I had some great luck working leather when I strictly followed the guidance in the book "How to Make Knives" by Loveless and Barney. Loveless takes you through the process to build a beautiful sheath for a Loveless Drop Point Hunter (my favorite knife by the way) You don't need an expensive machine to stitch the joint either.....I use my drill press with a small bit and get great results with waxed thread and hand sew a saddle stitch. There's only three cheap tools I use - a groover, an edge following groover, and a star wheel. I bought a 9/10 oz vegetable tanned shoulder off ebay for $62 and it makes a bunch of sheaths and I don't feel bad throwing a crappy one away and starting over. Using barge cement to glue it together, then sanding the edge on my Burr King leaves a straight edge to put a groove along for the star wheel to follow. Drill press out the holes, stitch, and you've got a simple, elegant leather sheath like the Master Loveless put on his knives. As far as color and finish, I've had the best results with three applications of plain old Needsfoot Oil worked into an oven warmed sheath at 170 F. When a buyer looks at my sheath and says: "Do you have a machine stitcher?" and I say "No, it's hand stitched," it gives me a lot of the same satisfaction I got from making the knife too! Also, for the cost of $35 delrin stamp, you have another venue to place your name as the maker - the back of the sheath!! Check out the book.... it helped me out a lot.
