How to tighten up a leather sheath?

D

DMG

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Dec 30, 2005
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I have a sheath I really like for my Carothers FK2 but the retention is weak. If I turn it upside down I can easily shake the knife out. What can I do to tighten up the sheath? The knife fits far enough down that. Good bit of the handle is in the sheath and it is on a dangler. Pics tomorrow.
 
You can wet-shape it; and/or you can add a chicago screw in the right place, like this (there is a rubber washer on the back):

i-pdhZDhJ-X2.jpg
 
I've been keeping that in mind when I make my leather sheaths. You can see that I keep my thread sewed a little short up close to the top of the sheaths so that I can add eyelets later if I need to tighten the sheaths, or if me or my sons want to have an eyelet to use for putting a lanyard on their knife. Or I can put a Chicago screw in the eyelet to tighten the sheath. So far, I have not had to tighten the sheaths and the sheaths hold the knives very well.
The first photo is the sheath that I EDC for my Carothers DEK1. It is a test sheath that doesn't have threads running to the inside of the belt slots. I wanted to see how long the glue will hold the leather together. The glue is holding up very well so far.

DEK1-OWB-18a.jpgRC3-OWB-7a.jpgS&F-17a.jpg
 
Is there a specific glue I should be using for leather? I have sewed, riveted and used Chicago screws but never glued leather.
 
Last edited:
DMG said:
Is there a specific glue I should be using for leather? I have sewed, riveted and used Chicago screws but never glues leather.
Click to expand...

I've been using Tanners Bond contact cement. I think that Dave said he uses DAP Weldwood "Green" contact cement from Home Depot. I'm going to try that after I run out of the Tanners Bond.
 
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000Robert said:
I've been using Tanners Bond contact cement. I think that Dave said he uses DAP Weldwood "Green" contact cement from Home Depot. I'm going to try that after I run out of the Tanners Bond.
Click to expand...
You won’t regret switching to the green. I followed Dave’s advice awhile back. I haven’t looked back. I was using Barge cement prior to the green.
 
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