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First sheath for 2nd knife

weo

weo

Basic Member
Joined
Sep 21, 2014
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3,067
Hello all, just finished my first sheath for my second knife I made. I followed Tal's great tutorial and wasn't sure if I should add to his thread or start this new one. Moderators feel free to move if appropriate.
There are some obvious flaws: 1) I need to be more careful with the groover and not overshoot lines like I did on the front or wander on the back, 2) I need to do a better job on the shape of the stitching for the belt loop, and 3) A better job lining up the holes in the groove, but fortunately that's on the back of the sheath. Other comments and critiques are always welcome.

2Oj5V6T.jpg
gtYbHdT.jpg


I have 2 questions:
1) Is the light spot on the back below the belt loop likely from a flaw in the leather, or did I do a poor job deglazing?
2) The knife stays in the sheath when holding upside down, but it doesn't take much of a shake to dislodge. Did I make the sheath too loose?
Thanks all
 
You can tighten the sheath up by stitching that errant grooved line. It looks like the knife will still go into the sheath per your wet forming.
You will not have a welt to protect the stitching on the third line, so keep that in mind when using the sheath.

The light spot could be a little smear of cement creating a resist for the dye.

Most of your perceived mistakes could have been eliminated as you designed your paper pattern.......surely you did do a paper pattern, right?
A lot of amazing things (potential goofs) show up as you are making and fine tuning the paper pattern.

Paul
 
Thanks for the response, Paul.
Yes I did a paper pattern, I'm not sure how that would have fixed the problems...that's not an errant grooved line, it's supposed to be a design element. the errant grooves I was talking about happened by going too fast with the groover and as I look at the picture, it's hard to see where I overshot the groove at the top of the sheath on the front, but you should be able to see the errant one on the inside stitching line on the back.
And I'm pretty sure there wasn't any extra cement smears...

As I was making the sheath, with the knife taped, it seemed pretty snug. Could the final sanding/smoothing of the inside of the sheath before sewing it up have loosened the fit?
 
To me the design is simply too wide for the knife and thus the loose fit. With the shape of your knife you could have shaped the welt so that the knife "klunked" into place and would stay put. Relying on friction alone in a sheath that will be used is worrisome as leather will stretch over time. Agree with Paul thats an errant smudge of glue causing that lighter spot. Gum will sometimes do that too if ya rub your edges prior to dyeing.

All in all pretty nice work. Certainly better than my second sheath. Being able to see your own mistakes and doing something about em next time is a big plus to getting better. Interested on ideas on the knife?
 
I'd walk that grind up for a full flat grind. A small three finger knife like this doesn't need to chop down an oak tree. Thats not its job. They are thin slicers and excell at that if the geometry is right. Thin cuts better. A guy doesn't use an axe to slice tomatoes. Very nice job on both the forging of and the etching of the damascus. Nice handle too. probablly 85 percent of the knives I make are under 7".
 
Thanks Dave. That's good advice, and fits pretty much with what I've been told by others. Something I'm working on (I hope...) I realize I have a tendency to stop when the sides are symmetrical, being afraid to go further and mess it up, but as I've done a few more knives, I now know I need to just go ahead and continue because I'm learning I have the ability to clean things up later. Hopefully my next few knives will show that I'm putting this into practice and not just talking....
 
Thats a nice piece of dammy. Think about doing it now.
 
weo said:
Thanks.

Are you saying I should re-grind? Not sure how to go about etching the damascus with the handle already attached.
Click to expand...

My husband is a knife maker and recently finished a Damascus knife that had to be re-etched after the scales were attached. You can cover everything that is handle material with finger nail polish (removed with nail polish remover after the re-etching). Or you can cover the handle material with melted wax, which is the method that he used. I think you can find more information regarding both methods with a little research. His knife turned out fine, no damage to the scales (which were stabilized maple). I believe he also carefully scraped the wax from the spine of the knife before the re-etching to ensure a uniform Ferric Chloride bath. Hope this helps.

Amy
 
Yes I've used the finger nail polish deal in the past.
 
Thanks Amy and Dave. I did a search after my post and found out the same info. The next time I get back to my shop, I'll give it a go (but not sure when that'll be, unfortunately.)
 
Got some time in my shop today after stopping by the store to buy some nail polish...reground the blade after putting a few coats of polish on the blade. I bought some cheap polish, thought white would be a good color and to be honest, not very confident about re-etching, did I lay it on too thick? Should I have spent a few extra bucks and not bought the cheap stuff? or am I just being a sissy?

iSPXF7N.jpg


~billyO
 
Much better on the grind there that will work for ya. You'll have a far better cutting knife there. Yeah maybe. When I've done it I just sealed at the front of the handle or the bolster. I didn't do the entire handle too. Acetone will take it off of course so you should be ok. Unfortunatly it will also take the finish off the handle. Don't know how on the price I have just gotten it from Nichole. I keep a bottle of clear gel in the shop. I use it here and there for different things.
 
For what you are doing, I'd wager the cheap stuff is just fine. Be sure to post a picture of the knife again after you've re-etched, etc. Looking forward to seeing how it compares to the original.
 
Horsewright said:
I'd walk that grind up for a full flat grind. A small three finger knife like this doesn't need to chop down an oak tree. Thats not its job. They are thin slicers and excell at that if the geometry is right. Thin cuts better. A guy doesn't use an axe to slice tomatoes. Very nice job on both the forging of and the etching of the damascus. Nice handle too. probablly 85 percent of the knives I make are under 7".
Click to expand...

Dave on the smaller knives what are the dimensions if you don't mind me asking? I'm struggling to design something in the sub 7in range.

WEO: looks good man love that Damascus pattern.
 
I've got several from 5.25" on up to 7" with several at 6.5" Check the knife page on my website for some ideas, Size descriptions there for each.
 
valknut said:
WEO: looks good man love that Damascus pattern.
Click to expand...

Thanks, and thanks to Dave for suggesting I re-grind. I really do enjoy making the stuff. Unfortunately, I like the Damascus so much it's put my animal heads on hold....
 
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