So I made my first sheath

AncientSword

AncientSword

Gold Member
Joined
Apr 18, 2009
Messages
396
I have been wanting to do this for a long time, just like making knives, and I swore this would be the year I finally got around to it. The knives are coming along slowly at the moment, between work and nasty weather every afternoon here. I decided to order Chuck Burrows' video and I get all the tools together so I could make my first sheath. I did some searching on here and got most of what I needed ahead of time. I watched the video twice and then spent a little time the last couple of night making my first sheath.

I am happy with my first attempt. I made several mistakes, as expected, but it turned out to be functional. I used scrap leather from Michael's for this, so the leather is pretty crappy. I have since picked up a nice piece of double shoulder to work with for my next project. I think I have enough leather to make several more sheaths now. I am trying to decide which knife I want to tackle next. I have a couple big bowies that could use some new pants. Thinking I need to pick up a couple sam brown studs to use for those.

The funny thing is, my wife has been tolerating my hobbies till now. When she saw the setup for working leather, on the dining room table, she was excited! She loves leather stuff and used to make a few things, years ago. I didn't know she liked it that much. She is working on her first sheath as well, it just isn't done yet. She loves it. I think I hit the jackpot with this one. She has been looking at tools and stamps and stuff. :D

I got ahead of myself a couple of times and made life much harder with this first one. I think the second will go a lot faster. I also didn't use enough thread to quite finish the stitching, so I had to adjust everything a bit. The overall process is a lot of fun. I was looking forward to getting home from work the last couple of nights so I could work on the sheath.

I have to say that Chuck's video is very helpful. I plan on getting Paul Long's videos in the future, in addition to the Al Stohlman books that just came in from Amazon. I have not had time for all the info to really sink in yet, but I'm loving every minute of it.

This is a Siegle belt knife that I only had Kydex for, so I figured I would make some leather for it.

















 
Last edited:
Very nice! Looks like one of my patterns, but it's a classic. Not sure where I got my influence.

Which basket weave stamp are you using? If it's a Tandy/Craft Tool the designation should be on the handle. It's very clean and looks great!

I like the stitching to follow the curve or angles of the loop strap, but your stitching looks good.

I'm becoming a tool junky. Good tools don't make you better automatically, but they sure make life easier. What tools did you enjoy using, and what are you looking forward to acquiring?

I really like that you broke up the dye by using contrasting color on the welt.

A double shoulder? You should get a bunch of sheaths out of that. I haven't counted, but I figure about 20 for a good trimmed double. Might even get a belt or two.

Definitely looking forward to yours and your wife's further efforts. It's awesome being able to make what you need.

I hear ya on the knife making thing too. I've made a couple and I'm doing another one for my wife's friend soon as well.

Nice work, keep at it! :thumbup:
 
Awesome firsty! I've made a couple and they look like dog droppings next to that! I know exactly what you mean about the wife and the leather working thing. Mine wasn't thrilled about my knife making but when she saw the leather, all complaints ceased!
 
Nice job! For a first sheath its a really nice job in fact. Couple of suggestions if you are open to them.
 
Thanks guys, I am open to suggestions.

I already know several things I did wrong, but i had to finish it as It was Or scrap It. I got ahead of myself on a couple things and had to just work around my mistakes.
 
AncientSword, I gained a lot of knowledge from this thread.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1139038

I had a lot of problems with doing things out of order, so I wrote down all of my steps on the back of my design notebook. It served better just having written everything down than actually reviewing the steps often. Now those steps are more automatic, but it definitely helped with the first 20 sheaths.
 
Please take my comments in the spirit in which they are intended. I applaud your initial effort, and it looks like you are on the right track. My major critical comment is that you called the sheath done before it was finished. You can still do some important finish work although it will be admittedly harder being out of sequence. You can still finish the edges with care since it is already stitched and you have limited yourself to how much can come off to obtain a flat smooth surface. The edges around the mouth and around the belt loop should have been edged and then burnished to a smooth sheen. This will be very difficult to do properly after the fact. The very good news is, that this is your first, and you went a long way around the learning curve with it. Stick with it….each one will be better than the last. Train yourself to believe, it's never "good enough" until it's perfect, and just for the record I'm still trying to get my FIRST perfect sheath. I've had a few 97%, 98% but haven't had that 100% yet;)

Paul
 
Last edited:
Good advice from Paul. I suspect that if you are making knives, you probably have a belt grinder? If so, try a belt to even up your edging. Just watch for heat build up. Burns go deep. If you don't have an edge beveler you can round the edges by hand with sandpaper.

Gum tragacanth is nice for laying the fiber down on exposed edges, but saddle soap, beeswax, or even a little water + high grit sandpaper can get it smooth. Try the paper in one direction. You can use a piece of canvas, wood or a bone folder, hard plastic, or an antler to burnish. Basically anything that'll generate a bit of friction heat will help the nap lay down.
 
Thank you so much for the advice, Mr. Long. I still planned on doing a little finish work if I could, but I actually glued it up before I even put my stitch holes in. :eek: It took a lot to get the stitch holes in without destroying my glue work. I was happy to get to a point where I could post some pics and get some feedback. I haven't actually finished to the end of Mr. Burrow's second video yet.

I was trying to follow Mr. Burrows video while I worked and the video got ahead of me. :)

I can't wait to get Mr. Long's videos as well. I have a day job to worry about or I would be spending all my time working on this stuff.


Strig,

I do have a couple different belt sanders and I used one to true the edge a little. I didn't finish the edges completely, but I did bevel a lot of the edges. I also messed up and put my stitch groove in completely before I glued up. My back stitch line got obliterated after the glue up and some sanding.

I have most of the basic tools now, which are a mix of Crafttools, Realeather crafts, and some cheaper China stuff. I used the Realleather x513 basket weave on this one.

I still need a few things though. I followed someones link and ordered some John James Harness needles and awls, along with some Tiger string today. I really want a strap end punch and a head knife, as my next purchases.
 
Last edited:
Based on your post #10 comments, the pattern making segment of the first DVD "Basic Pouch Sheaths", will head off a few of your problems before they have a chance to happen. If you have made a pattern correctly then that pattern tells you EVERY SINGLE THING that is going to happen with that sheath. First of all I would bet your welt width is not side enough to start. I use 1/2" as the default and wind up finished at about 3/8",

Also Chuck's DVD, my DVD, anyone's DVD….do not try to "follow along" Watch it through, then watch it through again, then if it is like my DVDs you can go to a certain segment and watch it over and over……then when it is firm in your mind turn it off and put your hands to work. That's how you eliminate mistakes BEFORE they can happen. Good Luck!!! I'm pulling for you.

Paul
 
Paul, I swear every time you post I glean something worth learning. I've, for whatever reason, started making my welts pretty narrow. You start at .5"? I'm going to try this and see if it makes things easier.

AncientSword said:
Thank you so much for the advice, Mr. Long. I still planned on doing a little finish work if I could, but I actually glued it up before I even put my stitch holes in. :eek: It took a lot to get the stitch holes in without destroying my glue work. I was happy to get to a point where I could post some pics and get some feedback. I haven't actually finished to the end of Mr. Burrow's second video yet.

I was trying to follow Mr. Burrows video while I worked and the video got ahead of me. :)

I can't wait to get Mr. Long's videos as well. I have a day job to worry about or I would be spending all my time working on this stuff.


Strig,

I do have a couple different belt sanders and I used one to true the edge a little. I didn't finish the edges completely, but I did bevel a lot of the edges. I also messed up and put my stitch groove in completely before I glued up. My back stitch line got obliterated after the glue up and some sanding.

I have most of the basic tools now, which are a mix of Crafttools, Realeather crafts, and some cheaper China stuff. I used the Realleather x513 basket weave on this one.

I still need a few things though. I followed someones link and ordered some John James Harness needles and awls, along with some Tiger string today. I really want a strap end punch and a head knife, as my next purchases.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I believe that's the same stamp I use (it's a Tandy stamp by the designation, just re branded as a lot of their tools seem to be), but mine isn't so crisp. I'm pushing a hand made basket weave stamp to the top of my list.

Please know that I'm only somewhere between 20-30 sheaths so put more weight on what the other great guys have to say. I don't mean to instruct, I haven't earned the right, I'm just hoping to help where I can.

I've tried a few different needles, and have broken several. Even using serrated pliers (try to tape them up if possible, or buy jewelers pliers) I have yet to break a John James harness needle. They are very good. Tiger thread is the best I've found too. I have 1mm and .8mm. For 5 stitches per inch, I really prefer the 1mm. Either way it's really good stuff. With Tandy thread, I find it worthwhile to run the thread through the eye of a needle to remove excess wax. This is unnecessary with Tiger/Ritza.

I cannot tell you how many times I've grooved the back and been pissed at myself for doing that. I can almost always (now) get the holes lined up, but yeah, it's best to groove the front, mark, make your holes, then groove the backside. No reason not to groove the front, glue, then make your holes. I started out doing everything then glueing, but that doesn't work well for me. I groove, then mark with an overstitcher, then drill with a chucked doll making needle. I've never tried a good awl, just a couple that I made and didn't like them, but I don't see any reason to not glue first.

If I could do it all over again, I'd have started with a head or round knife and a nice chunk of hydroma. The cutting mat and various utility and other knives have served me well, but if the classic leather knife agrees with you (some hate em, many love them) then you'll likely never look back. At first I wasn't sure that a head knife could cut nice clean and tight turns, but they most certainly can when used properly. Practice how Al Stohlman does it and consider how they tell you how to modify the handle to properly fit your hand. I can see ending up like Paul owning several of them!

I plan on buying a strap end punch too, but I'm still researching a few options. I'll post a review on whatever I end up with.
 
Looks like your off to a good start. Basket weave stamps are not something I usually have the guys start off with, they require a lot of patience and practice to get lined up. The first few are where you learn what not to do. My advice is usually to slooooow down and visualize before doing, enjoy the process and don't worry about the finish line. I would bring in that stitch line a little to avoid having speed bumps on the outer edge when making holes. My welts are 5/8 for single stitch runs and 3/4 for dual runs. Everything gets brought down on a belt sander, use a new belt, low grit to avoid burns.
I don't have a whole lot to offer because I do things quite a bit different than the established order of things. Stitching is one of the last things we do after the edges are sanded, dyed and burnished. I imagine if Paul watched me build a sheath he would start throwing tools at me. :D
 
Skyler, care to share a rough list of your basic step order? I know that you use different equipment than most of us (clickers, Tippmann for punching your holes, etc), but I'm always looking at ways to do better and especially streamline if possible.
 
Well Ancient you've received some excellent tips here. You incorporate these ideals and your next project will really stand out. Here' s another idea for you. On your basket stamping overlap the prongs on your stamp all the way. I know that most written instructions on basket stamping will tell you to overlap the prongs about a tenth of an inch which is what it appears you did. But if you look close you'll see some wavering in your stamping. Try it on a scrap piece and see if overlapping won't straighten out that waver a bit. I resisted this piece of advice myself for years. Give er a try. It helped me on my basket stamping a lot. I'm like Paul, I've made a lot of sheaths and a lot of other leather items too. None of them have been perfect, some of them have been pretty darn close though but I keep trying. Each one better than the last that is my goal. Can't say I even make that but I try.
 
Dave, I'm pretty sure you gave me the same advice and it's solid, at least for me. I was stamping with not a lot of overlap, but started overlapping the whole (legs, for lack of the proper term? [edit-prongs, yeah, let's go with that]) and it helps act as a better guide.

Op, you are probably already doing this, but after the leather is properly cased I "draw" (usually a diagonal) line across the layed out piece and use that line to get off to a good start. I do this very lightly with an awl. It will disappear with the stamping if done right.

Being perfectly honest, your stamping is pretty good. You must have taken care to do a good job. Don't speed up just because you've done it a lot. It's easy to back pedal on the quality that way. If anything, spend more time doing it. I am slower now than when I started, but everyone's different.

When you use your groover for your stitching lines, follow those up with a parallel groove about 1/4" inside the stitch groove. This is the line you'll want to use at the edge of your camo stamping. That gives you a better separation between your stitching and decoration. Looks more professional in my humble opinion.

Hopefully you can see what I mean here-

kB5DGFU.jpg


Edit- last thing. I see no signs of error for this advice, but it's helped me from the start. If you plan to dye black or brown, use a red ballpoint pen if you draw your pattern on the leather. Any errant ink should disappear with the dye. All of my ink gets trimmed away with edge beveling now, but again, it was helpful at first when I made a lot of reference marks.
 
Last edited:
I have been lucky enough to learn how to grind a blade or two with Stan Buzek. Every time I grind with him I feel like I am cutting months off my learning curve.

I feel this is the same for Paul's (Chuck's or others) DVD's and comments here. I have watched or own all of these DVD's and feel like I have been studying along side the master. Paul's advice above concerning edging is worth the price of admission for sure.

Anyway - I think your first sheath is really a great effort. Never sell it or give it away. Keep it to compare your latest work to. Well done.

TF
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top