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Horsewright

Horsewright

Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Oct 4, 2011
Messages
13,482
So back in October a gentleman ordered this knife from me, (wish I wasn't that far behind but am). He found the mammoth tooth for the handle and had it dropped shipped to me. It was about a 1/4" shy of covering the handle of one of my California Coyotes so I added the Ironwood spacer. Come Febuary he also ordered a pair of chinks (leggings). What was weird about this deal was that they came up to be worked on at the same time. I normally do knife work in the morning and leather work in the evenings. Years ago I use to carve a lot of oak leaves. They kind of went out of style and everybody switched to Sheridan style carving. This gentleman talked me into to doing some oak leaves. Outside of one pair of small spur straps I hadn't done any oak leaf carving in 15 to 20 years. Considering that, I was really happy with how they came out. Here's the knife:

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Then its caved Pancake sheath:

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Here the sheath is on the left leg of the pair of chinks. The left leg can have a pocket, (doesn't get in the way of your rope o the left leg) which this pair does and I carved the pocket flap too. Still need to build the rear waist belt and this gentleman has two brands. Each brand was to be sewn on the bottom corner of a leg.

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The brands did cause some cussing and discussing around here. I drew them out on graph paper first to get them proportional to each other. However one is just bigger than the other. The original ideal was to sewn them on at about a 45 degree to the outside corner of the bottom of each leg. However, that put the larger one (right leg) up higher by quite a bit than the other. This bothered my ocd bad. So with some consultation with the customer, we decided on going horizontal along the bottom edge which kept the right leg brand down too. I was worried about it getting too high and being in the way of the rope, more of getting abnormally worn because of the rope.

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So they shipped off to Colorado yesterday. Questions and comments always welcome.
 
Your work never ceases to leave me in awe! The knife I'd beautiful, the sheath is a work of art, and I love the chinks!!! I really wish I could carve as good as that, you do such a beautiful job!!
 
Dave, your work is always amazing ! You are a true artist.

I can only wish to produce such beautiful work
John
 
That is just beautiful. So awesome and amazing craftsmanship.

I love the whole set up.

Leatherwork doesn't get any purtier!

Todd
 
Please excuse my naivety, but how do you even carve leather like that? Its gorgeous, but im confused as to how exactly its done.
thanks
 
alasker00 said:
Please excuse my naivety, but how do you even carve leather like that? Its gorgeous, but im confused as to how exactly its done.
thanks
Click to expand...

There are special tools and stamps you use. Google leather carving tutorial...lots of good videos out there!
 
Dave,

All of the work is fabulous in my opinion. I really like that sheath design for a small EDC straight blade, not to mention the incredibly high definition tooling. This level of work doesn't need dying or highlighting to make it stand out, as demonstrated by your photos.

Thanks for sharing.

Mike L.
 
Great stuff, Dave!
What is the stamp or process you use to get the waffle looking pattern in the background of the oak?
 
Excellent Dave, as I always say, old leathersmith never die, he just leaves a lasting 'impression' ;) great stuff sir,
G2
 
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Beautiful stuff Dave! You never fail to make me want to get better at both ends of the craft.

Chris
 
Thanks Guys! alasker00 there are a lot of utube videos as nic mentioned that will explain the process well. Briefly my process 1) start with good leather and pretty thick stuff too. This is Herman Oak 8 to 9 oz. You can not get decent depth or lasting impressions as Gary says on thin leather. 2) Case the leather 3) Lay out your pattern. This is the hard part for me as I don't draw well. I have my pattern on clear graph film. I then using a stylus transfer the pattern to the damp leather. 4) Stamp the acorn with an old Tandy stamp. I wil bevel around this stamping later. 5) Cut (with a swivel knife) all lines including the interior border. On the oak leaves do not cut the veins. 6) Bevel around the interior border and then all exterior lines of the oak leaves, stems and acorns. 7) Use pearl shaders for depth on the leaves and bevel the veins on the oak leaves. 8) Use a petal lifter on the outside of the leaves in the small inside curves. 9) Background. 10) Decorative knife cuts on acorn, twigs and leaves. All tools were Barry King including the swivel knives. The acorn stamp is Tandy as are the two backgrounders. Why Waltz the two backgroundering tools I used are Tandy #s A 888 and A 118. I've had these two stamps since the beginning of time. These are what create the waffle look to the background.
 
Anyone who as attempted to work leather understand the high level of craftsmanship that these display. Thanks for sharing.
 
Awesome work! Probably will bring the oak leaves back as one of your big sellers once other people start to see your customer's new leathers


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
You're truly an artist and a master in your chosen medium. I am beyond impressed. Thanks for posting this as well as all of your other excellent postings.
 
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