how long did this take you mikey?
also, what did you use for the stitching holes?? fine drill bit?? thin sharp nail or a bradawl or something??
great job bud
Thanks.
I can happily relate my experience, which I will do below, but if you want good sound advice I suggest you ask Leatherman or Chuddy Bear or Progunner. Those guys (and others, I know!) really make awesome professional stuff! :thumbup: Their level of craftsmanship is what I aspire to.
I used a drill press for the stitching holes. I use a 1/16" bit, and I need a new one becuse this one is slightly out of true. For me the 1/16" size is good because the needles still need to be pushed through but can be done easily with fingers alone.
I do my sheath work in my spare time, generally evenings and some on the weekend. This one probably took me maybe 4 hours or so, but I'm not sure. It was roughly a week between start and end. First chunk of time was deciding what shape and features I wanted the sheath to have and tracing the knife out on paper. In the future I will use craft paper instead of printer paper, for stiffness. I had already made the belt loop with the D-ring.
Next I made some templates and cut the leather. Then I made the little pieces and attached some snaps, then formed and stitched the little ring holder and retention snaps to their respective large pieces.
Next I cut the edges of the big pieces to be roughly equal, then cut out the insides of the welt pieces. Then I glued the inner big pieces together and did some edging that would have been hard to do with it all put together. Then I glued it all together.
Next I took the edges to my belt sander and straightened them up and smoothed them out. Then I grooved and marked for stitching, then I drilled holes on a drill press (not very well I might add). Then edged the sides of the sheath. Stitched it together with Marlow #4 waxed whipping twine. Dampened the whole sheath and stuffed the knife in to form it a bit. It's tight because I cut the welt too close to the knife all around, and tight stitching only tightens the fit, but it will loosen quite nicely in short order (in fact it is already about perfect). Then I took out the knife and slopped on the dye.
Later I buffed it out and used gum tragacanth to smooth the edges and corners, and to flatten the leather in back. Then I put on some conditioner (Leather Amore) and waited. Buffed again and put on a sealer (Super Shene). Waited some more and buffed again.
I still don't know what are good wait times between dying, conditioning, and sealing. So far I have gotten to the point where I dye then let it sit over night or until the leather has become stiff and obviously dry. Then I condition and that seems dry pretty quick, like no more othan 20 minutes or so. For the sealer it remains tacky for at least a couple hours.
I may have left some things out but that was the gist of it.
