Before we begin, please let me know what you think about the size and color of the saddle stitching around the blade, along with a ballpark idea of your age.
-the stitching here is set at 6.5 stitches per inch (would it look better to you with more/less stitching per inch?)
-does the white stitching look good/appropriate or is it too gaudy or effeminate?
Thank you.
****
Here is my first sheath to go along with my first knife:
(Mora laminated blade with baked birch-bark handle(8.25" total knife length) and the sheath is made from 8 and 10 ounce leather and is 9.25" in length)
Details:
-the back piece was wet-formed to the knife prior to dying, gluing and stitching
-a wedge of leather was inserted between the top piece and the welt so that no metal contacts the blade
-the brass rivets were darkened, or "aged" with the fumes of hard boiled eggs (see here: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1141034-Darkening-brass-with-a-hard-boiled-egg)
-the dye was made from walnut husks
-the finish is Snoseal and neatsfoot oil (applied separately)
-drain hole at the bottom back
-flesh side of the leather was sanded smooth and burnished with a dowel mounted on a lathe
-the half-moon stitching detail for the belt-loop allows sheath to pivot a bit more when going in and out of the car
Initially, I wanted to make a pouch type sheath. Because the base of the handle is swept up and triangular in shape, it was very difficult to pull the knife out of all the prototype duct tape pouch sheaths I tried. Decided to go with a pancake sheath.
A pancake variant that peeked my curiosity was the ambidextrous type. Most of the models out there either use a rivet or some type of lacing to position the keeper strap to the left or right of the sheath. I didn't want any metal making contact with the handle, nor did I want to mess with around with lacing, so I used a button as a pivot for the strap instead. It's 1/8" thick and made from a 1/4" brass drill rod...a sewing button probably would work, but it was quicker and easier to make one that to go buy one. The strap is 1/8" thick around the button and the rest was sanded down to 0.08". I'm anxious to see how this system works out in the long run.
I decided to go with saddle stitching because it was cheaper than buying a groover...all my experiments drilling 3/8" of leather were disappointing (front looked fine but the back was all crooked); so, from what I've read, a groover was a must for a tidy top and bottom stitch. It's pretty easy to make a diamond awl, so I went that route instead. Made a blunt handheld one to open up the holes while stitching and made a sharp one that fits into a drill press to make perfectly perpendicular holes (actually, made a little adapter for my hollow-chisel morticer to hold this awl instead of the drill press since it doesn't rotate). A board with pins keeps the workpiece aligned when making the holes.
Goof-ups:
-when cutting the awl holes using the press, the wet-formed bulge at the back got caught-up on the edge of the table...caused one hole to go out of whack and I had to take 4-5 holes off line to bring it back reasonably straight. It is visible about 1.5" up from the point on the right side when viewed from the front.
-I flattened the snap button while setting it...luckily, the dent is well centered, so I could say that it was done on purpose
-"discovered" when finishing the strap that thinner leather gets darker much faster than thicker leather (had to make a second one)
-don't really like the look of the sloppy belt-loop stitching when compared to the neatness of the saddle stitching (used wrong type of awl)
-should have hidden the back-stitching under the rivets better by making an extra hole
-the stitching here is set at 6.5 stitches per inch (would it look better to you with more/less stitching per inch?)
-does the white stitching look good/appropriate or is it too gaudy or effeminate?
Thank you.
****
Here is my first sheath to go along with my first knife:
(Mora laminated blade with baked birch-bark handle(8.25" total knife length) and the sheath is made from 8 and 10 ounce leather and is 9.25" in length)
Details:
-the back piece was wet-formed to the knife prior to dying, gluing and stitching
-a wedge of leather was inserted between the top piece and the welt so that no metal contacts the blade
-the brass rivets were darkened, or "aged" with the fumes of hard boiled eggs (see here: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1141034-Darkening-brass-with-a-hard-boiled-egg)
-the dye was made from walnut husks
-the finish is Snoseal and neatsfoot oil (applied separately)
-drain hole at the bottom back
-flesh side of the leather was sanded smooth and burnished with a dowel mounted on a lathe
-the half-moon stitching detail for the belt-loop allows sheath to pivot a bit more when going in and out of the car
Initially, I wanted to make a pouch type sheath. Because the base of the handle is swept up and triangular in shape, it was very difficult to pull the knife out of all the prototype duct tape pouch sheaths I tried. Decided to go with a pancake sheath.
A pancake variant that peeked my curiosity was the ambidextrous type. Most of the models out there either use a rivet or some type of lacing to position the keeper strap to the left or right of the sheath. I didn't want any metal making contact with the handle, nor did I want to mess with around with lacing, so I used a button as a pivot for the strap instead. It's 1/8" thick and made from a 1/4" brass drill rod...a sewing button probably would work, but it was quicker and easier to make one that to go buy one. The strap is 1/8" thick around the button and the rest was sanded down to 0.08". I'm anxious to see how this system works out in the long run.
I decided to go with saddle stitching because it was cheaper than buying a groover...all my experiments drilling 3/8" of leather were disappointing (front looked fine but the back was all crooked); so, from what I've read, a groover was a must for a tidy top and bottom stitch. It's pretty easy to make a diamond awl, so I went that route instead. Made a blunt handheld one to open up the holes while stitching and made a sharp one that fits into a drill press to make perfectly perpendicular holes (actually, made a little adapter for my hollow-chisel morticer to hold this awl instead of the drill press since it doesn't rotate). A board with pins keeps the workpiece aligned when making the holes.
Goof-ups:
-when cutting the awl holes using the press, the wet-formed bulge at the back got caught-up on the edge of the table...caused one hole to go out of whack and I had to take 4-5 holes off line to bring it back reasonably straight. It is visible about 1.5" up from the point on the right side when viewed from the front.
-I flattened the snap button while setting it...luckily, the dent is well centered, so I could say that it was done on purpose
-"discovered" when finishing the strap that thinner leather gets darker much faster than thicker leather (had to make a second one)
-don't really like the look of the sloppy belt-loop stitching when compared to the neatness of the saddle stitching (used wrong type of awl)
-should have hidden the back-stitching under the rivets better by making an extra hole
