Demographic question (lefties)

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Omega Leather Works

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Jun 13, 2007
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I have mostly been doing full on custom work lately, but I start to panic when my work is done. I plan to do another batch of sheaths for a specific range of knives.

In my custom work I've only had one request for a left handed sheath. Out of curiosity, about how many left handed sheaths do you make for every right hander? I plan to do maybe 5-6 righties and 1 lefty. For those of you that do a high volume, what would your advice be?

And a question for all sheath makers. What do you do with your sheaths that don't sell immediately?

Thanks guys.

Anthony
 
I don't have accurate figures but over the past ten years and about 6000 sheaths I'd say it's right at 95% right and 5% left, and having said that I never make a left hand sheath as a spec sheath period. The lefties are all custom order. If you are making clip pocket sheaths the count is just the reverse. A clip sheath carried in the right hand front pocket is in reality a left hand sheath. It carries correctly for right hand use when clipped into the pocket.

In answer to your second question, I rarely ever have an unsold sheath,because 99.9% of what I make is custom order so in effect it's sold when I cut the leather. There will be times when a sheath just doesn't pan out right either fit, or you made a right and needed a left or some other minor mistake. Those accumulate in a brief case and I carry them to shows and offer them as "rejects" at half price and I sell out every time. They fit the mystery knife well enough to suit the purchaser.

Finally, I know you are anxious to "get to work", but slow down, be patient, the orders will come more and more frequently. Use the time to develop technique, and practice your stamping and carving. You will find your spec sheaths are worth less to your customers and they will be more of a pain in the rear to sell than your custom stuff……….UNLESS you plan to specialize in BUSSE, BECKER, BARK RIVER etc. where the same patterns are done over and over, then spec building is in reality just small factory production and that's A-OK!,………. and having stock on hand ready to ship is a plus.

Paul
 
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Thank you! That's exactly what I needed to hear.

I have other questions but I believe I'll take those to email.

I appreciate the figures on left hand to right hand ratio.
 
I have read many times before that approximately 10% of the world is left-handed. Given that most knives that come with a sheath are right-handed one might assume that there would at least be a 1 out of 10 demand for lefty sheaths if not more. Plus many pistol toting folks that are right-handed like a left hand knive sheath so they can carry the pistol on their right. That is theory, however, and Paul's considerable experience is fact so I would certainly go by his figures as a guideline. The owners of the non-defunct Blind Horse Knives were recently selling off their surplus stock of left-hand sheaths so evidently they calculated more demand than the actual. I bought 2 boxes full for less than $5 a sheath as even the cost of my time plus materials to make my own is more than that.

Incidently, I am actually mixed-handed although I often refer to my myself as left-handed. I bought Paul's videos just so that I could fashion my own left-handed sheaths.
 
I'm also mix handed. I write with my right hand, but shoot, play guitar (if I could play!) and do a lot of other stuff with my left dominant. Close to ambidextrous, but not quite.

I think I'll keep my lefties to request. I can't really afford to have sheaths sitting waiting for a buyer, and unless something changes, I'm probably going to go with custom work entirely as Paul has recommended. :)
 
My experience would be the same as Paul's, buddy. I might go a couple of months with out making a lefty. Then I'll make 5 or 6, then none, ya just never know. But I would give it 95 to 5 percent too. Here's a thought and I say this as I know how much you enjoy the design process, design a sheath that will work both ways, lefty or right. I have one that will go 360 on a belt and always hold the knife in the correct position regardless. Works good but not for everybody. What can you come up with?
 
Horsewright said:
My experience would be the same as Paul's, buddy. I might go a couple of months with out making a lefty. Then I'll make 5 or 6, then none, ya just never know. But I would give it 95 to 5 percent too. Here's a thought and I say this as I know how much you enjoy the design process, design a sheath that will work both ways, lefty or right. I have one that will go 360 on a belt and always hold the knife in the correct position regardless. Works good but not for everybody. What can you come up with?
Click to expand...

For my most typical pouch sheath-

23GJcvN.jpg


I have a pattern that I cut out of one of those flimsy plastic cutting boards. I just flip it for lefties, and it works. That said, I need to give more thought to how different designs may need to be tweaked a bit. Honestly, I thought it was just a matter of mirroring the other way around. I did one sheath for a leftie that was made like you say, where the pattern could work either way on either side. Time to put on the thinking cap.
 
Interesting that this comes up today. I was looking at the sheath for an Ontario knife I have. It's not a particularly well made sheath (now that I'm able to look more critically) but is functional at least for awhile. The thread is not in a groove to sink it into the leather. The thread stands out from the color of the leather. Little things like that are not makers or breakers but I'm able to evaluate them now where I wasn' t before.
The one thing that is outstanding about it is that it's an ambidextrous design. It's essentially a flat piece with a pouch for a whetstone on the outside of the pouch. It looks like it has a welt all the way around so the knife can fit in with the blade facing either way inside the sheath. Could be carried on the left or right side with the blade facing either way according to the desire of the user.
 
I have (what sounds like) a very similar Ontario sheath. Mine doesn't have the pouch and the front panel is nylon. The back, the loop and retention strap are all leather. I'd have to look at the welt. The knife does fit well and, like yours, is ambidextrous.

The cheap leather, the proud stitching, the awful retention straps (which nearly ruined them for me, thankfully Dwayne showed me that there was a much better way) and the way the handle pushes against the loop all made me blind to any good attributes. You're right though. Aside from all of the above, and for what is likely a very generic design, the fit is very good for both paws (north and south that is). I even like the nylon because I think some customers would like it if done well.

You a glass half full kinda guy? I gotta work on that.

Thanks for pointing it out before I tossed it in the can. ;)
 
Looking at your red sheath above buddy, you've come a long ways in a short time!
 
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Horsewright said:
Looking at your red sheath above buddy, you've come a long ways in a short time!
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Thanks David, that really means a lot to me. It's not my best work, but I agree, I've learned a lot. Especially from you guys here. Without the help of you, Rick Lowe, Paul Long, Dwayne, Jason, Skyler and a bunch of others (including awesome customers) I'd probably be making hacked up junk.

I know you've had to notice that some of the "first knife" examples on the Knife Making forum are stellar. The Internet is an amazing tool and everyone willing to share in how they do things is an enormous resource for anyone willing to pay attention. Outside of an apprenticeship, I cannot think of a better way to learn to improve.

I just remembered that I'd taken a couple of pics of that Ontario sheath.

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I'd forgotten about the diagonal strap. It works because the knife has a full guard. Maybe I'll just cut off the horizontal straps since they try so hard to get cut off anyway. Honestly, I've never carried the knife even once because of those. If the knife wasn't my late fathers, I'd probably have given it away by now. The truth is that a knifes sheath is just as important as the knife itself. If it sucks, the knife doesn't get used.
 
I do about 2 lefties out of every 100 so I would never build stock inventory for lefties, they would sit forever. When we get free time which is usually somewhere between hahaha and lol I will have them run out 3-5 of something in the more popular sheath/options/color combo. I usually just hold them back until someone orders in that combo since they are expecting a 2 month lead time at ordering and it shows up in 4 or 5 days makes for happy campers all the way around. Unless you only plan on offering a couple designs I would forget inventory all together, the cost to maintain one really blows and is better used acquiring equipment, tools and practice materials.

At times some people will change color or add or subtract options half way through the build so we will finish that one and set it aside. I have a couple of what we lovingly refer to as "Make up my "&*$%*&! mind" bins for them, when they get full I usually just ebay firesale them all to clear them out.
 
Skystorm said:
I will have them run out 3-5 of something in the more popular sheath/options/color combo.
Click to expand...

Yeah... I've had to come to terms with my own likes and what the majority likes. In my very first run (like 7 sheaths I think) I did a couple with basket weave, a couple in black, one in camo and something else, can't remember. They all sold except that camo sheath. It's a good one and the dye job took twice as long as a basic stamp and antique, but it appears my taste is just different. It's sitting there along with a black and red one. Couldn't understand why no one bit. Now that I'm doing more custom stuff it's obvious that people prefer a classic look otherwise they would likely go with Kydex.

When I started I bought a few shades of brown, black, GREEN, YELLOW and RED dyes and I haven't had a single customer spec anything besides brown or black. When I make something for myself I do something different, but I can fully appreciate a classic look. Actually makes my job easier. I had hopes of incorporating g10 and carbon fiber into my sheaths at one point (wanted to experiment with g10 welts, cf throats and clips and inlays and even trying to figure out a way to do a transparent window panel, etc) but no one seems to be interested.

Make what sells I guess.
 
Same problem in the beginning. I would make a bunch of awesome stuff (to me) that about no one wanted. Had to adjust my ratio of building what I want to what others want. This is where I learned that you have to step outside your favorite knife forum to appeal to a wider base. I started off in the Becker forum and still do about 70% of builds for Becker knives. Fiddlebackers tend more towards the traditional bushcrafty styled sheaths, exceptions to everything of course but if you figure 15-20 knives a week minus at least the half that go to collectors that don't require sheaths then divvy up the remaining between the half dozen or so sheath resident sheath makers in that forum alone it doesn't leave you much wiggle room for your artistic expression. Make a poll thread and see what they want.

I have a couple ideas forthcoming shortly that will be great for certain forums and fail spectacularly for others, can't worry about pleasing everyone.
 
Yeah that's a realistic look at my current state of affairs (in terms of quantity). I've made a handful of others, but I'm definitely looking at branching out. I love the Fiddlebacks and the crowd that buys them, but it's just not enough to sustain my needs. I have a great job, but it's beginning to look more and more like I won't be able to do it much longer. I know that sheath making cannot compete with my current income, at least not right now, but sometimes you don't have any choice.

Without breaking any forum rules, any advice on ways to build a (much) larger client base? There's Facebook and I need to look more at building a website. Are shows (knife or other) a viable means? What else? I've read with great interest over the years about the knife makers that go full time. Speaking quite honestly, this is a scary proposition.

I can build up supplies and tools while I still have a steady income.
 
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