new stacked leather bucket sheath, constructive criticism welcome

C

Crawdaddy

Joined
Sep 7, 2012
Messages
142
hello everybody,
so i was told i needed to do a lot of refinement on my sheaths, and got some specific pointers, and i wanted to start by saying thank you to all who contributed to that, and i especially wanted to thank Anthony with user name Strigamort, who emailed me back and forth a few times with some sticky stuff, i really appreciate it.

first off here is the thread to the other 2 sheaths i posted pics of, so if anybody wants to take a look and see if i have improved any, i guess that would be a good place to start, kind of compare the two


http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...-sheaths-are-horrible-how-do-i-make-em-better

ok, the two things i am going to be critical of for myself, i thought i had the pressure set to do the stamp, i practiced a bunch, using my drill press, when i raised the arm up it was like "dang dang..." so i called the buddy of mine who did the laser cut of that one and i got him to redo the stamp cutting it deeper, i have tried it since and zero problem with the border , so next sheath will have the borderless stamp.

the other thing is i did use the needle to drill the holes and did ok, but i skipped drilling the wedge on my welt and it threw off the stitching on the back on the one side.

other than that you will have to point out what other areas i need to work on next. below i have posted pics of the knife i made that the sheath was made for. i will post over in the shoptalk area for feedback on the knife

thank you again to all, and for the 2 people who needed specific questions, i scraped some pennies together to buy some feibiengs light brown dye, the original leather according to the Saddle shop, was undyed veg tanned leather, the color is one coat of the light brown dye. either the bottle is lying or i have managed to jack something else up... any ideas ? i like the color and to me it goes good with the cocobolo, but not what i thought i had purchased

also, since i was told by several people i need to charge for my leather, what price should i put on this sheath and / or ones similar to it?

thank you











 
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Much better!!! Stitching is greatly improved and the edges are the difference of night and day from the first one.:thumbup::thumbup:. The color is good and I would call it Chestnut, but you will find that dyes go on lighter than you expect and each different piece, or side of leather will have it's own idea of what color it will be even out of the same bottle. Temperature, humidity, temper (firmness) of the leather and all that technical stuff, but the bottom line is this sheath looks WAY better and it will only keep getting better from here if you don't let up on what you expect of yourself.;):thumbup:

(I realize money is tight, but when you do get able to buy some better leather (not belly leather) you work will take another giant step up.,, Also one more pat on the back for the finish on those edges including the belt loop!!!!!)

Paul
 
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sheathmaker said:
Much better!!! Stitching is greatly improved and the edges are the difference of night and day from the first one.:thumbup::thumbup:. The color is good and I would call it Chestnut, but you will find that dyes go on lighter than you expect and each different piece, or side of leather will have it's own idea of what color it will be even out of the same bottle. Temperature, humidity, temper (firmness) of the leather and all that technical stuff, but the bottom line is this sheath looks WAY better and it will only keep getting better from here if you don't let up on what you expect of yourself.;):thumbup:

(I realize money is tight, but when you do get able to buy some better leather (not belly leather) you work will take another giant step up.,, Also one more pat on the back for the finish on those edges including the belt loop!!!!!)

Paul
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Thank You Paul for those kind words of encouragement, and i will continue to try and improve
this leather dye things is nutz..lol. i saw a post of someone showing how to make a sheath and they used just neatsfoot oil, i think on the next one i will try that

if it's not too much trouble any idea what i should charge for a sheath like this one i posted? i have almost zero idea

and thank you again for the help

crawdaddy (mark)
 
Mark, you already know how I feel about your improvement, but I'll echo Paul, you've done very good.

What Paul said about the quality of leather is so true. When I started, I bought some very expensive, but flawless Hermann Oak. Since then I've bought other quality leathers. Occasionally I grab a scrap (some pieces are big enough for small sheaths) of the HO and it always impresses me how nice it is to work with. It's a great experience in every way. Stamping is improved, cutting is flawless, dyeing is improved, wet forming is nicer, etc. I don't notice much difference when going from grade A stuff to B grade, but I notice when I go from B to A, if that makes any sense.

In other words, you are in for a treat once you get some really high quality stuff. :thumbup:

Keep up the good work.
 
Strigamort said:
Mark, you already know how I feel about your improvement, but I'll echo Paul, you've done very good.

What Paul said about the quality of leather is so true. When I started, I bought some very expensive, but flawless Hermann Oak. Since then I've bought other quality leathers. Occasionally I grab a scrap (some pieces are big enough for small sheaths) of the HO and it always impresses me how nice it is to work with. It's a great experience in every way. Stamping is improved, cutting is flawless, dyeing is improved, wet forming is nicer, etc. I don't notice much difference when going from grade A stuff to B grade, but I notice when I go from B to A, if that makes any sense.

In other words, you are in for a treat once you get some really high quality stuff. :thumbup:

Keep up the good work.
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thank you Anthony, and again thank you for all your help, it has truly meant a lot
 
Well, I ain't Paul or any of a lot of the really awesome guys here, but no one's ever accused me of not trying.

You're more than welcome to anything I know. ;)
 
Strigamort said:
Well, I ain't Paul or any of a lot of the really awesome guys here, but no one's ever accused me of not trying.

You're more than welcome to anything I know. ;)
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i haven't know you that long, but not only did you try , imho you went above and beyond, lol you were putting up with me and my rambling. lol
thanks again Sir, in my book you are good people
 
First off I'd like to say that the knife is a beautiful piece and in the back of my mind, after your first post, that the sheaths were more of an afterthought and you really had a passion for the knives you made.? Regardless this sheath is greatly improved from your earlier ones you posted.
Again I really have 0 skill but a desire to learn about this hobby I have come to enjoy. The edges look fantastic. It looks like you spent a bit more time cutting out the piece and took the advice on rounding the corners.
Couldn't help on what to charge as I am only doing mine as gifts for friends but it seems to me feasible to raise the knife price according to additional hours spent making the sheath.
Good luck
 
Scorpion Wood said:
First off I'd like to say that the knife is a beautiful piece and in the back of my mind, after your first post, that the sheaths were more of an afterthought and you really had a passion for the knives you made.? Regardless this sheath is greatly improved from your earlier ones you posted.
Again I really have 0 skill but a desire to learn about this hobby I have come to enjoy. The edges look fantastic. It looks like you spent a bit more time cutting out the piece and took the advice on rounding the corners.
Couldn't help on what to charge as I am only doing mine as gifts for friends but it seems to me feasible to raise the knife price according to additional hours spent making the sheath.
Good luck
Click to expand...

thank you kindly, i've worked with metal in one way or another my whole life, restoring mustangs and cameros, different jobs, i've also worked with wood, so my transition to knife making was fairly quick, i still have a lot of design knowledge to acquire and technical stuff to learn. but leather i had never touched to work with, and since it is organic i am learning there is an art to learning how it will respond to different inputs, and that i can only assume will develop after making more leather things and paying attention. but there were basic skills i was not seeing what i was messing up or how i was,,,, i needed some feedback, and i finally got it. so now i know where i need to focus more when i am in that step.
thank you
 
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