My first Bowie/present for a friend WIP (fingers corssed)

Glad some people find this interesting Eric. Certain people might remember I did my first knife build on here as a WIP and I really enjoy them. First off they help me learn from makers with their input as they chime in it's like a virtual hammer in to me. And when I'm doing a build that's new to me they really help and hopefully they might help others who are getting into making knives learn some things as I go and maybe see what it's like stepping into something new or out of their comfort zone. Plus it's good to vent when I screw something up because unless you make knives people really can't appreciate the frustration and humor that comes along with making mistakes as you go.....Perfect example was today I went to just put all the pieces of the sheath together because after cutting the two pieces out I just put everything away for the night. And I realized when I cut out the front of the sheath I forgot to flip my template over so it's reversed :o. But as Bob Ross used to say we don't make mistakes, just happy accidents :D. The good news is I can attempt to to a basket weave on the useless overlay piece now if I want so YAY for that I guess. I can still use the cover of the front but the finished side will face in and make a nice inside of the sheath no one will ever see lol. I lucked out too because I ordered a thinner piece of leather to do the front and I have just enough left over to cut out another piece.
 
I like it but I don't like it....

I like how it looks with the white star.

I don't look how the star looks, stingray doesn't cut as nice as paper does or even leather. So unfortunately the star doesn't look "star-y" enough to me in terms of symmetry. I'm sure from her point it won't be a big deal because there is a bit of meaning behind it. But from my standpoint as a maker I don't want it to look like a kindergartner did this in arts and crafts either. I figure worst case I can pull/cut it off the stingray and put on a new piece without the star or order new leather and cut out another cover and go without the star.

What do you guys think? Keep it or scrap it?

Also I wanted to bevel the part of the inlay where the stingray sits but when I tried it on the piece I mis cut it's very hard to have it make the corners on the top left and right and the point at the bottom. Is there a trick to doing that or is it just not done?




 
Consider cutting out a star in nickel silver ( of buying a star from Tandy) and putting it on the stingray as a concho.
 
Fletch,your ambition is admirable ! Inlay sheaths are very complex .If you can make the inlays look good (lots of skiving ,fitting, burnishing etc...)then consider one of those "Texas "star conchos to place over your existing star(as Stacy pointed out).BTW,I use "Weldwood" brand contact cement ,as recommended by my friend Andrew Wood who specializes in making horse harness for mid-size horses such as Morgans ,etc..
 
I don't know what you used to cut out the star but I would vote to either scrap it or clean it up. I haven't worked with stingray yet but what I would try is to use a computer to generate a perfect star the size you want. Use spray adhesive to apply it to the smooth reverse side of the skin as a guide or template. Then use a chisel that is the same width as one side of the star from point to point. This way the lines will be straight. Then carefully align the chisel and cut each point-to-point span of the star until it is completely cut out.
 
i4marc - Because you haven't used stingray, you don't understand that the procedure you described won't work.

Stingray is like cutting fiberglass....lumpy, bumpy, fiberglass. People who haven't tried to cut it don't believe how hard it is to cut. On precise cuts, I use a diamond slit saw in a flex shaft handpiece. Even then it often looks ragged.
 
If you want a relative easy way to cut Sting Ray.....

Make yourself a chisel ground knife and push cut it.

I use a lot of sting ray and a good chisel ground blade is indispensable in making the job easy.

Good thing I make plenty of Chisel ground knives :)
 
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Thanks for the education Stacey. Stingray is a skin I'd like to work with at some point but it sure doesn't sound like fun.
 
Well I think the star idea will just have to pass on this one. Much as I would've liked to see it happen I checked Tandy's site and all the conchos have a circle around them, not the look I want. And I'm hoping to get this thing buttoned up by the end of the month at this point. So got the old piece off, skived the glue off, cut out new inlays. I cut the inlays bigger so they'll be stitched into the sheath since I don't have leatherweld and probably am not going to order it for this I figure that and the contact cement should do fine. It's not like this thing is going to be put through the paces or see a ton of abuse, it needs to stick together as is sits on a shelf or in a drawer lol.

Yeah stingray kinda sucks to cut, it's not bad with scissors, horrible with any kind of razor blade or knife, it's tough stuff and horribly bumpy and I think the bumps on this were even sanded down a bit, or maybe they're all like that anyway. Again I'm not going to really have the time to make a chisel ground push knife but thanks Adam for the suggestion. This kinda works out good because I think I screwed up gluing the stingray on in the first place. I think I should dye the overlay piece first since I'll need to get inside the cutouts with the dye without getting it all over the stingray.

So I'm guessing my next steps are dye the overlay glue the stingray and backing of the front part of the sheath together, then glue the welt side of the sheath to that, sand, cut the groove for the stitching in, use the overstitcher, drill/punch my holes sew this thing together and dye the rest of it right? I'm unsure because when I cut that groove in for the stitching will it stand out after it's dyed? I think when I did the only sheath I ever made I didn't dye it until it was all sewn up. That was a pouch sheath though this one is multiple pieces. So not entirely sure of the best practice on this.

I really gotta find that DVD just so I can remember the process and how to do everything.
 
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Okay fell off the wagon for a bit working on this thing but got the sheath glued up tonight, dyed the inside of the cutout, and hit the edges with the belt sander. For some reason I couldn't really get a good clear pic of it but you get the idea.



And I'm pleased to announce the knife fits tight in there. And no I'm not pinching it tight enough to keep it in ;)



From here it's just matter of finish sanding the edges then cutting in the groove for the stitching dye it all up then stitch it..... I think. Unless I'm missing anything. When I bought everything to do my leather work I bought gum tragacanth, and leather balm with atom wax. If memory serves the gum tragacanth is wiped into the sheath after it's just about finished then the leather balm is final right? I remember getting them because that's what was recommend in Chuck Burrows sheath making DVD. Which I'm sure will turn up long after this is finished.
 
I use the gum tragacanth only on the edges to get a good shine and make them harder. Let it dry and buff hard with a cotton cloth. The Atom Wax goes on over everything once it is completely done. Let it dry a while and buff with a soft cloth.
 
Stick a fork in this one.....Finally :o I have to just fine tune the edge a bit, It'll shave paper like nothing and is taking some hair off shaving but that's minor stuff. Mind you leather work isn't really my thing yet much as I think I would like it, if I tried getting into it. But I suck at stitching so no close ups of that lol.

Took some pictures today and most of them all came out decent (for a cell phone camera). So I'll put a bunch up, some are upside down dunno why, I didn't take em that way so just flip your monitor :D. Once again I would like to extend my sincerest thanks to Stacy for all his help on this from start to finish. Thank you to Shawn for being kind enough to have me up to his shop to help me work out the guard. And thank you to everyone else who has chimed in along the way with input and critiques. It was a great build and I learned a lot considering just about everything about it from start to finish was something I've never done including just grinding a blade this size. It was a great learning experience and good to start getting back into making more knives. I've already started grinding another that will be a gift for someone as well. But probably not gonna document it on here, this one took long enough lol. Thanks for playing along everyone :thumbup:


So get ready for some pics!






 
Thanks Marc. As you know we're our own worst critics so there's things I would've liked to see come out better but overall I'm quite pleased. I think I definitely maxed out my current skill set/abilities on this one and all in all it turned out much better than I thought it would've. Going into it I felt I was in way over my head on it but many small victories along the way so I can't complain.
 
Matt, As you may have learned on this project, many things we think are outside our skill set are not. The truth is revealed in the trying.
 
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