Do you guys dye the inside of your sheaths?

Phillip Patton

Phillip Patton

Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Jul 25, 2005
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I have been, but I'm thinking it may not be a good idea. What say you all?
 
I started out dying the inside, but aggressive handle patterns were coming out with the color on them. I burnish and seal the insides of my work now, instead. YMMV.

Chuck
 
cjpgeyer said:
I started out dying the inside, but aggressive handle patterns were coming out with the color on them. I burnish and seal the insides of my work now, instead. YMMV.

Chuck
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Thanks for your input! How do you burnish it?
 
I dye the inside, but not as heavily as the outside....just a light coat so that when you look in, it doesnt look like raw leather.
 
whatever paul long lines hi ssheaths with is outstanding........it's a nice uniform color and smooth as butter....ryan
 
You need to be really careful with dying the inside of your sheaths, especially with the lighter shades; the dye will soak through to the outside of the sheath and leave blotches.:grumpy:
 
ryan9977 said:
whatever paul long lines hi ssheaths with is outstanding........it's a nice uniform color and smooth as butter....ryan
Click to expand...
Deer skin. I do believe that Paul prefers to have his hides dyed at the factory also.
 
I've had some problems when I have dyed the inside of my sheaths used to sheath carbon steel blades. On a couple of them it seems to have caused a quicker than usually rust reaction; especially with 52100 blades for some reason. For that reason I have decided to just burnish the inside and stop dying them.

One of the best burnishing tools is a piece of cocobolo..since it's an oily wood it won't take out the natural oils from the leather so much and it's a dense stable wood of course as well. I make my own burnishers by shaping them how I want them and then sanding and buffing them smooth.
 
I dye both the inside and the outside of my sheaths. If you watch Chuck Burrows' video, he essentially submerges the sheath in a bucket of dye. As I recall from the dvd, Chuck gives his sheaths a liberal coating, inside and out, with Lexol conditioner and preservative. I have used Lexol and Tandy's Satin Shene, both with good success. I believe that you can also use Gum Tragacanth to get a smoother finish on the inside of your sheaths. It certainly works great on the edges.

For those who may not have seen it, Chuck Burrows DVDs on sheathmaking are worth their weight in gold. Center Cross Instructional Videos is one place to get, although their are probably other. Order a copy, you will be very pleased.

Don't forget, we now have a Sheath Sub-Forum here on Blade Forums. It's under the General Knife Discussion heading.
 
I die just enough to not show raw leather when stitched together. About an inch around the opening.
 
I dye a half a shoulder hide at a time, both sides The raw side fairly lightly with just enough to color it.
 
Thanks for all the input, guys.
My main concern is that the dye would stain the knife, or cause corrosion. A couple of you mentioned the dye causing rust. Were you using oil or water based dye? I only use oil based.
 
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