How to fit sheath to knife

[mwschilling]

Anyone have a tutorial on fitting a sheath to a knife? I am making a few knives as "trip gifts" for an upcoming Alaska fishing trip. I plan to buy sheaths but need to figure out how to fit them.

 

[Siper]

You can buy an unconditioned sheath. I mean the one, not treated with any conditioners. This way, when you make a knife, you can wet the leather sheath, and fit it to the knife.

 

[mwschilling]

That's what I'm wanting to learn how to do. Do you wrap the actual knife in the wetted sheath? How do you protect the knife, or is that necessary? How do you form the sheath? Do you wrap it with bands or other pressure ?

 

[Clem Kadiddlehopper]

That's what I'm wanting to learn how to do. Do you wrap the actual knife in the wetted sheath? How do you protect the knife, or is that necessary? How do you form the sheath? Do you wrap it with bands or other pressure ?

Wet forum a sheath - I wrap it in cellophane wrap.
And it takes time to form the leather - you don't want to hurry it.
Just keep forming as it dries...
Use a very smooth tool to form with - don't want it digging into the leather.


Edit to add...
You can do a search on You Tube that shows video of guys wet forming.....

 

[Siper]

Wrap the knife in stretch foil (the one you use in the kitchen), wrap couple of layers.
Wet the sheath, and with the knife in it, use your fingers to form it. Don't use any tools at the beginning. Cut your fingernails before you start forming ;-)
When you'll finish this, you can use tea spoon to get the final touch.
That's it. Just leave it to dry out with the knife inside for lets say, an hour, and then take the knife out and leave the sheath to dry completely.

 

[mwschilling]

Thank you, it certainly seems easier than I thought.