Welt question

[Cloyde]

How do you do your sheaths, when you make the transition from the thickness of the blade up to the spacers added to accomidate the bolster width, should you just add the spacers to one side or should you add one to each side and keep the welt centered and the flair centered front to back instead of having the back of your sheath flat and all the flair to the front.
Hope this makes since.

 

[xaman]

I'm a hobbyist, not a pro, so take these thoughts for what they are worth...

I do mostly blade-only sheaths, so that's not a problem I face often.

But, when I have to do it, I either:
1. just build up the front, but mostly because I can keep my stitching straighter when the backside is as close to flat as possible.
2. keep the welt even all the way up the sheath, and just wet mold the front over the bolster area -- so that the front piece of leather "stretches" over the bolster, but the welt stays even.

However, building both sides up might be a good option if the bolsters are exceptionally thick, or on a really long knife. In either of these situations, if you keep the backside flat, inserting the knife could be problematic --- you would tend to push the tip into the backside of the sheath, instead of down the center of the sheath. Hopefully that makes some sense.

 

[sheathmaker]

Cloyde, give me a call if you like and we'll walk through all of your questions on the phone. Info is in the sig line.

Paul