the sheath, I soak the sheath in hot water. You can either run hot water over it, or fill up the sink and dunk the sheath in the sink.

Once bubbles stop forming on the sheath, I take it out of the water, set the sheath on a flat surface and fold the sheath in half. Then I flatten the sheath along the edge. This part takes a while sometimes. You have to make sure that the sheath has a nice flat taco shape to it. Once you do this, you either lay the sheath out to dry or hang it up. If you lay it flat, make sure there is a towel underneath and that you flip the sheath every few hours. This can take a few days to dry (48 to 72 hours). I bought some pegboard and peg hooks and now hang my sheaths to dry when ever possible. On a warm day a sheath dries on 24 hours.

Thats how I wet mold/form a fold over style sheath. Hope that helps. If you need more info, feel free to ask. Thanks!
 
Ok, thanks so much for the detailed response. I was apparently erroneously under the impression that this technique was used as a last step finishing touch done to mold the shape of the knife into the leather so that it didn't wiggle around when seated. Thank you for clarifying this for me, now I just feel silly :).
 
macmiddlebrooks said:
Ok, thanks so much for the detailed response. I was apparently erroneously under the impression that this technique was used as a last step finishing touch done to mold the shape of the knife into the leather so that it didn't wiggle around when seated. Thank you for clarifying this for me, now I just feel silly :).
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There's no need to feel silly. There are lots of different ways to make a sheath and so many different terms that it gets quite confusing at times. The Main body of sheaths #1 and #3 covers just the blade so it is wet molded part way through making of the sheath.

Now sheath #2 is a little different. It was cut so that the Blade and half of the handle of a Ranger Knives RD7 would fit into the main body of the sheath. The customer is wet molding the main body so that it fits the handle. I heard from the customer Tuesday that #2 has been wet molded a bit to the RD7 and that he will get me pictures when it's finished to his liking. I will be posting those pictures as soon as I have them. So you were right on one sheath that it will be wet molded to the handle at the end. The end process in #2's case just happens to be at the Customers house. :)

Sometimes people don't want to send a knife and are comfortable wet molding their own sheath. When this happens, I work with them as best I can. It's a win-win for both of us. :) Let me know if you have more questions. Thanks!!
 
Heber does great work....he recently crafted me up a sweet sheath for my Leatherman Wave....I wanted it to carry in the horizontal position so he sewed on a back piece, MOLLE compatable, & it rides very well on a tact belt....thanks Heber for crafting up another fine sheath!

photostream
 
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