Making leather sheaths. Please advise

wildmanh

wildmanh

Part time Leather Bender/Sheath maker
Joined
Jul 9, 2000
Messages
7,764
Years ago when I was in the Scouting program I used to work with leather quite a bit, making all sorts of things inclucluding leather knife sheaths and pouches. I will be sending one knife to Terry Sisco in the near future (2 to 5 weeks) for a cantered Cross Draw leather sheath. Even so, I want to start working with leather again and have come up some some questions:

* What type of leather and weigh should I buy?

* How would I go about designing and building a cantered Crossdraw sheath?

* What about Pouch style sheaths? (Cross Draw and strong side)

* Anyone have pics they could send me?

* I have heared about wet molding. How is this done and do you dye/stain the leather before or after doing it?

Any sugestions/advice would be great. Thanks,

Heber
 
Wildmanh,
1.I use 6/8 oz. vegtable tanned leather.

2.Sitdown and think about what you want as far as the sheath goes,
maybe draw a few ideas down on paper.

3. I like the pouch style sheaths, they hold the knife secure without the need for a retaining strap.
4. I belive there are a couple of pics of pouch style sheath on my site.
5. I get the general shape of the sheath finished and stiched up.
Then I coat the blade in wax or tape to keep it from rusting, wet the sheath and let the leather soak up the water. You don't want it dripping wet because it won't mold to well.
Slide the knife in the sheath and it will usually shape itself to the knife. Sometimes it will require a little bit of pressing the leather to form it to the shape of the knife.
Let it dry awhile, pull the knife out and let it dry totally out.
The sheath should fit snug but not tight. The knife shouldn't fall out when turned upside down.
After it dries I dye it and give it a polish.
I hope this makes sense!
If you have any ?'s just e-mail.
God Bless.
Terry
Leatherman,
Nice work! Nice Site!
 
you can also wet mold using alcohol (be careful of open flame etc)
and the leather will dry faster but not mold quite as well...for holsters Ive used stiff paper as a patterns..just make the pattern a bit larger than you think you need and be prepared to do several prototypes before you get what you what....
 
Wow! :) Lots of good information there. Thanks guys.:D

Terry, I'll shoot you an email in a little while. You too Leatherman.:)
 
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