Home made knife sheath help

[Wildone39]

I have decided to make my own sheath for my new knife. I have a TAK by Ontario and i love the knife but hate the sheath. I have good leather that a man gave me at DollyWood back in the summer from a leather shop. I have never made a sheath before and I was wondering if anyone can tell me how to make the sheath. I need it to be inexpensive, made at home, and easy to do. Oh and very durable and secure. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[SpookyPistolero]

http://www.northcoastknives.com/northcoast_knives_tutorials_LeatherSheath.htm
http://beknivessite2.homestead.com/pouchsheath.html
http://www.stoneandsteel.net/pouch_sheath.html

There's a little bit of reading on simple pouch sheaths. The best idea is to take away basic principles from the reading and them apply them for your specific needs. Just make a plan for how you want the sheath to look, and try to pre-construct it with paper or cardboard, so you don't waste leather.

Here is how my first one turned out-

Good luck with it, and have fun!

 

[mckrob]

Here is a great tutorial that helped me a lot, from fellow forumite ChuddyBear:


Part 1


Part 2


.

 

[Andrew Colglazier]

Some tips - don't go for anything complicated. Put in a welt, which is an extra strip of leather that runs down the seam on the edge side of the sheath.

Here is what you will need -

A sharp knife with a thin blade to cut the leather.
A dinner fork to mark your holes along the seam.
If you have a hand drill, you need a very small bit, your choice, but small, to make the stitching holes.
A bottle of contact cement. Buy at any decent hardware store.
Good heavy thread. You'll likely need to buy this from a leather shop. I like waxed thread.
Needles. Leather or upholstery shops sell these. Get the blunt ones with large eyes.
Sharpie. I use these to mark my leather on the Flesh side!

Take some time to think about your sheath design. Generally the easiest type of sheath is the foldover pouch. It has a seam on one side only and takes far less time to stitch up.

Good luck!

Andy

 

[mckrob]

One of the most indispensible tools I have found is a Dremel with the optional press. It allows for drilling very fine and straight holes for the stitching, and with the coarse drum sander attachment you can really clean up your edges quickly.

This was one of my first attempts:

 

[ilbruche]

Another good tip for finishing the edges is to sand them when wet. I do this on a 1 X 30 belt sander with 220 grit belts.

Don't expect your first to be a masterpiece. Use a sheath you like as a reference.

 

[StretchNM]

Here's my second or third sheath I think. I show it just to illustrate how easy it is once you get going. I bought a $40+- kit from Tandy that has awls, needles, thread, stitching wheel, groover, a book, and some other stuff. Easy.

Here's another. Maybe the very next one made:

 

[Wildone39]

Oh guys, thanks so much for the help and websites and advice. This is going to help me out a ton. You guys are so great. I love to be apart of such a great forum with so many great freinds.