TargetRockLeather

Thank you. Yes it's a 2008 Heritage. You know your Harleys!

I ended up not lacing after all. A few people convinced me that it wouldn't match my bike as well as just the plain black border. I did wet form it to the fender though and that gave it a perfect fit. I haven't given up on lacing though. I bought the tools and some lace and will practice with that so I will be able to use it in the future. If you're interested, here are some pics of mine. It needs some fancy bolts of some sort. I'm still learning tooling and it is NOT my own drawing. I found the picture online and adapted it for my purposes. Thanks for the advice!

Absolutely beautiful!

Yep thanks for explaining. Good idea using the Kydex. Mine is thicker (7/8 oz) so I'm hoping I won't have to worry about it flopping around. I'm planning to wet form it to my fender. I'm also planning to try my first attempt at braiding. I hope it comes out as good as yours.

It looks great. I've been wanting to make a fender bib for a long time and finally started on it this week. The hardest part so far has been trying to come up with a design I like. I can't draw to save my life so I finally found a drawing I want to use. Yours came out great though. Did you form it to the fender or just leave it flat? Can't really tell from the photo. I'm thinking I should form it.

Ohhh ok... now I get it. I've done the same thing except I realized the mistake before dying the piece and just threw it away and started over.

Understood. Just to be clear, in no way do I condone TM/Copyright infringement. In this case, and in my opinion, he's not trying to copy anyone's trademark so I doubt anyone would complain. Also; I do not feel like I'm being bullied

I'm not going to disagree with you because you are factually correct. However, he's not using any of the companies logos or any intellectual property. Simply mentioning the company name isn't a violation. I think any decent lawyer could argue that what he's done is no different than mentioning a company name in a news article. His choice of media happens to be leather. There is something called "fair use" in copyright law that allows anyone to mention brand names and such.

Did you recheck the retention strap on the sheath on the right? To me it looks like it's on the wrong side of the sheath and will not hold the knife in.

From my experience with antiquing finishes, they don't penetrate as dye would. In fact I think it would act as a barrier preventing the dye from penetrating. I'm guessing that's what happened in your example. It looks very blotchy in the picture. Did you use a dauber to apply the dye? if so, perhaps using a piece of lambs wool to apply it would even it out. You might even try dip dying it. It's probably going to be difficult to get it even with the antique finish on it.

The eyelets would typically be used to attach a cord made from leather, paracord etc to secure the sheath to your leg to prevent it from flopping around when you walk. it also holds the sheath in place as you draw the knife.

Why turn it down? You'd be surprised at what you can accomplish when you accept a challenge. That's how we get better at our craft; by stepping outside our comfort zone. There's nothing going on with that first sheath that can't be accomplished with the right tools, some patience and craftsmanship. I'm not trying to take any credit away from SkinBender. Those sheaths are exceptionally well crafted!

Two questions: 1) What kind of dye are you using? If you use Fiebings Pro Dye that won't wipe off once it's dry. 2) What are you trying to accomplish by "sealing" it? Again, if using the Pro Dye it's quite durable and shouldn't need to be sealed. Super Sheen, Resolene and other products will somewhat protect the finished piece and shouldn't disturb the dye. If you're trying to protect the piece from harsh weather, there are far better products out there than super sheen.

i agree. In my experience the neatsfoot oil doesn't penetrate the antiquing finish well. In fact I've had it rub off some of the antiquing. I would try it with just the neatsfoot oil first and see how you like that. You can always add the antiquing later if it needs it.

good point. forgot to mention that. i only use synthetic myself so i forgot about the linen.

Welcome SkinBender. Very clever name and nice looking sheaths!

Yes. It's a small ball, but certainly enough to prevent unraveling and might even help the thread not to pull through. There are some youtube videos showing it in use. Check them out. Another nice thing is that it cuts the thread and melts the ends in one step. Also eliminates the chance of your knife nicking your project when you cut the thread (had that happen once).

I have been using the Thread Zap II as LatigoAmigo mentioned. In my opinion it's much better than using a lighter and well worth the money. You can get very close with it and there's almost no chance of burn damage to your project from an open flame.

Perfect so far.

I'd be interested to know how Bicks 4 worked for you. I've never tried it. I'm wondering if there's any advantage to using that rather than neatsfoot oil (which I've been using my entire life). I think the lesson here is to use neatsfoot in moderation. Let it soak for a few hours or even days before applying more. Also worth mentioning is that neatsfoot can ruin molded holsters if you apply too much. It can make leather limp and mushy. That probably applies to anything that was intended to be rigid.

By all means be picky. That's how we learn! I actually had the same thought. The reason I made the bottom square and not all the way at the bottom of the sheath is that I thought the hair would look better flowing across the leather rather than hanging beyond the bottom of the sheath. In hindsight, as you said, continuing the shape of the sheath toward the bottom would have looked better. Also I know that the edges of my leather are uneven. I admit that I rushed through it because I was just experimenting. I tore it apart and put it back together a couple of times so the the edges of the leather got a little beat up. Thanks for the feedback!

In case anyone is interested, this is what I came up with. I went with the inlay approach. It's not great but it was a good learning experience. I don't think I would attempt it again unless it's for a larger item. Thanks for all of the suggestions!

I think it can be done even easier than that. Use thin leather for the sharp side of the welt. Use thick leather for the spine side of the welt. Where the two welt halves meet near the tip you could leave a small space which could be a drainage hole (in case the sheath gets water in it during use). That way you don't have to worry about the transition from the thick to the thin. I wouldn't even bother to taper the spine half of the welt at the tip. Beautiful blade btw!

toxo, RockyAussie: I gave that a try. It works as far as making the hair shorter and more manageable, however the moment I trimmed the outermost layer of hair, it immediately lost the beautiful brown coloration and glossy fur look. The piece I ended up with might have well been squirrel hide lol. I'm uploading a picture of what I ended up with when I tried buzz trimming the fur. The piece on the left is obviously the trimmed piece. I found the post you are referring to. Yes, that looks like something I should try. I like the idea a lot. Thanks for pointing that out!