Sheath making and fatal mistakes.

69_knives · Jul 2, 2009

Well, I thought if anybody else could learn from my mistakes it would be worth a post here.

Everything was hunky-dory until I got to the rivets, which was the final assembly step before dyeing and protecting.

The first mistake was putting the rivet holes too close to the top edge. the second was when I ground the extra length from the rivets. I got one of them too hot and it did nasty things to the leather. Third mistake, I didn't realize how much the peening of the rivet was compressing the leather... the combination of the overheating and overpeening on the same rivet basically ruined the whole sheath.:grumpy:

I finished it out because I didn't realize the problems were as bad as they were until just a little while ago.

go mike · Jul 2, 2009

Is that a snakeskin inlay?

All I can really say is thanks for posting this. Looks like you've learned a lot from it, and now other people won't have to learn the same way.

69_knives · Jul 2, 2009

The inlay is aligator.

and I said it was finished but not really, I was about to attach the snap loop when I noticed how bad it was.

I been thinking I maybe able to file the rivets off from the back and peel the affected back panel off and resew another one on without having to completely remake another sheath. at the very least I may be able to use it myself.

rayban · Jul 2, 2009

This is just my take on it.....
Good job......it looks good.
The rivets don't look bad at all.
Having said that, the rivets aren't necessary with the welts you have and the fine stitching job you did. If you added the rivets just for the "looks" then that's one thing, but again, with the welt and the good stitching, the rivets serve no purpose.

.....just do it over if you don't like it....we all mess up.

go mike · Jul 2, 2009

Hey, if a knife still fits in it, and it fits on a belt, it'll make a hell of a shop sheath for a shop knife

daveinvegas · Jul 3, 2009

69_knives said:
The inlay is aligator.

at the very least I may be able to use it myself.

Ain't it amazing how much stuff we end up with that is good enough for us to use because we messed it up just enough that we can sell it?

R Lewis · Jul 3, 2009

Looks pretty good to me. The one thing I have found about leathermaking is no matter how much experience I have, I always learn something new with each project.

Keep up the good work.

lukus · Jul 3, 2009

If you end up re-doing the rivets, you could always chuck the new rivets up in a drill and make the heads a bit smaller diameter with a file and sandpaper.

69_knives · Jul 3, 2009

rayban, the rivets were just for looks.

Dave, it is amazing, funny how that works, aint it?

Bobby, this was my second sheath, to that was a steep learning curve.

lukus, that is a good idea.

The problem wasn't really visible in the pics but the heat from grinding the extra length of the rivets made the back panel very hard, thin and weak and the back panel was basically tearing around the back washer.

I pulled the back panel off so it looks like it is salvageable.