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The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
Price is$300$250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.
Show off your Fiddlebacks and Leather
- Thread starter thurin
- Start date
- Joined
- Aug 30, 2008
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- 3,214
So here is my second attempt at a sheath, this one for my Bushfinger:
Not going to win any prizes, but much better than the last one. I got a scrap of leather from a local saddle maker. I was a bit more careful when transferring the template to the leather this time.
I tried not to get the leather too wet, but added a bit of water when bending and forming. I used Barge cement to glue up the pieces, but my cement may be a bit old, the cement didn't seem to hold to well and I ended up pulling it apart and adding a bit more glue. Instead of a stitch marking wheel, I used a stitching iron (tiny pitchfork kinda thing with diamond-shaped teeth). The iron made clearer holes and kept me a bit more even.
I treated the leather with some Neatsfoot oil, I think this made the leather soft and perhaps excessively pliable when stitching--I can really see the value of a stitching pony, I may need to rig something up for my next effort. Also, the mouth of the sheath was tight, despite a double welt in the handle section, after stitching, and I got the leather fairly wet in order to mold the leather around the handle. When burnishing the edges, the damp leather was easily deformed, and I lost an sort of clean or crisp edge.
Instead of Tan Kote, I used Snow Seal to finish the sheath. Heated the leather with a hair dryer to get the wax absorbed. The finish feels soft and is a bit dull. Might polish up better, but I'm not too concerned. This knife gets some good woods and fishing time and I need the sheath to be protective in rain and spray as well as from sweat. I've had unfinished sheaths absorb sweat which then condenses on a cold steel blade and cause rust spots.
While not a very pretty sheath, the knife locks in pretty well, doesn't shake out, and seems to be protected, so I'm pretty happy with the result.
Not going to win any prizes, but much better than the last one. I got a scrap of leather from a local saddle maker. I was a bit more careful when transferring the template to the leather this time.
I tried not to get the leather too wet, but added a bit of water when bending and forming. I used Barge cement to glue up the pieces, but my cement may be a bit old, the cement didn't seem to hold to well and I ended up pulling it apart and adding a bit more glue. Instead of a stitch marking wheel, I used a stitching iron (tiny pitchfork kinda thing with diamond-shaped teeth). The iron made clearer holes and kept me a bit more even.
I treated the leather with some Neatsfoot oil, I think this made the leather soft and perhaps excessively pliable when stitching--I can really see the value of a stitching pony, I may need to rig something up for my next effort. Also, the mouth of the sheath was tight, despite a double welt in the handle section, after stitching, and I got the leather fairly wet in order to mold the leather around the handle. When burnishing the edges, the damp leather was easily deformed, and I lost an sort of clean or crisp edge.
Instead of Tan Kote, I used Snow Seal to finish the sheath. Heated the leather with a hair dryer to get the wax absorbed. The finish feels soft and is a bit dull. Might polish up better, but I'm not too concerned. This knife gets some good woods and fishing time and I need the sheath to be protective in rain and spray as well as from sweat. I've had unfinished sheaths absorb sweat which then condenses on a cold steel blade and cause rust spots.
While not a very pretty sheath, the knife locks in pretty well, doesn't shake out, and seems to be protected, so I'm pretty happy with the result.
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Choppers?
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Thanks Phil [emoji3]
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So here is my second attempt at a sheath, this one for my Bushfinger:
Not going to win any prizes, but much better than the last one. I got a scrap of leather from a local saddle maker. I was a bit more careful when transferring the template to the leather this time.
I tried not to get the leather too wet, but added a bit of water when bending and forming. I used Barge cement to glue up the pieces, but my cement may be a bit old, the cement didn't seem to hold to well and I ended up pulling it apart and adding a bit more glue. Instead of a stitch marking wheel, I used a stitching iron (tiny pitchfork kinda thing with diamond-shaped teeth). The iron made clearer holes and kept me a bit more even.
I treated the leather with some Neatsfoot oil, I think this made the leather soft and perhaps excessively pliable when stitching--I can really see the value of a stitching pony, I may need to rig something up for my next effort. Also, the mouth of the sheath was tight, despite a double welt in the handle section, after stitching, and I got the leather fairly wet in order to mold the leather around the handle. When burnishing the edges, the damp leather was easily deformed, and I lost an sort of clean or crisp edge.
Instead of Tan Kote, I used Snow Seal to finish the sheath. Heated the leather with a hair dryer to get the wax absorbed. The finish feels soft and is a bit dull. Might polish up better, but I'm not too concerned. This knife gets some good woods and fishing time and I need the sheath to be protective in rain and spray as well as from sweat. I've had unfinished sheaths absorb sweat which then condenses on a cold steel blade and cause rust spots.
While not a very pretty sheath, the knife locks in pretty well, doesn't shake out, and seems to be protected, so I'm pretty happy with the result.
Much, much better than my second sheath, well done!
Using a sponge to wet the leather works well, doesn't let it get too sloppy. All of my problems with Barge cement and Weldwood have been from jumping the gun and not letting it dry enough. Also if you're gluing the rough side of the leather a lot of it may soak down into the leather so you might need two coats. Conversely, if you're gluing the smooth side you want to roughen it up a bit, I use 220 grit sandpaper. I'm pretty sure I'd tear the leather before I could pull apart a Barge or Weldwood'ed seam.
Neatsfoot oil is the bomb diggity for conditioning the leather, just gotta make sure it's 100% neatsfoot, the neatsfoot compounds have some weird stuff added. It's much easier to overload with the oil than not put enough on. Use it very sparingly.
If the mouth of the sheath was tight that's just a matter of figuring out how much spacing to leave on your pattern. I've just started giving myself a 1/2" from the outline of the knife to the center of the pattern. Rolling the knife to get the outline and other methods have just made unnecessarily tight fits IMO.
As far as finishing.. make sure you do the inside before you put it together for good weatherproofing. I mark where my welt's gonna go on the inside then dye and then seal everything inside that won't be covered by the welt. If I'm using Sno Seal or Montana Pitch it leaves some waxy residue on the blade but that doesn't hurt anything.
Anywho, I'm no pro at all so take it for what it's worth. You have a nice sheath there for an absolutely beautiful knife. You should be very proud!
For reference, here's my 1st sheath-
5th
7th
9th
15?
16 and 17.. I think.
Nothing spectacular about that progression, you can match or exceed that easily, you're already up on me for your 2nd
- Joined
- Aug 30, 2008
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- 3,214
Huge thanks for the advice and encouragement. For my next sheath I'm leaving a bit of extra space. I agree, that, for me, the roll-and-outline method seems to make things a bit tight.
With the Barge cement, I did scuff up the surfaces and let it dry. Maybe too long? After sticking an extra coat on it seemed to work well enough.
Clearly an Art to this and I'm trying to develop a little skill. Don't know if you saw it, but I'm doing a Sheath Making Challenge over on W&SS: Sheath Challenge. Love to see you submit something and maybe give some advice to the newbies (like me) there.
