First sheath - be gentle with me!

[Drumgerry]

Hi all

I haven't posted for a long time (except for a quick one I slipped in last night:D ) but still making knives with a scandi flavour. At long last this winter I've got around to trying sheathmaking and I'm loving learning this new craft.

So I made myself a scandi whittler from a Carlsson blade and after gritting my teeth and purchasing too much stuff from Leprevo got stuck in.

The pictures show what I made of it! Not pretty I'm sure you'll agree. The dye is streaky but looks much worse under a camera flash. I used Fiebings Resolene finish and it looks really plasticky. Any recommendations for a more natural look? Believe it or not I'm a beekeeeper as well so there's no shortage of beeswax kicking about here:D Does anyone have good things to say about Resolene?

And one other thing - the knife blade rusted along the cutting edge after only a few days in the sheath. ANy ideas why and what can I do to prevent this?

Cheers

Gerry

[bardster]

Hi all

I haven't posted for a long time (except for a quick one I slipped in last night:D ) but still making knives with a scandi flavour. At long last this winter I've got around to trying sheathmaking and I'm loving learning this new craft.

So I made myself a scandi whittler from a Carlsson blade and after gritting my teeth and purchasing too much stuff from Leprevo got stuck in.

The pictures show what I made of it! Not pretty I'm sure you'll agree. The dye is streaky but looks much worse under a camera flash. I used Fiebings Resolene finish and it looks really plasticky. Any recommendations for a more natural look? Believe it or not I'm a beekeeeper as well so there's no shortage of beeswax kicking about here:D Does anyone have good things to say about Resolene?

And one other thing - the knife blade rusted along the cutting edge after only a few days in the sheath. ANy ideas why and what can I do to prevent this?

Cheers

Gerry

Damn fine job if you ask me. you could always seal the inside with the resolene. it is a plasticy finsh as it pretty much leaves a thin coating of PVA on the surface if i recall correctly. Supershene which i use sometimes is similar. As you have beeswax just use it as a polish! heat the leather slightly with a hair dryer and rub the wax in - the leather will absorb the wax. the more yuo use the harder the leather will get so stop when you think its enough. if you want a paste to rub in you can mix beeswax with neatsfoot oil - just heat together in the microwave.

[Tiffers]

Gerry! That looks excellant! I wonder if that resolene will polish off with a bit of elbow grease? I dont know whether thats possible or not. You have definately put the money spent at Le Prevo to good use :)

It looks like a great fit with the knife, everything sits nicely and it certainly looks like it does the job :)

Nice!

Tiffers

[Tiffers]

Oh yes, the rusting.......I think its something to do with the acids in the leather. It basically rusts knife steel! Its pretty well accepted that most knives and sheaths have to be stored individually!

It could also be because the sheath isnt as dry after making it than you thought it was. I got caught out on this once before! Oddly enough, that knife can now be left happily in the sheath all the time.

Tiffers

[Singeblister]

looks great to me , see what you mean about the finnish though , could it be rubbed with wet and dry paper to take the shine off ? not that i know anything about leather :lol:

[MotorbikeMan]

Looks like a good job to me. IMHO, the rusting was probably due to some moisture leftover on the leather. I leave all of my knives in their sheaths and always have done, I know the theory behind the acid in the leather rusting the blades, but I've never had it happen

[rapidboy]

Looks great.

I usually give the inside of my sheaths a squirt of gun oil and my blades never rust.

[hol3400]

Damn! I hope my first sheath is as well made, nice job well done 8)

Regards Hol

[Underhay]

Looks a great sheath to me :)

I think a slightly uneven colour can really suit some sheaths, if it is too even they can look plastic.

I leave my knives in their sheaths and don't have problems, but a new sheath can take a few days to dry out. I tend to leave the in the airing cupboard for a day or so.

[Drumgerry]

Thanks for the replies and the kind words guys:) One thing I was quite pleased about was the stitching although I haven't quite worked how to recess it on the back of the sheath. I confess I'm using a 1mm drill bit to make the holes for the stitches - knew that drill press had to come in handy for something! You can see where I pressed the chuck a bit too low and made an impression on the leather which I couldn't get out. And BTW the wee circles next to the stitching are just me having an experiment with one of those leather stamp thingies!

I tried using an awl on scraps of leather and the awl was coming out all over the place at the back of the stitch holes. At least with the drill press I know it's pretty much going to give me a straight line of stitches on both the front and the back. And using the 1mm drill bit I had to use the awl anyway to make the holes big enough for the needle.

Maybe Tiffers could share how the awl method works - I'd love to be able to do that and not use the drill press. Is it just a question of practice?

Cheers

Gerry

[Tiffers]

Practice, practice and more practice Gerry, though starting off with just one thickness of leather held properly in some clams is as good a place as any. I want to try to get some photos for a stitching tutorial as there are some ways of holding the needles and awl and so on which makes the whole thing much easier. I need to rope MBM in with that though so I suspect its gonna wait till I have a workshop.

Have you had a go at getting rid of the resolene finish btw? I wonder if its worth trying on a bit of spare leather?

Tiffers

[MotorbikeMan]

Practice, practice and more practice Gerry, though starting off with just one thickness of leather held properly in some clams is as good a place as any. I want to try to get some photos for a stitching tutorial as there are some ways of holding the needles and awl and so on which makes the whole thing much easier. I need to rope MBM in with that though so I suspect its gonna wait till I have a workshop.

Have you had a go at getting rid of the resolene finish btw? I wonder if its worth trying on a bit of spare leather?

Tiffers
Would it be any use bringing your stuff tomorrow, I may have a sheath to be adjusted don't forget :D

[Tiffers]

I'll bring my stuff to see if I can adjust that sheath I gave you......dont know if we will have time for a photo session though. We shall have to see :)

I have another sheath you can play with too I think.

Tiffers

[Tiffers]

Remind me to bring Mikes passaround knife too :)

Tiffers

[Drumgerry]

Thanks Tiffers - I made the stitching pony from the tutorial on Wildrose's website. It seems to work pretty well at holding the leather. I guess like you say I just have to get practicing though:rolleyes:

I think I'm just going to leave sheath #1 as is and put it down to a learning experience. It has its good points and plenty of bad ones but I can only learn from it. Next knife in progress is my first full tang job - using a Frost's Lapplander blade (another six Lapplander blades ordered now cos I'm loving making this one so much:D ). I'll have another go at a pouch sheath and I'll aim for a more natural looking finish this time. BTW - will simply rubbing warm beeswax into the leather be enough of a seal for the leather dye?

And now I just have to figure out what I'm going to do with all these knives I'm making. I love making them but I can't just keep filling up the house with them can I??

Cheers

Gerry

[MotorbikeMan]

I'll bring my stuff to see if I can adjust that sheath I gave you......dont know if we will have time for a photo session though. We shall have to see :)

I have another sheath you can play with too I think.

Tiffers
Cool

[MotorbikeMan]

Thanks Tiffers - I made the stitching pony from the tutorial on Wildrose's website. It seems to work pretty well at holding the leather. I guess like you say I just have to get practicing though:rolleyes:

I think I'm just going to leave sheath #1 as is and put it down to a learning experience. It has its good points and plenty of bad ones but I can only learn from it. Next knife in progress is my first full tang job - using a Frost's Lapplander blade (another six Lapplander blades ordered now cos I'm loving making this one so much:D ). I'll have another go at a pouch sheath and I'll aim for a more natural looking finish this time. BTW - will simply rubbing warm beeswax into the leather be enough of a seal for the leather dye?

And now I just have to figure out what I'm going to do with all these knives I'm making. I love making them but I can't just keep filling up the house with them can I??

Cheers

Gerry
I'm sure I could find space for one or two :D

[Mike T.]

........the stitching although I haven't quite worked how to recess it on the back of the sheath. I confess I'm using a 1mm drill bit to make the holes for the stitches - knew that drill press had to come in handy for something!

Hey don't apologize for drilling the sewing holes! That's how I do all mine, have for 25 years and I wouldn't do it any other way. It doesn't bother me that the "purists" might not approve. I use a 1/16" drillbit.

As for recessing the sewing on the back of the sheath - after drilling (in a gouged and marked chanel on the front) I freehand gouge the rear holes with a home made gouge made from the rib of an umbrella. It's one of my most useful and prized tools.

[Habaki]

Hi mate!!!
Don't beat yourself up about the quality of that sheath. There would be a lot of people out there that wish they could make something like that now, never mind for the first!!!. It is very similar to the first real sheath I made. It looks very robust with some neat stitching and finishing.
I have just made a monster sheath for a seax that my Norwegian friend commissioned me to make for his father's 60th birthday, and I finished it by using 7 or 8 coats of beeswax leather balsam with a full polish in between each coat and it gave a lovely finish.
With regard to the rusting of the blade I agree with Tiffers, if you leave the blade in too long after wet-forming, nothing conducts moisture to the blade quite like damp leather.
Cracking first shot!!!
Regards,
Simon.:)