Making Leather Pants- Update!

B

Boar-gen

Joined
Dec 28, 2007
Messages
199
I still have a problem with finding leather in suitable sizes! I am not prepared to order a whole cow at this stage! :eek:

Anyway, I have received the leather hand tools I ordered from Tandy and I was desperate! Wanted to try out the tools! Finally I found a local store doing some leather work and repair. The owner sold me some scrap pieces- enough for making a couple of sheaths. So leather still a problem, but at least I could get started. :p

I have made a couple of leather sheaths in the past, but without the proper tools and I am very satisfied with the outcome of this one. At the same time, I have realize the value you get when you buy a leather sheath from the established makers at $40- 50. :thumbup: Lots of manual work that goes into one small sheath!

Here are some pictures:

AD_Leather_1.jpg


AD_Leather_2.jpg


AD_Leather_3.jpg


Regards,

Boar-gen
 
Wow, that looks VERY professional!

Nice work.

Does it ride the way you want it to, it's definietly a high-ride...
 
Nice sheath! Thats way better then my first couple. Any chance we can also see the knife?

Heber
 
first sheath???? First time I tried to make a sheath, i nearly went suicidal!! Some of you guys are really talented! I don't know how you guys do it!
 
:thumbup::thumbup:

That's definitely a pro-level job. I really like the details - slight recess for the stitching and very clean lines on the sides where all of the layers come together. I have more than one commercial sheath that doesn't come together that well. If you did this well on try #1, I want to see some tooling on try #2.
:cool:
 
Thank you all for your feedback!

To answer some of your questions/comments:

xaman- Yes, it’s a high-ride and just as I planned it.

leatherHog- my first sheath using real hand leather tools. But I have made a couple of sheaths in the past, using tools not specific for leather.

Heber- You can find the introduction of this family member at this thread: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=531181

Gary007- Thank you! At least for me- using the right hand leather tools helped a lot!

Ham Solo-Thank you! I have not been able to find anyone selling small quantities of leather. So if I have to buy a whole cow worth of leather- I just might have to open up for business! ;)

Thank you IDAHOG!

Wow- thank you for your comments Tohatchi NM! We shall see what I can come up with on the 2nd sheath!

Thank you mfaster7!

Boar-gen
 
I have one problem- I just realized! I am using Eco-Flo dye (water based) and when I carried the sheath close to my body- the leather dye is bleeding! :eek: Not a major problem since my pants and t-shirt is dark in color, but my own skin is now dark blue/black! :o

Any ideas how to solve this problem?

Thanks,

Boar-gen
 
I didn't see you describe how you made the sheath, but I'm guessing you missed one or both of two important steps:

You need to buff your leather after the dye has dried. Black is among the hardest colors to permanently dye leather because a lot of the particulates stay on or near the surface. Buffing will remove most if not all of the dye that's left laying on the surface of the leather.

You probably want to be sealing your leather with something too. Sealing will keep contaminants (e.g. water) from soaking into your leather and damaging it, and will likewise keep what's in the leather (e.g. dye, oil, etc.) from coming out!

I use either Super Shene or Block Out (both from Tandy) to seal my projects. Depending on the application I'll use anywhere from 2-4 coats.
 
Thank you Hoggy Moto! That helps! :thumbup: I guess I have not buffed the leather enough. And I didn't use Super Shene or Block Out. All I did was to apply a mix of bee's wax and oils- which the leather sucked up nicely.

Thanks!

Boar-gen
 
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