Wire stitching a sheath tutorial

[steelshaper]

I have been meaning to do this for a while but never got good pics. These pics came out ok so here it goes. I am sure it has been done before but it is a little different.

With this sheath I decided to go with a twisted wire stitch. In the first pic you will see the sheath with the holes drilled and the twisted wire. For the wire go to the craft store in the bead section you should be able to find a good selection of wire. To twist it I take two pieces say 12-15 feet long and tie one end to something solid and put the other ends in my cordless drill. It is essential that both pieces are tight and even. Turn the drill on and keep pressure on the wire and it will twist up. When you get the wire twisted the way you want it stop the drill and run it in reverse for a couple of spins. If you don’t do the last step the wire will knot up when you release it from the drill.

Now starting from the top of the sheath pull some wire through. You will need 1 ½ times the length of the area being stitched on the front side and 4 times the length on the back side. Say the length of the stitch will be 6 inches. You will need 9” of wire in the front and 24” in the back.

Now pull the wire from the back side through to the front.

Then form a loop by sending the same end of wire through the third hole. The end of the wire that started out on top can now be sent through the loop. The short end of the wire never goes through a hole but remains on the front of the sheath while the longer end will continue through every hole.

Pull tight and repeat making sure the end of the wire that remains in front goes through the loops the same direction every time.

 

[steelshaper]

Here is a pic of the finished sheath.

Here is a pic of some other sheaths I have done. The second from left was wire stitched using a different method. The third from the left was stitched using the same method but with plain untwisted wire.

Thanks for looking

 

[Alberta Ed]

Classy! Thanks for the tip... next sheath...

 

[mete]

Here's kydex with .015" stainless steel wire.

 

[R.C.Reichert]

You know, I've actually tried doing this before, but I think because I was trying to stitch the wire using the traditional method, the wires kept getting in the way of each other. Thanks for the tip! I really like the look of the second sheath with the twisted wire wrapped around the sheath. It looks really nice. Does anyone know if this wire stitching idea was around in the old frontier days? I'm just wondering how "traditional" it is. It looks like a lot more durable than waxed thread anyways.

 

[Bruce Bump]

I thought I've seen everything but not never this. It looks traditional on the leather but tactical on the kydex. I like it.

 

[Hmathews]

I have done this a few times and always had trouble with the copper wire I used causing verdigris to form and mess up the leather. I'm not sure if it was the contact with the leather or the finish used on the leather that was causing the problem. Might want to watch it for a while to see if you get the same reaction. I have tried brass wire with similar results, but not as extreme as with the copper. In my experience copper and leather just don't mix very well. It is a great look though and I wish it had worked out better when I tried it.

 

[steelshaper]

Thats interesting. I have a few sheaths form about a year ago that I have not noticed any issues with. Of course the copper wire will tarnish but I did not notice it having any effect on the leather.
Do you mean the verdigris was staining the leather or was it causing some other problem?
Thanks

I have done this a few times and always had trouble with the copper wire I used causing verdigris to form and mess up the leather. I'm not sure if it was the contact with the leather or the finish used on the leather that was causing the problem. Might want to watch it for a while to see if you get the same reaction. I have tried brass wire with similar results, but not as extreme as with the copper. In my experience copper and leather just don't mix very well. It is a great look though and I wish it had worked out better when I tried it.

 

[Hmathews]

The verdigris was what was staining the leather. There was a lot of it, and since the copper was going through the leather you could never clean it all off. Different leather, wire and leather finish all might make the difference. One I tried it on was what I think was an oil finish on a Morseth sheath that was too loose to retain the knife. I replaced the welt and decided to try the copper wire. It was a mess after a year or two. I later made a sheath and tried copper again with the same results. This time it was veg tan with neat’s-foot oil. The brass wire looked better to me, but also turned green pretty quick. I would just watch it for a while to see if it is a problem. I hope it is not because they look great to me.

 

[Mike Krall]

http://www.metalliferous.com/

Look under wire and beads. Much of the beading wire sold here has a thin nylon coating... other beading and jewlery outfits sell this stuff, too.

Mike