Whacha Been Up To......

[J. Keeton]

The groover you have could work fine freehand if you take off the guide.
Randy

Thank you, sir. I'll give this a try. Will work well as my "free hand groover" , which I imagine will come in handy.

 

[J. Keeton]

So I finished up some sheaths this weekend and put out this video looking for critiques. Happily on YouTube and Instagram I got a ton of feedback from some awesome leather workers. Makes me stoked to start my next one!

One of the tips I got from Jason @ Diomedes Industries was to use the quick slick while I was standing my edges... It never occurred to me to do this. I took a test piece today and sanded it up to 600 grit after hitting it with quick slick... make all the difference in the world.

Another suggestion I got from Jason and a hand full of others was to forego using edge cote and use some black dye instead (let it dry, hit it with bees wax, and burnish). I'm excited to give this a go.


Video:

Instagram Post (linked here for the comment section tips):
https://www.instagram.com/p/CD6QPHtjMIv/


Side question: I wet formed these sheaths, but I kinda like the fiction fit they had before (after oiling and light forming with my fingers)... I think I may not wet (water) form in the future... Is this common?

 

[J. Keeton]

Getting somewhere I think!



Instead of using the grooveer, I used the insert that looks like a little paddle (crease-er?). Seemed to still allow the stitches to lay down, but also didn't create a ton of fuzzies.

Now if I can only figure out how to clean up the blow-out and stitch groove on the back of the sheath! lol

 

[Makael]

Finished up this guy today... Gosh I have a ways to go!

Issues:

1. The knife fits just fine with friction and won't fall out, but I probably could of gone just a hair tighter around the handle (maybe take 1/8'' off my pattern for the next one)
2. My leather makers mark should be about 2'' lower! Wish I would of thought about that!
3. Cutting the belt loop end wasn't as clean as I'd want.
4. My last stitch looks back (right where the curve part meats the vertical part)
5. Wish I had a lathe to make a power burnisher... !

Questions:

1. I coated the exterior of this sheath twice with neatsfoot oil. I have some Bag Kote on hand but have never used it; would yall recommend coating the sheath with it?
2. Do yall groove your stitch line on the back of the sheath? I feel like I always jack it up when attempting this! lol

Cheers,
RBO

Looks good. Whats the knife blade look like?

 

[duramax]

Did a couple toss in bag/truck sheaths.

This one was the trial error sheath lol.

 

[J. Keeton]

Looks good. Whats the knife blade look like?

Thanks man, this one is going to be a wharncliffe with orange/black G10 scales

 

[J. Keeton]

Getting somewhere... I think. This one is hands down my best yet. I didn't have my black dye in yet for the edge so I used the brown I had on hand.

Using the quick slick before starting to sand the edge made a huge difference... Started with 320 then went to 600. After that I dyed the edge with brown, buffed it with a T-shirt, Applied beeswax, and burnished. Seems to do a pretty decent job!

This one turned out allright on the back, but I'm finding my biggest issue is getting the groove line on the back of the sheath clean... (straight, not fuzzy, same width, etc) Connecting the dots after puncturing the sheath.











Cheers,
RBO

 

[Macan]

I made some pancake sheats, and improve my whip making skills with some older work

 

[Robber58]

Getting somewhere... I think. This one is hands down my best yet. I didn't have my black dye in yet for the edge so I used the brown I had on hand.

Using the quick slick before starting to sand the edge made a huge difference... Started with 320 then went to 600. After that I dyed the edge with brown, buffed it with a T-shirt, Applied beeswax, and burnished. Seems to do a pretty decent job!

This one turned out allright on the back, but I'm finding my biggest issue is getting the groove line on the back of the sheath clean... (straight, not fuzzy, same width, etc) Connecting the dots after puncturing the sheath.











Cheers,
RBO

The fuzzies you see on the back are caused by the groover not cleanly cutting material between the holes, or getting off line slightly. It will leave small tags of leather around the holes. You probably noticed small, loose pieces of leather being created as you ran the groove. If you think of the groover as connecting the dots (holes), it is just removing the material between the holes. IF things are off a bit or the tools is not sharp, it will leave it hanging. Hard to avoid completely but with care and the correct sized holes and tools, it will not be a real issue. If I see one when I am stitching, I either clip it off with some small flush cut nippers or force it into the hole with the needle so it disappears.
Randy

 

[Makael]

Buck 808 Talon sheath. I swear every edge is sharp on this knife. Plus a couple others.

 

[J. Keeton]

The fuzzies you see on the back are caused by the groover not cleanly cutting material between the holes, or getting off line slightly. It will leave small tags of leather around the holes. You probably noticed small, loose pieces of leather being created as you ran the groove. If you think of the groover as connecting the dots (holes), it is just removing the material between the holes. IF things are off a bit or the tools is not sharp, it will leave it hanging. Hard to avoid completely but with care and the correct sized holes and tools, it will not be a real issue. If I see one when I am stitching, I either clip it off with some small flush cut nippers or force it into the hole with the needle so it disappears.
Randy

Thank you for the explanation, sir.

 

[Lorien]

just finished this today

 

[Horsewright]

Getting somewhere... I think. This one is hands down my best yet. I didn't have my black dye in yet for the edge so I used the brown I had on hand.

Using the quick slick before starting to sand the edge made a huge difference... Started with 320 then went to 600. After that I dyed the edge with brown, buffed it with a T-shirt, Applied beeswax, and burnished. Seems to do a pretty decent job!

This one turned out allright on the back, but I'm finding my biggest issue is getting the groove line on the back of the sheath clean... (straight, not fuzzy, same width, etc) Connecting the dots after puncturing the sheath.











Cheers,
RBO

Sorry RBO, I've been missing in action for a while. Off contemplating the lake:

Then get home and all kinds of deadlines cause ya been gone but got them handled, no literally handled a batch of knives:

So anyhoo your work is progressing leaps and bounds, really good, really fast. Couple of ideas for ya. OB got ya hooked up with the right groover. We've got 4 of those. We just keep em set to the distances we use for different projects. Randy is giving ya good advice on getting that groove on the back neater. You're kinda worried about dye transfer on your dyed edges and it can happen. Even after a couple of years. Just not a fan of leather dye even on edges. That good leather sure makes a difference don't it? On your welt edge I'd use a little larger edger. Get that edge a little rounder and less rectangular. My idea is that through years of life and use that rounder edge won't catch on stuff as much as a rectangular leaving your smooth edge smoother longer. Quien sabe? I'd probably use a #4 on that edge. Looking really good.

Did a couple toss in bag/truck sheaths.
View attachment 1402084 View attachment 1402085
This one was the trial error sheath lol.

Looking pretty good. Don't ya hate it when that happens?

I made some pancake sheats, and improve my whip making skills with some older work

Wow looking good! How long did that whip take ya? Life getting back to normal over there?

View attachment 1404147 View attachment 1404148 View attachment 1404149 View attachment 1404150 View attachment 1404151 View attachment 1404154 View attachment 1404156 Buck 808 Talon sheath. I swear every edge is sharp on this knife. Plus a couple others.

Those are some unique pieces! Real nice. Great work.

just finished this today

Very nice Lorien! Very clean work!


A few recents. Been doing a lot of water buffalo overlay recently, sheaths, belts and holsters:

Said knife getting used to make a peach dump cake at camp in a dutch oven:

Different colored turquoise thread:

And some coasters:

 

[duramax]

Looking pretty good. Don't ya hate it when that happens?

Yeah got that far around and had forgot to check bobbin lol. Obviously ran out of thread , so reloaded. Then back stitched locking thread and finished. Then was on to the next finish sheaths

 

[Horsewright]

Yeah got that far around and had forgot to check bobbin lol. Obviously ran out of thread , so reloaded. Then back stitched locking thread and finished. Then was on to the next finish sheaths

Don't be afraid of pulling the stitches when that happens. Ya'd be amazed at how accurately a Cobra will restitch. I did a whole belt one time. The customer had requested an extra heavy liner and I'd just put in a regular one. Realized it after it was sewn up. Pulled all the stitches, glued in a new liner and re stitched (and this was a carved belt so no room for oops). Came out perfect. Every stitch was exactly right. Wouldn't of begun to think about that on my old Ferdco.

 

[duramax]

Don't be afraid of pulling the stitches when that happens. Ya'd be amazed at how accurately a Cobra will restitch. I did a whole belt one time. The customer had requested an extra heavy liner and I'd just put in a regular one. Realized it after it was sewn up. Pulled all the stitches, glued in a new liner and re stitched (and this was a carved belt so no room for oops). Came out perfect. Every stitch was exactly right. Wouldn't of begun to think about that on my old Ferco.

That’s good to know on stitching, thanks

I’ll try that next time but I hope not too soon lol

 

[J. Keeton]

Horsewright man you've been busy! Thank you sir for the tips and suggestions! That Wicket and Craig leather made a huge difference! It's very nice to work with.

I ordered some Obenauf's Heavy Duty Leather Preservative as my "finish" based on some advice from Jason (diomedes). So I'll give that a shot.
(https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003SKCARK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1)

You're right... that damn dye just won't stay 100% put. My current SOP for the edge is 320 grit with quick slick, 600 grit with quick slick, black tandy dye (not pro), 5-12 hour dry?, buff with quick slick and a rag, then beeswax and light burnish. With all of that, if I take a white paper towel to it, I can still get some black off on the paper towel.

I'll make sure to pick up a #4!

Thanks as always,
RBO

Edit: Also... Based on some more good advise from Jason @ Diomedes my sheaths are too large around the blade. I've been leaving a good deal (too much) of space between the blade and the welt and upon up close inspection you can notice slight movement. I think I'm going to target the 1/16'' dimension in my drawings moving forward.

 

[Horsewright]

Horsewright man you've been busy! Thank you sir for the tips and suggestions! That Wicket and Craig leather made a huge difference! It's very nice to work with.

I ordered some Obenauf's Heavy Duty Leather Preservative as my "finish" based on some advice from Jason (diomedes). So I'll give that a shot.
(https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003SKCARK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1)

You're right... that damn dye just won't stay 100% put. My current SOP for the edge is 320 grit with quick slick, 600 grit with quick slick, black tandy dye (not pro), 5-12 hour dry?, buff with quick slick and a rag, then beeswax and light burnish. With all of that, if I take a white paper towel to it, I can still get some black off on the paper towel.

I'll make sure to pick up a #4!

Thanks as always,
RBO

Edit: Also... Based on some more good advise from Jason @ Diomedes my sheaths are too large around the blade. I've been leaving a good deal (too much) of space between the blade and the welt and upon up close inspection you can notice slight movement. I think I'm going to target the 1/16'' dimension in my drawings moving forward.

Cool deal. Yeah I've seen that dye transfer even after a couple of years. Lose the dye.

 

[Macan]

@Dave thank you, It took me a lot of time, because I have fool time job and it took two weeks of my free time work. It would be faster if it was snake whip but this is my first bullwhip, and first time beveling diagonally strands, so I hade to figure out which strands on which sides, and I have my own system of starting plaiting overlay
Of course I made mistake for strand lenght so I had to continue last six strands, on thinner side of whip , and thats not easy, and end knot i did couple of times because srands were not wide enough. Man can think that will finish soon, but time says differently...But its really fun , and I was happy with what I learned along the way .Most difficult was finding suitable leather, which could be streched without breaking.
And thanks for asking but in my country its never normal even in normal situation . They say its pretty good situation with declining number of patients, I hope that You people over there are all in good health

 

[Horsewright]

@Dave thank you, It took me a lot of time, because I have fool time job and it took two weeks of my free time work. It would be faster if it was snake whip but this is my first bullwhip, and first time beveling diagonally strands, so I hade to figure out which strands on which sides, and I have my own system of starting plaiting overlay
Of course I made mistake for strand lenght so I had to continue last six strands, on thinner side of whip , and thats not easy, and end knot i did couple of times because srands were not wide enough. Man can think that will finish soon, but time says differently...But its really fun , and I was happy with what I learned along the way .Most difficult was finding suitable leather, which could be streched without breaking.
And thanks for asking but in my country its never normal even in normal situation . They say its pretty good situation with declining number of patients, I hope that You people over there are all in good health

Thanks, yeah we're doing good. What kind of leather did ya end up using? I know a lot of times they try to use kangaroo for whips. Glad to hear its ok over there, well as ok as it can be!

Finished off this big guy:

Hey M Macan now ya have to make a reata. Thats the braided rope in this pic. 4 strands of rawhide and its 65 plus feet, no splices.

A couple of oak carved pancakes:

Some sheaths for other folks knives:

This one sure needed one. Ya turned it upside down in that pouch sheath and the knife fell out. No mas!

Couple more holsters too:

Finishing off 108 knives to go to heat treat this morning and then starting another batch of sheaths.