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Noob question...Can I re-form a loose fitting leather sheath?

cnm123

cnm123

Joined
Sep 7, 2015
Messages
1,429
I picked up a nice little knife and sheath, but the knife is LOOSE. It won't stay in. at all.
I don't know anything about sheaths or leather so I don't know what weight the leather is or how it was tanned or any details like that.
I'm pretty sure the whole shebang is a Jantz kit.
The maker formed it at one time, so it has the correct shape.
Can it be fixed by rewetting and reforming or should I look at starting over?
 
If it is one of those Jantz kits and its just dyed veg-tan. You could wet and reform with some discoloration. I've often found, though, projects tends to be better when started from the beginning rather than working to correct someone else's mistake. If you are going to reform it. I would suggest a good soak, just enough to get the whole piece uniformly wet you don't need to turn it to a sponge. Then form and place it in a sub 200 degree oven for 15-20min. You want to pull it when it is firm but long before it gets brittle. If the sheath has been oil-tanned or treated in any way other than a simple dye then reforming will most likely fail. At that point maybe some sort of interior spacer to make up the gaps? Can you post an image? That may help one of the pro's around here help out.
 
Hope these pics help.
It's a pretty basic sheath.
I'm not concerned to much about presentation really. I'd rather have it functional than pretty.

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DSC_01183_zpsux1bjpzc.jpg
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The sheath is just plain too big for the knife. No amount of wet re-forming is going to be a permanent fix. A quick and dirty fix would be to install a Chicago Screw at the mouth just inside the stitch line so that it goes through the welt and thus protects the stitches from the sharp blade. This should tighten up a bit on the handle and be much more secure, but it will do nothing for the sloppy fit elsewhere.

Paul
 
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You could get some of the soft leather from your local leather store and apply barge or a similar glue to it and glue it to the inside. That may give it enough friction, if not the sheath is waaaay too big.


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