Fixin' up an old sheath

Gary W. Graley

Gary W. Graley

“Imagination is more important than knowledge"
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Mar 2, 1999
Messages
27,446
Hi folks, still trying to settle in the new house, well, new to us, we recently moved from a house that we lived in for 34 years to be closer to our daughter so my wife can help easier with baby sitting the grandsons after school, otherwise it was close to 100 miles a day she would have to drive every other week, which in the winter time was bad and at night very bad as we have a lot of deer and even bear slipping across our country roads. So now we moved closer and the house we're in is smaller rooms but more rooms, I have an attic space ;) where I'll setup my leather stuff and today was the first sheath I worked on there, getting out those items that I would need to do this chore. Ok, enough about me :)

The sheath is pretty old, it is for a Murray Carter Camp knife made back in Japan by Murray, not sure if he also made the sheath but in any event, it's old as well. The stitching was frayed badly and the sheath was not secure, which can happen to sheaths that have seen years of use. The top section to me looks like it is not cow hide, not sure what it is, maybe shark skin? it has that texture, or maybe elephant, dunno but it seemed worth the trouble to take it apart to see if I could just remove the thread and stitch fresh thread.

Well seems like who ever made it back in the day did not glue down anything, so when the stitches came out, everything fell apart, which explained why the sheath seemed a bit limp, nothing but loose thread holding it together, yikes! Glad I decided to fix this as it is mine now and since I don't have heavier leather and don't make fixed blade sheaths any more, I wanted to revive this one as it does hold the knife well.

SO, I removed all the thread, sanded down any finished surfaces of the welt and the folded down section that makes the belt loop with sand paper so the glue would adhere. I glued down the belt loop first and then started by gluing down one welt at a time and then the top section.

During the process I was worried the holes that were already in there might not stay aligned, so I found some very small nails my wife uses for hanging pictures and used those to locate the holes during the glue setup time. And then again when I went to glue down the top section and it worked like a champ! Now there is not much if any leather left along the sides of the sheath so I won't try to sand them down at all, don't want to weaken what bit is left there. But now she's all sewn up, better than new and the knife fits secure and isn't as limp, good size knife, I'll do a review at some point of the knife, I'll be sending the knife back to Murray to fixe up as the edge was sort of messed up, not by fault of Murray, but the previous owned tried some sharpening techniques that did not end favourably ;)

Here some images of todays work, sometimes you can salvage and sometimes it's better to cut your losses and make new, in my case, pun intended, I went the salvage route.

here you can see how frayed the old thread is

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr


Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Taken apart;

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Glued down the one welt side, after I had glued down the belt loop first.

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Both sides now glued down, nails in place to keep the alignment of the holes in place

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr


Top section now glued down, a few nails to also keep this aligned

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr


And the wonderful hand stitching begins...I remember now why I don't like fixed blade sheaths ;)

Untitled by/]GaryWGraley[/url], on Flickr


And the sheath all stitched up, as I reached the end, I back stitched two places to lock the thread in

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr


Looks much better, holds better and feels more secure...all good stuff.

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr


Hope that gives you guys and gals some ideas if someone brings an old leather project, it may be salvageable!
G2
 
I've had a couple of projects like that brought to me. The first one was a disaster, because the leather was so brittle (which allowed me to learn and recognize the pitfalls of such a project) But the second one turned out ok and returned the piece to a semi-functional state. Thanks for sharing, I wish I'd have taken pictures of the two projects that I did--it never crossed my mind.
 
Thanks, and these were catch as catch can photos of the WIP, and thought hey, why not share also ;) as I sent these also to Murray Carter, since he told me the knife was one he made while he was still in Japan. Thought he'd appreciate seeing some life being given back to the sheath too.
G2
 
I like that a lot Gary. Recycling and reconditioning are more important than ever. I just did the same to a twin headboard headed for the dump.
Great job.
 
Thanks guys, it's good to know how well that type of stitching holds, as it was not easy removing the old thread!

G2
 
I think it will work out, wish I had a sink up there but one thing at time, I have tunes to work by that won't bother the wife, my 'area' is separate, it's starting to come together, it does get pretty hot up there in the summer I think but, 5 windows and a few fans, should be good to go, winter...now that will be interesting to see how cold it gets up there!
G2
 
I'm holding back on that as I am sending it out to Murray to refurbish the knife, it had some sharpening issues that the previous own tried to attempt using a Ken Onion WorkSharp and well, it removed a bit of the edge so now it is overall thicker than originally was, I sharpened it up so she cuts but not as well as it can, and Murray said for a minimum amount he would fix her up, once back, I will be taking some photos of both the knife and the sheath, but, it is a killer knife for sure right now, I can hardly wait for it's return, hopefully it won't stay out there too long.

G2
 
Well, doesn't take a lot to make me post pictures ;) and it will help later on with a before and after thingy so I just took these photos.

It's a Camp knife but not a huge one, blade is about 6 3/4" with about a 5" handle bringing an overall length just under 12"
Blade thickness is about 5mm

The way Murray designed this, the handle sloping downward makes for a pretty effective chopper too, as some branches now on the ground in my back yard can attest to.

As mentioned the previous owner sharpened away a little of the edge, it's sharp and I probably could live with it this way but rather get her back down to what Murray had originally.

Sanmai blade with Hitachi white center core

IMG_1527 by GaryWGraley, on Flickr


The balance is just barely ahead of the handle scales, making it balance very nicely !!! here's a fragile shot showing it balanced on the corner of one of the Spyderco Sharp maker triangle stones, had to keep knocking the ants off the railing so they wouldn't cause the knife to tip and fall down!

IMG_1525 by GaryWGraley, on Flickr


Murray's mark from back when he was still in Japan

IMG_1529 by GaryWGraley, on Flickr


and a shot showing how the handle angle is, you can choke up close or grip near the end for chopping

IMG_1530 by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

and you can see where the edge use to be, I've sharpened it up some by hand on my stones and she is sharp and cuts well, but still feels a little thick edged to me.

IMG_1531 by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

G2
 
I put some on it already, still curious as to the type of leather, my guess is still shark skin

G2
 
Thanks

I am going to work on this blade myself, using different grit stones to bring the secondary bevel down to a thinner thickness, it will take time and patience but I think it will work out ok.


Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr


Wish me success !
G2
 
Got her sanded down and etched it today, not bad, not so great, but then, I never said I was a Nick Wheeler at sanding ;)

IMG_1537 by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

My main concern was getting the edge thickness back near where it should be, so now it cuts well and also chops with a little bit of metal to support that.

IMG_1536 by GaryWGraley, on Flickr


IMG_1535 by GaryWGraley, on Flickr


IMG_1534 by GaryWGraley, on Flickr


IMG_4684 by GaryWGraley, on Flickr


also from Tim Wright, I took and radius'd the lanyard tube, Tim's is much nicer but this isn't too bad,

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Untitled by GaryWGraley, on Flickr

Nice knife!
G2

Next time I do a project like this, I think I'll start with a higher grit sand paper, this 1 Grit is really hard to get a good finish with ....

1 Grit sandpaper by GaryWGraley, on Flickr
 
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Nice job Gary! Is that to prevent the lanyard from getting cut?
 
Thanks Dave and yes, to prevent premature wear on any lanyard, plus, it shows a degree of craftsmanship to pay attention to even the smallest detail.

Tim Wright is one smart dude and just a little bit anal ;) but in a good way, his work is about as flawless as I have seen,

here's an of sample of how he did the lanyard hole on this small knife

IMG_0263.jpg~original


This one is in the hands of Coop right now, carries it all the time he says.
G2
 
Thanks, I just finished another mod on the sheath, I glued the belt loop closed and added another belt loop on the back, but this one is attached by a heavy copper rivet so that when you go to sit down, you can swivel the sheath horizontal, a much handier way to carry a large knife
G2
 
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