Most Recent Sheaths

ty_higg said:
Very nice those look great!
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Thank you. I’m beginning to like building the sheaths for the knives I make. Hand stitching takes the longest and for me the most pain staking. I would love to have a stitching machine but they are expensive.
 
Very nice! Did that top Celtic knot get cut off to fit the sgian dhu? If you are producing a lot of knives and you are selling them, the cost of a sewing machine pays for itself quickly in time saved. Your time is your most valuable asset and is your profit.

Having a similar discussion with a young lady, in the shop yesterday. Emma had come up and worked hard for two and half days cleaning up the shop and doing odd jobs. In exchange she wanted to trade her labor for a martingale/breast collar, the part that goes across the horses chest in this pic.

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She also wanted Nichole to show her how to flower carve it to match her saddle. This is the carving on Emma's saddle, its actually one of Nichole's old saddles that Emma bought used from us.

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It has a unique Hawaiian flower and Emma wanted to replace our normal Sheridan flower with a Hawaiian flower. So this carving pattern with the different flower:

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She got er done and she really did a nice job getting it carved. Should of, could of got some pics but didn't. So we were in the shop getting all the parts put together and she's asking me about making profit on something like this thats handmade and how you go about figuring a price. We were working on rubbing the edges at the time and she was asking about edge rubbing too. I told her the best edges I'd ever seen were like a mirror. But that guy could only do 4 inches an hour as his process was so labor intensive. So a plain breast collar like the one above, I sell for $160, carving is gonna add another $90 to it. So say $250 for Emma's breast collar (it doesn't have the big silver concho). Well a guy that use to be real active here in Sheaths and Such, (Anthony from Omega Leatherworks), one time asked me while I used a lathe to rub my edges. So in answering Anthony, I measured how many linear inches on a martingale/breast collar. Theres 330 inches to rub. So say I followed that laborious hand rubbing program and did 4 inches an hour. Thats 82.5 hours just to rub the edges! Times that by my shop rate of $50 an hour and thats $4,125 just in labor to rub the edges. Add in the cost of the martingale at $250 Which includes materials and construction labor) and we're up to $4,375. Not gonna sell many at $4,375 but I do sell quite a few between $160 and $250 depending on how complex it is. Your time in a project is your profit. Folks pay you for your time. A guy can make a nice knife using a file for his stock removal but a VFD controlled 2x72 sure lessens the time. Same with a leather stitcher.

Very nice work BTW. I'm particularly drawn to your multiple color dye job on the sgian dhu sheath. You pulled that off very well. And thats not even my thing and I like it.
 
Thank you. For the record I enjoy your posts and most certainly your photos! And of course admire your leather work.
I did cut the sheath down to fit the Sgian Dubh.
I may look into finding a leather sewing machine. My knife sales are picking up and it would be nice not to have to hand stitch every sheath.
Thanks for the compliment- I enjoy being creative with my sheaths.
 
Horsewright said:
If you are producing a lot of knives and you are selling them, the cost of a sewing machine pays for itself quickly in time saved. Your time is your most valuable asset and is your profit.
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So your response has moved me off dead center and I'm beginning to research single stitch sewing machines. I'm not at a point nor do I think I would ever be at a point where I would need an electric sewing machine. Seems like my needs could be met with either the Tippman Trail Boss or the Cowboy Outlaw. I'm leaning towards the Outlaw but just found a Tippman with accessories for 1200$ locally.

It would be nice not to have to hand stitch four or five sheaths every month.
 
Good deal, but seriously look around, say at a new Cobra 3 or similar. You are almost there with that price!
 
bike4fun919 said:
Thank you. For the record I enjoy your posts and most certainly your photos! And of course admire your leather work.
I did cut the sheath down to fit the Sgian Dubh.
I may look into finding a leather sewing machine. My knife sales are picking up and it would be nice not to have to hand stitch every sheath.
Thanks for the compliment- I enjoy being creative with my sheaths.
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I lived in Scotland for 3 1/2 years, I recognized it right away as a sgian dhu. I have one of course but my sheath (which I did not make) is just a plain black leather slip. Very cool.
 
For what it's worth, my Cobra 3 has paid for itself in saved time alone. As Dave said...for not much more coin, it's well worth the money in my opinion. If you're still in NC, you can buy one locally from Zack White Leather in Ramseur. That's where I got mine. Heck...it's worth the trip to go there, just to browse though the many isles of leathers they offer for sale.
 
Horsewright said:
I lived in Scotland for 3 1/2 years, I recognized it right away as a sgian dhu. I have one of course but my sheath (which I did not make) is just a plain black leather slip. Very cool.
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I love the sgian’s and the dirks! I’ve made several and plan on making more.
 
ANovinc said:
For what it's worth, my Cobra 3 has paid for itself in saved time alone. As Dave said...for not much more coin, it's well worth the money in my opinion. If you're still in NC, you can buy one locally from Zack White Leather in Ramseur. That's where I got mine. Heck...it's worth the trip to go there, just to browse though the many isles of leathers they offer for sale.
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Thank you. I’ll check them out. Ramseur isn’t not far from Raleigh.
 
I found a used Artisan for several hundred less than a Cobra 3. Comes with a flat table assortment pt needles and thread. Machine is about 4 years old with about 25 hours per the owner.
 
bike4fun919 said:
I found a used Artisan for several hundred less than a Cobra 3. Comes with a flat table assortment pt needles and thread. Machine is about 4 years old with about 25 hours per the owner.
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Is it a flat table machine or a cylinder arm machine? Some cylinder arm machines have flat table attachments. You want a cylinder arm machine. Most flat tables like a Cobra 18 aren't heavy duty enough for most sheath work.
 
ANovinc said:
Lucky find!
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Thank you! I feel fortunate I was able to get one not to far out of line from the Tippman Boss or Cowboy Outlaw. I'm thinking the flat table option will come in handy at some point. I'm really looking forward to taking my leather work to the next level (fingers crossed :))
I've got to drive an eight hour round trip but what the heck!
 
bike4fun919 said:
Thank you! I feel fortunate I was able to get one not to far out of line from the Tippman Boss or Cowboy Outlaw. I'm thinking the flat table option will come in handy at some point. I'm really looking forward to taking my leather work to the next level (fingers crossed :))
I've got to drive an eight hour round trip but what the heck!
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Totally worth it! You'll wonder how you got by without it, once you get comfortable with it. It really upped my game for sure!
 
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