What *exactly* do you look for in a sheath?

[bonafide]

It's obvious Anthony is into his medium for more reasons than just pleasing himself. If that's where you're at in your world, I can respect that. Enjoy pleasing yourself.:thumbup:

Is it obvious? I suppose it can be as obvious as you not understanding basic supply/demand principles.
And . It is nice of you to speak for Anthony .. as well as your constant need to argue against my opinion.

 

[Omega Leather Works]

Really good stuff guys. I need to sit back and digest it.

My hope was that this information would be of interest to the other sheath makers as well as myself and the customers. Looks like it's working!

Just waiting for Jason to chime in. The comment about his (Tal's) work is spot on. I've learned an awful lot over the last couple dozen sheaths, but my first one carefully crafted along his instruction is still one of my favorites.

Skyler, your comment about exotic leather is also right as far as my limited experience goes. You must buy the entire hide and if you think veg tanned leather is expensive...

As far as how I see myself. Well, it's like this. At first I thought the idea of being an artist sounded good. I quickly traded that in on being a craftsman that takes more custom orders than anything else. What I've noticed is that my ideas of awesome leave sheaths in my inventory, and I cannot do that. Clearly there's room for both types of makers, it's just that one way doesn't work for me and I'm cool with that. I can promise you one thing though. My customer service is top notch so I'm glad to see that that's a high priority.

 

[Joe Duder]

I wasn't speaking for Anthony. I was posting my thoughts. When someone starts a thread asking his past and future customers what they look for in a sheath, I think it's obvious he's not doing it to please himself. I could be wrong though.

I'm not going there with you about my understanding of anything. Raise your prices sky high, have at it.

If my posts bother you, "please yourself" by visiting my profile and click on the "Add to ignore list" option. If not, don't address me by any other name besides Joe Duder or Josiah.

 

[bonafide]

I wasn't speaking for Anthony. I was posting my thoughts. When someone starts a thread asking his past and future customers what they look for in a sheath, I think it's obvious he's not doing it to please himself. I could be wrong though.

I'm not going there with you about my understanding of anything. Raise your prices sky high, have at it.

If my posts bother you, "please yourself" by visiting my profile and click on the "Add to ignore list" option. If not, don't address me by any other name besides Joe Duder or Josiah.

How bout I address you as DB? Which is obviously what you were trying to be with the 'please yourself' comment? And yes, your 'thought' was an attempt to speak for someone else.

 

[Joe Duder]

DB huh? You're a class act Bonafide.:thumbup:

Do you treat all your past customers with this much disrespect or just the ones that disagree with you?

 

[SA Condor]

Why can't we all just get along

To me customer service is huge! I live in a land where there is NO such thing as customer service and it's a hard pill to swallow. If the artist/craftsman isn't willing to hear the customer, then I'm likely to move on. A good business is as much about the person as it is the product. Andy is case in point! Seems like he is a people person and we all know he has an amazing product. When the product is great but the person isn't, the product loses value in my eyes. When the person is great but the product is so so, I'm more likely to give them a try. Skills can improve, but I think the personality behind the work is equally important and that is an area that is harder to work on then our products!

Anthony, I like that you've asked. Bonafide is right that eventually you've got to find your niche, but at this stage I think you are trying to do just that! Find out what people want and then figure where your strengths lie and run from there! I for one can attest that you are off to a great start in the personality department. You were great in your communication and you wanted me to like the end product. Keep it up buddy!

 

[Joe Duder]

I respect Bonafide as a contributing member of this community. The only thing that I didn't agree with about his "chasing the tail comment" was- From a customer POV reading one maker telling another maker that inquiring about your customers likes and dislikes is a futile act. In other words, don't worry about what the customer wants, do what you like? What ever happened to doing both?

Then we get into this discussion about economics. And he starts calling me Jose, which offended me. Then he makes assumptions about how I don't know or understand certain things. He then ends it with "DB". Im a paying customer btw. A customer that put food on his table. Instead of making his case like a gentleman, he chose to insult me, because I didn't agree with him.

I'll admit there was passive and plain aggressiveness on my part. IMO, that's what good discussions/debates are made of, but I never insulted the man. Way to go Bonafide.:thumbup: Way to treat your customers. Real mature guy.

 

[McVeyMac]

Honestly, I own multiple examples of every sheath maker doing sheaths for Fiddlebacks except Anthony. I need to rectify this. I appreciate that Rick stated that he considers himself a craftsman rather than an arist. I can understand this as an artist creates for the pure art, and the application of their creations is not even considered. I will say that the term artisan does apply to all of the makers who's sheaths that I own. I find that all of the styles from the makers are unique, and I have come to appreciate each one for various applications. I appreciate the simplicity of raw natural leather sheaths with no tooling, and I appreciate died and tooled creations. I appreciate well executed, we'll crafted and we'll thought out designs that create a lot of utility for the intended use, and I also appreciate that traditional tooling and ornamentation that I always appreciated in western saddles as an adolesent. I appreciate the hand crafted refinements to the sheath that make it cleaner, well fitted and screams that this sheath was made with care. What I like esthetically changes with time, but what I like functionally remains constant. Balance, utility and retention are paramount.

I know that this diatribe is probably not helping Anthony determine what I would want in a sheath. But I know that I need to start working with him on filling some of the holes in my sheath collection.

 

[Omega Leather Works]

I know that this diatribe is probably not helping Anthony determine what I would want in a sheath.

On the contrary, your view is very helpful, just as they all are. I'm seeing a bit of a pattern develop and that's exactly what I was hoping for.

About this thread in general... Guys, I'm a guest here. Andy has graciously agreed to allowing my selling of work in his forum. I have no real moderating privileges other than to lock the thread and I don't want to do that. I respectfully ask that you write about the topic and not about each other.

Thanks guys

 

[Joe Duder]

Noted.

 

[Dcaggie06]

 

[bonafide]

I respect Bonafide as a contributing member of this community. The only thing that I didn't agree with about his "chasing the tail comment" was- From a customer POV reading one maker telling another maker that inquiring about your customers likes and dislikes is a futile act. In other words, don't worry about what the customer wants, do what you like? What ever happened to doing both?

Then we get into this discussion about economics. And he starts calling me Jose, which offended me. Then he makes assumptions about how I don't know or understand certain things. He then ends it with "DB". Im a paying customer btw. A customer that put food on his table. Instead of making his case like a gentleman, he chose to insult me, because I didn't agree with him.

I'll admit there was passive and plain aggressiveness on my part. IMO, that's what good discussions/debates are made of, but I never insulted the man. Way to go Bonafide.:thumbup: Way to treat your customers. Real mature guy.

You respect me? Straight up liar and your replies example it. The Jose was apparently autocorrect on my phone from when I was posting while sitting in a waiting room. I type JOSE a lot when sending my buddy an email. Your insecurities allowed you to be offended by it. Your passive aggressive to just plain DB replies earned your new nickname. BTW, I was exampling supply/demand of economics .. and you were blowing smoke and calling it economics.

You did NOT put food on my table and you have not been a customer of mine for quite some time. I have a full time job. Sheath work is a hobby that I do for fun - and any money gained from it is put right back into owning a Fiddleback one way or another. You chose to poke me with some of your typical BS .. and and I poked back. Time for you to stop crying/playing the victim after the fact.

 

[Joe Duder]

You respect me? Straight up liar and your replies example it. The Jose was apparently autocorrect on my phone from when I was posting while sitting in a waiting room. I type JOSE a lot when sending my buddy an email. Your insecurities allowed you to be offended by it. Your passive aggressive to just plain DB replies earned your new nickname. BTW, I was exampling supply/demand of economics .. and you were blowing smoke and calling it economics.

You did NOT put food on my table and you have not been a customer of mine for quite some time. I have a full time job. Sheath work is a hobby that I do for fun - and any money gained from it is put right back into owning a Fiddleback one way or another. You chose to poke me with some of your typical BS .. and and I poked back. Time for you to stop crying/playing the victim after the fact.

You're amazing. I wish you all the best brother.

 

[trestle]

I respect Bonafide as a contributing member of this community. The only thing that I didn't agree with about his "chasing the tail comment" was- From a customer POV reading one maker telling another maker that inquiring about your customers likes and dislikes is a futile act. In other words, don't worry about what the customer wants, do what you like? What ever happened to doing both?

Then we get into this discussion about economics. And he starts calling me Jose, which offended me. Then he makes assumptions about how I don't know or understand certain things. He then ends it with "DB". Im a paying customer btw. A customer that put food on his table. Instead of making his case like a gentleman, he chose to insult me, because I didn't agree with him.

I'll admit there was passive and plain aggressiveness on my part. IMO, that's what good discussions/debates are made of, but I never insulted the man. Way to go Bonafide.:thumbup: Way to treat your customers. Real mature guy.

You respect me? Straight up liar and your replies example it. The Jose was apparently autocorrect on my phone from when I was posting while sitting in a waiting room. I type JOSE a lot when sending my buddy an email. Your insecurities allowed you to be offended by it. Your passive aggressive to just plain DB replies earned your new nickname. BTW, I was exampling supply/demand of economics .. and you were blowing smoke and calling it economics.

You did NOT put food on my table and you have not been a customer of mine for quite some time. I have a full time job. Sheath work is a hobby that I do for fun - and any money gained from it is put right back into owning a Fiddleback one way or another. You chose to poke me with some of your typical BS .. and and I poked back. Time for you to stop crying/playing the victim after the fact.

While you're both a bit out of line, why keep escalating it? It does no one any good.

One more thing: nothing proves you have no point as surely as name-calling.

 

[trestle]

On sheaths:

1. No straps!
2. Secure retention through proper molding regardless if leather or kydex
3. Thin welts on leather
4. Appropriately spaced eyelets on kydex--every 1/2 inch is too many
5. Variety of color choices regardless of type
6. Variety of belt attachments such as sewn-down or loops, tek-loks or leather backing plate, danglers etc.
7. Boldness of an artist, thoughtfulness of a craftsman

 

[Omega Leather Works]

I'm not going to ask you again bonafide.

Please excuse yourself from posting any further inflammatory comments.

 

[Omega Leather Works]

On sheaths:

1. No straps!
2. Secure retention through proper molding regardless if leather or kydex
3. Thin welts on leather
4. Appropriately spaced eyelets on kydex--every 1/2 inch is too many
5. Variety of color choices regardless of type
6. Variety of belt attachments such as sewn-down or loops, tek-loks or leather backing plate, danglers etc.
7. Boldness of an artist, thoughtfulness of a craftsman

I like this quite a bit. Maybe it's the shout out for boldness and colors, but I love doing a different look when possible. I absolutely love to stamp leather. Seriously, it's one of my favorite things to do (along with the killer new technique I learned doing multiple layers with antique), but it's fun to use bright colors too.

This is a quick sheath that I did for myself the other day for my round knife.

Seems like all of my red and green dyes go to stuff like this. I recognize that you don't want to advertise a belt knife all of the time. Even so, I've had a number of people comment on my dark green and black Kephart sheath. Even though I live in California!

Who knows, maybe other people (that don't say anything) think it's gaudy, but they don't matter.

 

[Skystorm]

I love tooling. I have a veritable ton of stamps leftover from when I started before I discovered custom stamps and their wallet draining experience. Problem is that it is hard to offer standard examples of custom work in that so everything needs to be built and then sold. That business model doesn't work for what we do here besides the fact that stamping the same ten patterns time and again would cause me to fall on a Woodsman and end it.


This isn't the third grade, keep the name calling to pm if you just reallllllly gotta. While your so focused on insulting your previous customer and having the last word your losing respect from your current ones and driving off new ones. The forum has an ignore button if someone gets under your skin. Customers are a gift, not a right. Regardless of how long it has been since they purchased something from you. That, fellow Fiddlers is one of the main differences between a craftsman who works for a living and a hobbyist who just cash grabs you and plants a boot to your backside when the money is gone.

 

[Omega Leather Works]

I know what you mean about the custom stamps. It didn't really click with me until I really inspected the impressions left, but they are fantastic.

That said, I've yet to own one. I have modified my stamps to suit me. You can make them nice yourself, but I fully intend to acquire some hand made pieces soon.

 

[emoney2277]

If my sheath needs a strap to secure the blade I really dig the "knob and slit" style shown on your red sheath above. I'm sure this has a formal name but I don't know what it is. I like more "old fashioned" craftsmanship in a handmade piece. I don't like snaps or Velcro for retention. Voyager Leatherworks also does great work, not sure if he is on the forums but he does a lot of AA Forges sheaths and they are top notch as well. Very very clean, uses a lot of brass (which I love), and is a true craftsman. Learned the trade from his father. I have no problem spending $100 on a sheath if it is made well and is for a special knife. I've never spent more than that mostly because to get into the $150-$250 price range you start looking at modular systems which I'm not really into. I'm not a big fan of tooling or sketches, personally, but I respect that some are.
Hopefully some day soon we can do business. I believe I saw that you make strops also, something I would be very interested in. Thanks for listening.