Q&A sesh on sheathmaking

[PS_Bond]

A bit free-form as a tutorial, but hopefully worth hanging onto.

Dave Barker asked me a few questions on sheathmaking, and I filled in the blanks as best I could...

I would add that one of the best resources I've found to date has to be Chuck's DVD on sheathmaking, and I've pinched just about every idea going in it. For them as don't know, it is available through Geno at http://ccinstructionalvideos.com/

Onwards and upwards:

my generla idea is this.
get a bit of leather that is too big.( or even doit on paper first.

Do it with paper (or thin card) first, definitely. You can use that for a pattern afterwards.

draw around the whole knife then turn it so that the lines will go back to back

shape the mouth etc and cut it out.

Draw a centreline, lay the spine on the centreline, roll the blade flat, draw round blade & handle. Do the same for the other side. Add a 1/2" or so margin around, maybe a little more for a thicker handle. Draw in the belt loop, starting just in from the centreline, preferably not too wide (i.e. so that the stitching for the loop will be completely clear of the welt).

take a bit for the welt and shape it to the shape of one of the sides of the sheath. glue this in place.

Yes, but... Read through to my comments on the firesteel holder.

Pack the knife in plactic and wet the leather, then clamp it hard ( in a vice surounded with mousemat type foam and let it dry.

when its dry, glue and stick the holes, then sew.

dampen the leather, colour and shape as wanted.

OK, I haven't tried the Kydex press approach on mine yet. I tend to shape the sheath after sewing it, but whatever.

waterproof it afterwards and burnish the edges with a warm spoon for example.

BEVEL THE EDGES Then burnish.
Oh - and go over your stitching with an overstitch wheel.

With regard to a fire steel holder, could i not cut this out as part of the welt? or make the welt so that the holder completes it?

Could do, I'm trying to visualise it at the moment. Most of the holders seem to be wrapped either side of the welt, possibly with additional welt pieces to bulk out the handle area a bit. So you'd glue one side of the holder in, then the welt, then the other side.

Belt loop is just an extended bit of the sheath right?

Yup. Or you can do a separate one, which I've taken to doing recently. Pros and cons - looks good (no flesh side showing), still strong but a bit more work.

1 what glue do you use?

Evostick, but any contact adhesive in a pinch.

2.You mention an overstitch wheel, what is this? I have a plastic folder that also doubles up as a seam marker.. would this do?

S'one of these:


You can use a sewing stitch marking wheel, but the ones I've seen have plastic wheels, so aren't really strong enough to burnish the stitches at the end of sewing.

3. How far from the edge do i mark the stitches, and how do you sew, botom up, of top down.... What about finishing, tie a knot, melt?

I tend to do mine about as far from the edge as the thickness of the leather I'm sewing, perhaps a bit less if I think it looks wrong. I start from the top and work down, backstitching the last 2 or 3 holes so that both threads finish on the back face. Cut carefully to leave them flush with the sheath, then I tend to put a drop of superglue on to make doubly sure. Linen thread doesn't melt too well...

4. Bevel the edges of the whole sheath, do you mean file them rond then sand off, or skive?

Skive. Just breaks the corners and improves the look.

5 With the firesteel holder.... i would imagine that there would be a neater fixing if the section that fixes to the welt is thinned on both sides?.

Possibly, but make sure you leave at least 1/3 of the leather from the skin side as that is where the strength is.

Wet forming:

as per scandi?

Do you wet after you have sewn or before? warm water for 10 mins in with the knife etc?

I tend to, yes, but other people don't. I have yet to try forming before sewing, might get around to it in the next week or so (got to do some baton holsters).

HTH!

[cammoman]

THANKS

I JUST NEED A LIST OF STEP'S TO DO

[cammoman]

YOU SEAM TO HAVE SOLVED MY,SHEAF MAKING PROBLEMS