Leather sheaths, how many mistakes have you made?

[RDog]

I'm new to leather working, I started sometime last fall with "real" leather (8-10 oz) on a few knife sheaths, and some other non-knife related items. My first sheath, while functional is/was ugly, no surprise. Over the next few items made, I was shocked at how fast they improved. Whatever I was making next was better than whatever was just made...progress as I would expect, and I was happy. Then all of a sudden, the "next" sheath sucked!, This sort of thing started happening, improvement, then some mistakes, some stupid, some minor. All in all, I understand this is all part of the learning process but do find it odd.

Anyway, this got me wondering how others learning process has gone. Did you make steady progress, or did you too have odd setbacks in the middle of your improvement?

 

[Lorien]

mistakes? I keep thinking I've made all of them, and then I'm reminded I haven't.
It's a good thing.

 

[Mark4444]

I'm new to leather working, I started sometime last fall with "real" leather (8-10 oz) on a few knife sheaths, and some other non-knife related items. My first sheath, while functional is/was ugly, no surprise. Over the next few items made, I was shocked at how fast they improved. Whatever I was making next was better than whatever was just made...progress as I would expect, and I was happy. Then all of a sudden, the "next" sheath sucked!, This sort of thing started happening, improvement, then some mistakes, some stupid, some minor. All in all, I understand this is all part of the learning process but do find it odd.

Anyway, this got me wondering how others learning process has gone. Did you make steady progress, or did you too have odd setbacks in the middle of your improvement?

I read somewhere that’s it’s not about your mistakes, it’s about how well you can work them into the design. I think I’ve made mistakes on every sheath I’ve done, only one was so bad I had to scrap. …But I’m not selling anything, then they have to be perfect.

 

[Horsewright]

Heck I make mistakes all the time. Secret is to try and make the next project better than the last one. IT DOES NOT ALWAYS HAPPEN but ya should try. This was attempt two.

First one was too tight and I had to cut the knife out for it to escape:

It was that curved finger guard that got me. I'd made the face of the cam of the welt too steep so on withdraw it just locked up.

This was attempt number two on this one too. Had this one so tight couldn't get the knife into the sheath.

I read somewhere that’s it’s not about your mistakes, it’s about how well you can work them into the design. I think I’ve made mistakes on every sheath I’ve done, only one was so bad I had to scrap. …But I’m not selling anything, then they have to be perfect.

Dale Harwood was the Dean of western saddlemakers. I have a friend that waited 13 years and paid $18,000 for his Harwood saddle. Dale as an older man stopped taking orders because he was 20 years behind. He was quoted as saying that the difference between a great saddlemaker and a good saddle maker was that the great saddlemaker was better at hiding his mistakes! Exactly what Mark4444 was talking about.

I think that we think of a learning curve as just that a steady curve up. Been doing this awhile now and helping other folks for a while. I think that the learning curve on this deal and many others is more of a series of plateaus and canyons. Ya kinda getting there and then ya fall into a canyon. Ya crawl back up out of that canyon and you are on a higher plateau. Cruising is good but there's another canyon coming with another plateau on the otherside. I know I haven't made a perfect project yet but I keep trying. What I do know is those canyons seem to be getting narrower and not as deep.

 

[Gary W. Graley]

Mistakes? How much time do you have?

My most common and infuriating one is when I cut out the leather for a sheath that is to be a left side carry only to find out that I cut it out the wrong way, I think instinctively that every sheath is a right hand sheath, but I have gotten so I don’t do that nearly as often

Or cut the leather only to find that it is JUST a little to small and just won’t work for what is needed. Now that is something that still happens more often than I care to mention

Years ago I came up with a saying that I thought would make a great T-Shirt

Don’t let your learning curve
turn into a circle!

I still think I could market it lol
G2

 

[Sharp & Fiery]

I agree with all the fine leather working junkies above.
I’ve made a lot of mistakes and don’t ever think I’ll stop doing it. Sometimes, depending on the mistake, if you can think outside the box, it can be “fixed” in an artistic way.

Sometimes I think, for myself anyways, that my expectations for perfect are not possible. For the most part, the leather work is good…but maybe not perfect to me. It’s something people are helping me get over. No one is perfect, so by extension, my work can’t be perfect either. That is what we strive for, however.

I find that if I’m not totally into the project, more mistakes happen. Or if I try to finish something in a hurry. It never works out well for me. Haha.

I luckily haven’t had to scrap too many sheaths, but I probably just jinxed myself typing that. Haha.
Like Dave, sometimes I just make a sheath too tight…man that sucks.

Keep working at it, learn from all your mistakes and just strive to make the next one better. If you enjoy working leather…that’s all you can ask for, and they will get more and more to your liking.

Any photos of your work?

 

[ecallahan]

This is good therapy reading all this. I like how Horsewright describes the curve. I feel like most other things I’ve learned it has been a steady progression of getting better with an occasional blip. With leather - more plateaus and canyons! I guess you just need to step back and getter a broader perspective - then the curve will probably look much smoother!

 

[Horsewright]

Mistakes? How much time do you have?

My most common and infuriating one is when I cut out the leather for a sheath that is to be a left side carry only to find out that I cut it out the wrong way, I think instinctively that every sheath is a right hand sheath, but I have gotten so I don’t do that nearly as often

Or cut the leather only to find that it is JUST a little to small and just won’t work for what is needed. Now that is something that still happens more often than I care to mention

Years ago I came up with a saying that I thought would make a great T-Shirt

Don’t let your learning curve
turn into a circle!

I still think I could market it lol
G2

Literally just did the left handed thingy............ twice:

Both of these holsters were suppose to be right handed and I cut em out and marked em as lefties. Fortunately, thats when I caught it and was able to cut out the right hand ones before getting to far into it. That would of been a real bummer to to tool that whole oak carved one and then have to start over! At the same time I did have an honest to goodness left handed one to do too:

 

[Gary W. Graley]

Even wrong they look beautiful Dave and that left handed thing, I remember that I did that twice on the same project as well. As I will go upstairs to get a piece of leather and then downstairs to work on the project and the second time down I could NOT believe that I cut it the wrong hand AGAIN ! wow what a fool I felt like.

Which if I remember correctly that all Samauri's were supposedly Right Handed, I bet it was because the saya making guys said, nope, we're ONLY making right handed saya's for your swords, so, get used to it
G2

edited to add, your forum and work nickname is HorsewRIGHT...not HorseLEFT

 

[ron55]

I started leather work last fall also. Like you, I’m improving, but sometimes take a step or 2 backward. Sometimes backwards in stitching, sometimes in dyeing. Never had any stamping that looks good. I’m just going to do simple knife slips and sheaths for a while, where I don’t introduce anything too difficult.

Like anything else, it looks like it just takes lots and lots of practice.

 

[Walking Bear]

I took up leather working when I got cancer as something to keep me busy. Sell my stuff to friends for cost.

 

[RickHuf]

Hmm... Every sheath I've made so far is loaded with mista..... errrr... learning opportunities

Biggest thing right now is ditching some junk tools, really working on pattern making and getting the stitching to look nice.

Don't use wood stain. It looks great but man the stench doesn't go away! This was my last mistake.

I just lurk in this forum, but you folks really set the bar high! It certainly helps the motivation to do better. Maybe one of these days I'll have something to proudly show.

 

[Hickory n steel]

Far more mistakes than successes.
I'm not good at planning things out, I get an idea in my head of what I want and just jump right in.
I've made a lot of sheaths and most were terrible, so far I've only made a few that looked like somebody who knew what they were doing made it.

I got into making myself knife sheaths as a teenager, and I started with nothing but a bag of scraps from the craft store, a pocket knife, an old ice pick, and 1 old carpet repair needle.
Since then I have definitely improved, I've bought or made better / proper tools, and learned more techniques.
I still haven't really gotten into tooling leather yet ( have a set of the stamps somewhere) though, I'm still trying to get good and consistent at the general sheath making.
the biggest thing I need to work on is finishing the edges, and nailing the fit.
I really need to buy a better stitch groover, and better edge bevelers in different sizes.


I made this one last weak, just a temporary sheath made from some less than ideal scraps I had because I was out of leather, but I didn't make any mistakes this time and it went well.

 

[SwissHeritageCo]

I read somewhere that’s it’s not about your mistakes, it’s about how well you can work them into the design. I think I’ve made mistakes on every sheath I’ve done, only one was so bad I had to scrap. …But I’m not selling anything, then they have to be perfect.

This.

You're going to make mistakes, it's just about how well you can clean them up.

 

[Horsewright]

Far more mistakes than successes.
I'm not good at planning things out, I get an idea in my head of what I want and just jump right in.
I've made a lot of sheaths and most were terrible, so far I've only made a few that looked like somebody who knew what they were doing made it.

I got into making myself knife sheaths as a teenager, and I started with nothing but a bag of scraps from the craft store, a pocket knife, an old ice pick, and 1 old carpet repair needle.
Since then I have definitely improved, I've bought or made better / proper tools, and learned more techniques.
I still haven't really gotten into tooling leather yet ( have a set of the stamps somewhere) though, I'm still trying to get good and consistent at the general sheath making.
the biggest thing I need to work on is finishing the edges, and nailing the fit.
I really need to buy a better stitch groover, and better edge bevelers in different sizes.

View attachment 2107045
I made this one last weak, just a temporary sheath made from some less than ideal scraps I had because I was out of leather, but I didn't make any mistakes this time and it went well.

I like that. Belt loop on the back or a pocket sheath?

 

[Hickory n steel]

I like that. Belt loop on the back or a pocket sheath?

I just cut a slot for the belt because it's all the leather I had left, wasn't the best idea but it works.

 

[Sharp & Fiery]

Far more mistakes than successes.
I'm not good at planning things out, I get an idea in my head of what I want and just jump right in.
I've made a lot of sheaths and most were terrible, so far I've only made a few that looked like somebody who knew what they were doing made it.

I got into making myself knife sheaths as a teenager, and I started with nothing but a bag of scraps from the craft store, a pocket knife, an old ice pick, and 1 old carpet repair needle.
Since then I have definitely improved, I've bought or made better / proper tools, and learned more techniques.
I still haven't really gotten into tooling leather yet ( have a set of the stamps somewhere) though, I'm still trying to get good and consistent at the general sheath making.
the biggest thing I need to work on is finishing the edges, and nailing the fit.
I really need to buy a better stitch groover, and better edge bevelers in different sizes.

View attachment 2107045
I made this one last weak, just a temporary sheath made from some less than ideal scraps I had because I was out of leather, but I didn't make any mistakes this time and it went well.

This is a cool “frontier” style sheath for sure!

 

[sheathmaker]

To answer you original question "How many mistakes"? I estimate the number to be about 4,032, and that's probably conservative Of course they started in 1951and have tapered off a bit on an annual basis by the time we got to 2023. One of the main things in learned along the way was a piece of advice (knowledge) in the form of a statement by an old boot and saddle maker Named Don Atkinson. He said, Paul, you can make anything in the world you want to IF you start by making paper pattern before you even think of cutting leather. I took that advice to heart and I don't make anything without that first step. Then I study the pattern and build the project in my mind. It is amazing how many potential problems and/or errors come to light in that "mental build" so you correct the errors before they even before they have a chance to happen. I keep all my patterns for while and if there is a case of misfit (which seldom happens) I still have the original pattern and can make the necessary corrections for the second cut. Then other thing that helps a lot in mistake prevention is PRACTICE, but you will never be immune to the Mistake Virus. Good patterns, thoughtful consideration of the build, and attention to detail during the build is the best vaccine.

 

[RDog]

Thanks everyone for sharing. I have made a few things with next to no planning and a few where I did detailed drawings and used both cardboard and/or paper to mock things up...and I've had both good and bad results doing all these things. I want to get better with the mockups, and the mental build concept. As soon as I figure out how to post pictures I'll share some of my work, I'll give you guys a good laugh.

 

[Sharp & Fiery]

I’m sure you’re doing fine.
I do the template and “mental build” as well…it keeps me up at night. Haha.