I'm in the process of learning how to make a sheath for my Rodent 9. Lots of hiccups and mistakes along the way! One of the first mistakes I made was putting my template on the leather upside down, so I ended up with 2 LH instead of RH sheaths, (I cut out two pieces of leather with the template).
Other mistakes: Small, unnoticed smears of cement on the leather that I didn't notice until I tried to dye the leather. Gluing and stitching before dying. Gluing the main body before stitching the belt loop. Trying to make a decorative groove down the spine which after wet molding was no longer on the spine. Not sanding the edges completely flush. Not running my stitching up high enough while I was at the press so I had to use an awl later, which gave me some truly off-line stitches on the back. In short, these are not sheaths to wear along side your barbecue gun and exotic leather holster. I did, however, make them for my current environment, Kodiak, which is about as hostile an environment as you can get for your leather. After dying the leather mahogany, I gave it a coat of SnoSeal and then waxed the sheath in parafin.
I have one piece of leather left to make my final sheath with the lessons I've learned so far. I have no use for the LH sheaths so if there are any southpaws out there with a Rodent 9 that would like a hard use and remarkably ugly sheath for beating around the woods, I'm your huckleberry. I'd just like to get out of them what I put into them in terms of material. I'm no sheath artist like the gentlemen who grace this forum with their work, so I wouldn't presume to ask compensation for my time. Does $20 plus shipping sound reasonable?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/64288790@N05/6913091361
http://www.flickr.com/photos/64288790@N05/6913089745
http://www.flickr.com/photos/64288790@N05/6913084813
Other mistakes: Small, unnoticed smears of cement on the leather that I didn't notice until I tried to dye the leather. Gluing and stitching before dying. Gluing the main body before stitching the belt loop. Trying to make a decorative groove down the spine which after wet molding was no longer on the spine. Not sanding the edges completely flush. Not running my stitching up high enough while I was at the press so I had to use an awl later, which gave me some truly off-line stitches on the back. In short, these are not sheaths to wear along side your barbecue gun and exotic leather holster. I did, however, make them for my current environment, Kodiak, which is about as hostile an environment as you can get for your leather. After dying the leather mahogany, I gave it a coat of SnoSeal and then waxed the sheath in parafin.
I have one piece of leather left to make my final sheath with the lessons I've learned so far. I have no use for the LH sheaths so if there are any southpaws out there with a Rodent 9 that would like a hard use and remarkably ugly sheath for beating around the woods, I'm your huckleberry. I'd just like to get out of them what I put into them in terms of material. I'm no sheath artist like the gentlemen who grace this forum with their work, so I wouldn't presume to ask compensation for my time. Does $20 plus shipping sound reasonable?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/64288790@N05/6913091361
http://www.flickr.com/photos/64288790@N05/6913089745
http://www.flickr.com/photos/64288790@N05/6913084813
