First non hand stitched sheath

M

mt_hangglider

Joined
Jan 19, 2009
Messages
312
Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! I was able to finish my first non hand stitched sheath on the new Cobra yesterday. Thought I'd share. Blew a few stitches on the corners of the tabs but other than that, not too bad for a first. First time working with Ostrich too. Pretty interesting leather.

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and the new machine

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Thank you guys! Really enjoying it after spending the weekend figuring some things out. Even got a little more bold and made a holster yesterday.

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Congrats Mt on the sheath, holster and machine! All look very good. Looks like you're getting the hang of it for sure.
 
Horsewright said:
Congrats Mt on the sheath, holster and machine! All look very good. Looks like you're getting the hang of it for sure.
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Thank you Dave! Always appreciated! Yeah, the hardest thing so far has been figuring out tensioning based on the thickness of leather being sewn. Beyond that, I think it's just going to be a matter of practice to get the little details down.
 
mt hangglider- The stitching looks good. Are you happy with that machine? I have just started looking into machines and dont know where to start.
 
Don, yeah, it's quite the machine and I'm happy. From what I understand talking with a bunch of leather pros that the Cobra Class 4 is the "dream machine". It comes highly recommended by everyone I've talked to. Still just learning it myself so maybe Dave, Paul, or one of the other guys who have had them for a long time can chime in and give you some actual pros and cons. So far, I've yet to run into any cons other than having a hard time knowing how to tension my thread for a given thickness of leather.
 
Thanks for the reply. I just found this part of the forum. I have a lot to learn. :)
 
Don't over think the tension. I sew MANY thicknesses without touching my tension. Screwing around with the tension for "each" thickness will get you nowhere, but pissed off in a hurry. I don't even remember the last time I touched my tension on the Cobra 4. Now, if you have already screwed it up, try to get it back like it was and leave it alone.;)

Paul
 
Yeah, I found it necessary to loosen the tension when stitching the single-thickness pieces like around the sweat shield. On my Cobra 3 I back off each tension wheel 1-1/2 turns from my 'standard' setting for the thin stuff, works pretty well for me. Your standard setting probably isn't the same as mine so you'll just need to play with it some, but you'll get there with a little practice. By the way I only use 2 settings - the 'loose' for the single-thickness pieces and the 'standard' for everything else.
 
sheathmaker said:
Don't over think the tension. I sew MANY thicknesses without touching my tension. Screwing around with the tension for "each" thickness will get you nowhere, but pissed off in a hurry. I don't even remember the last time I touched my tension on the Cobra 4. Now, if you have already screwed it up, try to get it back like it was and leave it alone.;)

Paul
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Paul,

I'm fighting this right now. It was tensioned perfectly when I brought it home and I messed with it and screwed it up. Got it back to where I wanted it this weekend and made the holster. Switched to a different colored thread last night (same sizes - 277 on top and 207 on the bobbin) and decided to monkey with it again. Now I'm all out of whack. I'm going to to take your advice and try to get it back where I want it and not touch it if I can help it. Fortunately, I haven't messed with the bobbin tension, it's just the two spring tensions.
 
knifeleather said:
Yeah, I found it necessary to loosen the tension when stitching the single-thickness pieces like around the sweat shield. On my Cobra 3 I back off each tension wheel 1-1/2 turns from my 'standard' setting for the thin stuff, works pretty well for me. Your standard setting probably isn't the same as mine so you'll just need to play with it some, but you'll get there with a little practice. By the way I only use 2 settings - the 'loose' for the single-thickness pieces and the 'standard' for everything else.
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Thanks for your reply! I think I've been messing with it too much and making too large of adjustments. Probably should have left it as it was when I brought it home as it was perfect. Now after messing with it so much I don't really know what to think. I'm pretty frustrated at the moment as it seems all I do is mess with tension and sew scrap pieces. Can't get to work on any real projects as my machine isn't where I want it now. Arghhhhh.
 
Yep get er right and leave er be. At first you may always want to do a practice run of scrap just the same as your project. #277 might be a bit heavy for most of your projects. It would be for me. I run 202 top and bottom. That takes care of 99 percent of the things I sew on my machine. If I need lighter (leggings, linings etc) I'll use Nichole's Cobra 18 thats set up 138 top and bottom. One thing I do and Nichole does on her machine too is change needle size for the project. This will adjust your tension for the project too. So for instance I have a size 25 in most of the time. This takes care of sheaths, holsters, rifle scabbards etc. If I'm sewing one piece of veg tan to a lighter piece of chap leather such as in a pair of chinks or chap tops, then I'l drop down to a 24. If I'm sewing real thick such as the d rings on a martingale (3 layers of 10-12 oz), I'll use a 26. No thread change or tension adjustment from 7-8oz total thickness of project up to 36 oz or better. This is what works for me. Nichole does the same on her Cobra 18. She always runs 138 top and bottom and then changes needles between 20 and 22 depending on the project. Hope this helps ya some.
 
Horsewright said:
Yep get er right and leave er be. At first you may always want to do a practice run of scrap just the same as your project. #277 might be a bit heavy for most of your projects. It would be for me. I run 202 top and bottom. That takes care of 99 percent of the things I sew on my machine. If I need lighter (leggings, linings etc) I'll use Nichole's Cobra 18 thats set up 138 top and bottom. One thing I do and Nichole does on her machine too is change needle size for the project. This will adjust your tension for the project too. So for instance I have a size 25 in most of the time. This takes care of sheaths, holsters, rifle scabbards etc. If I'm sewing one piece of veg tan to a lighter piece of chap leather such as in a pair of chinks or chap tops, then I'l drop down to a 24. If I'm sewing real thick such as the d rings on a martingale (3 layers of 10-12 oz), I'll use a 26. No thread change or tension adjustment from 7-8oz total thickness of project up to 36 oz or better. This is what works for me. Nichole does the same on her Cobra 18. She always runs 138 top and bottom and then changes needles between 20 and 22 depending on the project. Hope this helps ya some.
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Thanks Dave! That does make a lot of sense. So since I'm stuck using my 277 at the moment, what would an appropriate sized needle be for that thread weight? I believe my machine came with three sizes, 25, 24, and 23. I have no idea what is currently on it. Also, since I'm out of whack on my tension at the moment, if you were in my shoes, would you go with what the guy at Cobra says and back the nuts all the way off both screws and then start tensioning them back to where you want a turn at a time? I'm also so new to this, I'm having a hard time knowing how far is too far, etc. Sometimes when I get my tension too much (I think?) I can see the bottom thread through the holes the needle makes from the top side. Is that correct? It's really hard to know when a person is so new to something.
 
I wouldn't heistate at all to call Cobra and ask for Steve. He'd walk ya through it over the phone. I also wouldn't heistate to experiment with other makes of thread as you have Sheirdan Leather there. In fact we struggled with the tension on Nichole's 18 using the Cobra thread. We use Weaver for white and she gets all her colored thread off the internet someplace. There was a small degree of difference in the stiffness between the Weaver and the Cobra with the Weaver being slightly stiffer. Her machine preferred the Weaver. Proper tension where the threads cross should be in the middle of your project and not visible from the top or the bottom. I'd probably use 25 with 277, but I'd also probably run into town amd get me some 202.
 
Horsewright said:
I wouldn't heistate at all to call Cobra and ask for Steve. He'd walk ya through it over the phone. I also wouldn't heistate to experiment with other makes of thread as you have Sheirdan Leather there. In fact we struggled with the tension on Nichole's 18 using the Cobra thread. We use Weaver for white and she gets all her colored thread off the internet someplace. There was a small degree of difference in the stiffness between the Weaver and the Cobra with the Weaver being slightly stiffer. Her machine preferred the Weaver. Proper tension where the threads cross should be in the middle of your project and not visible from the top or the bottom. I'd probably use 25 with 277, but I'd also probably run into town amd get me some 202.
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Thanks once again Dave! Ok, that makes a lot of sense where you can tell when the stitches are just right. Not being able to see the thread between the stitches top or bottom. That gives me a good idea of what to look for when I'm tweaking things. Since I've got a big spool of 207 and 277, maybe I'll just run the 207 top and bottom for now. Yeah I'm not sure what brand I got from Sheridan Leather for the two big white spools I have. The black I bought last night is Weaver and boy is it MUCH stiffer than the white. I'm going to go back to the white for the time being to get things tensioned and will play with the stiffer black once I have things set right. I'll probably go ahead and put a fresh 25 needle on there as well just to eliminate that variable. Again, much appreciated!
 
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