Equaliser "Tactical" style

[Jason Cutter]

The Firestorms in a previous thread are simply the "tarted-up" versions of these hard-core working knives. This one does have a "tarted-up" sheath, but thats my only concession for the customer !! :p Thanks for looking. Please share your thoughts. Jason.

[Jason Cutter]

Forgot pictures of the sheath ... Jason.

[hootchi]

That is a very nice knife. I think that the snake skin inlay really finishes the sheath of by adding a different texture to the leather. The colour and shape of the handle blends very well with the blade. Very nice.

[ANDYLASER]

That is a damn fine blade. Excellent work. Well done.

[PS_Bond]

Oh, that *is* nice. Ermm, Jason? How about a sheath tutorial?

[Jason Cutter]

Thanks, guys. Ermmm... sheath tutorial. This here is a fellow who is not really equipped to teach about leatherwork. What you see is done with simple techniques ! I just use a 4-layered method to make the sheath.

I first cut out 4 pieces of leather (select which side is in or out), all to the same shape. Think of it this way.

Layer #1 is the back. It will have the belt loop and the strap attached to it.
Layer #2 will be cut to shape as the welt using the shape of the blade.
Layer #3 is the upper layer (the snakeskin will go on top of it)
Layer #4 is the frame of the underlay. It will also have the snap attached to it.

When I cut out the shape of the welt (Layer #2) I keep the piece of leather. I then use the shape to trace out the shape of the frame for the underlay (#4), so it matches the shape of the blade. If it is long enough, it can actually be also used to make the belt loop, which is also the shape of the blade. I had a belt loop rivetted to the back of Layer #1. IN this case it rises higher above the top of the sheath, so to protect the wearer from accidentally cutting their love handles !

I use a piece of snakeskin that fits under the cutout. I glue it to Layer #3 with contact cement. Punch and position the male portion of the snap on Layer #4. Cut a long strip of leather for the strap. Rivet or stitch one end of it to the top of layer #1 but don't fit on the female portion of the snap yet.

Fit and glue everything together with contact cement. The mark the stitching lines, Punch the stitch hole placements with an awl. Go to a drill press and drill out the holes with a 3/32inch bit at the highest speed your drill can go. Then sit down and start stitching the sheath by hand. When finished, I tidy the edges by whittling to shape, and grinding it.

Finish it by testing the sheath. fit the knife, fit it to your belt, let it acclimatise. This sheath has no moulding, so it is ready to go. Other types of sheaths would need to be wet-moulded at this stage. All I do now is to lightly wet the edges of the sheath with water and allow to dry over 24-72hours in a wrm place. this hardens the leather a bit. While it is drying, I burnish the edges with a hard smooth stainless steel rod. When dry. I use my buffer with white rouge compound and buff the crap out of the edges (careful not to hit the sides faces of the leather). This further burnishes it to a smooth black edge and helps seal it. I then also rub some of the white rouge compound into the edges and buff again.

**This allows the edges of all my leather sheaths to be used as a strop to touch up my fine-edged knives. Most sheaths will be able to do this and its very useful in the field.

Fit the knife again and attach the female portion of the snap. I then usually coat the inlay area with a Swedish leather varnish / lacquer to protect it. Takes another 3-4days to dry. Then pretty the leather with a nice black Parade Gloss show polish.

Voila. Sheath ...

Please don't growl if there are steps missing, or if its too simple... Hope this makes sense. Jason.

[Bazza]

Gooday Jason,
thats a fine , fine blade. Love the tutorial too! My leather supply company has a tool that measures the stitching holes. I don`t know what it`s called but they come in different sizes and give various stitches per inch. They`re cheap and look something like a pastry cutter. Just run it up your stitching line, then drill away.
Bazza

[Jason Cutter]

Bazza, thats exactly the stitch marking tool I use. It is highly effective and very fast to use. Except that that size I have is the only one they had in the store. I don't know how many dots per inch when you roll the line into place, but I mark every second hole with a centre punch or an awl so there's no mistaking when I drill the holes. Jason.

[ZDP-189]

Awesome, Jason. I especially like the guard. I wish I could do that.

That tutorial's exactly the construction I used on my Summer KITH's sheath, with rayskin in place of the snakeskin.

I used different weights of leather. Thick for the back for stiffness, thin for the edge spacer (just a little thinner than the blade spine), thin for the mid piece and thinest for the inlay frame. I stitched through the first three layers and glued the top two with Pattex.