leather sheath design questions

[superc]

I see two primary approaches in leather sheath design.
1) fold the leather against the blade spine to make a pouch then zip up the other end.
[My own first, crude but quite serviceable sheath, done this way a few weeks ago..]

2) cut two (three if we include the welt) pieces of leather to fit, then sew them together.
[As done here]

Here's my question. The first way is easy and fast. Still I see most of the factories and many custom sheath makers doing it the second way. I have several more knives needing sheaths and will make some soon. What, if any, structural or durability advantage is afforded by the second method?

 

[coffeecup]

A swept-back blade, or a poor sheathing (like when you're cold and in a hurry) can result in the back of a folded sheath being cut. I tend to use them only for blades with drop points or similar blades.

 

[mikeymoto]

The "drop loop" style you pictured second offers several advantages (if you choose to see them as such) over the first:

The knife rides lower on your body when you wear the sheath. If you have a big belly this can be more important.

Generally it's a good way to add some retention for your knife, like a strap that snaps around the handle or down over a guard if there is one.

 

[superc]

My understanding is that 'drop loop' refers to the method of carry rather than whether or not the sheath is pouch type or not. In point of fact the one at the top is a drop loop. I merely kept the loop short in order to avoid having such a small knife (Scrapyard 4) hanging low. You can see the loop here. Had I made it longer, the knife would ride lower. Likewise attaching a diagonal snap is still a doable option, but would as you imply been easier had I made the loop bigger. [A tight plastic liner keeps the knife from cutting the stitches or dropping out.]

However, I can see Coffeecup's point. My next sheath project is a tapered single edged dagger (some fool) ground out of a Catteraugus 225Q. Already as I deal with the liner issue I see the problem of coping with a wrong way insertion into the sheath. A sheath similar to the one on my old Gerber MKII may indeed be the best way to go for that rather than a pouch design. Likewise the one sided hand guard of the Cattaraugus design precludes a diagonal retaining strap like the sheath on the left because if the knife is inserted the other way (very possible in the knife's current butchered state), the strap would have nothing to grab. Therefore the strap must be a hilt strap such the original sheath on the right has. The only other pouch option I could conceive of that would allow insertion either way would be a tapered conical pouch with the stitches at the rear. Assuming an overlap of the leather, the resulting design would be too thick with 8 oz leather.