Leather sheath for the BK17 First try

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Jan 5, 2014
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Been mostly laid up which leads to boredom so when the wife said she was going to Michael's I said grab me some leather. I have had an idea in my head a while and figured I'd give it a go. Well I couldn't find any of my leather tools and none of my leather punches, haven't done any leather work in 10+ years, so I almost gave up before I started. When she got home with the leather scraps I didn't think any of them would work but then I saw one piece and I figured I'd go for it freehand with a hammer and a nail and I almost got way laid by another issue I didn't have any sinew or heavy thread, then I saw a hank of #36 bankline and figured why not I unwound one strand from a 6' section and grabbed two sail needles and away I went

I took the 17 and some cardboard, laid it down and traced its edge and being careful not to move the spine rolled it over and traced the edge on the other side, I added a 1/2" to either side of the edges, added relief cuts to make retention straps and possible belt loop and transferred that to the leather, inside the scrap was a nice thick piece of white leather that I used to be my stitch guard. I wasn't thinking of pics when I started initially and started in at making the guard

Here's the start of me making the guard for the stitches with the sheath cut out, I laid the white leather in the sheath folded and traced and cut
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Got the guard cut down to the 1/2" I wanted
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I used finishing nails to hold things in place while I set my stitching holes
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Test fit the Bk17
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Sewn shut, yes I know its crooked but hey its freehand
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Another test fit
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Figuring out the length for my retention straps
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I wasn't sure how I wanted to mount it and settled on folding down the top I had left on for belt carry
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Sits nice and deep in the sheath, the stitching I used a saddle stitch but didn't come out how I expected but its good enough for me :D
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I've got really nice retention now, you can't shake the knife out, and now I'm considering cutting off retention straps all together as I don't have/can't find any snaps. Ive had it on the belt the last couple days around the house and it carries real well and doesn't get in the way sitting or laying down

Figured I'd share its something that most should be able to do if you wanted to play around and with proper tools it could be real nice and the bag of scrap leather the wife brought home was only $7. It's not the prettiest sheath but I can't complain for an hours worth of my time and $7.
 
It looks great so far. I'm quite curious to see how this turns out as I just purchased a 17.
 
Of course you can't complain. It gave you something productive to do.....now maybe a pocket sheath for the 14 or 11? I've gotten a couple of those Michael's scrap bags; they're cheap and sometimes have enough to do bigger stuff.....exactly like what you did. Cool. Maybe you'll remember where you put your leatherwork tools now ;).
 
It looks great so far. I'm quite curious to see how this turns out as I just purchased a 17.
thanks I'll post up what I end up with

Of course you can't complain. It gave you something productive to do.....now maybe a pocket sheath for the 14 or 11? I've gotten a couple of those Michael's scrap bags; they're cheap and sometimes have enough to do bigger stuff.....exactly like what you did. Cool. Maybe you'll remember where you put your leatherwork tools now ;).

Pocket sheath for the 11 now that sounds like a plan! or maybe I'll ask Santa for some :D
 
So I never got snaps or found my tools but I finished it none the less and I'm quite happy with it after a few days of use.

I used the 17 to trim down the retention straps and to pierce a hole through one of them and tie in an overhand knot making a continuous loop and bankline behind it for secondary retention
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I used the 17 to notch the retention strap to "catch" the shock cord
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I didn't like how thick and offcenter the belt loop was so I used the 17 to thin it out and here it how I'm leaving it.
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