stacked leather handle and sheath

[chuck123wapati]

I started working on this sheath design months ago, finally got time to make a knife for it. Stacked leather handles, if you ever try them dont watch you tube vids, i looked at a few and they are mostly regurgitated forged in fires idea of handle and knifemaking  which is far from good. 

The sheath is  10 oz back , 6/7 front and the wings and flaps are 3/4 oz. Its made to hold survival gear or whatever you feelt he need to carry. I had a thread on the idea months ago and this is much better looking lol.

[chuck123wapati]

a couple more and my first sheath with contents.

[bvdv]

Woow nice, did you remake the handle showing on the last picture to the one in the first picture? 

Edited October 9, 2022 by bvdv

[Bawarrior]

Way to go Chuck, I lov it. That was quit a feet. Very interesting almost like a Christmas present

[chuck123wapati]

1 hour ago, bvdv said:

Woow nice, did you remake the handle showing on the last picture to the one in the first picture? 

thanks nope thats a whole new knife. 

[chuck123wapati]

23 minutes ago, Bawarrior said:

Way to go Chuck, I lov it. That was quit a feet. Very interesting almost like a Christmas present

thanks man it took some brain work for sure. In ww1 The US army rucksacks were built similar that is where i got my idea.

[Gezzer]

Outside of the box  on the sheath !!  I tried 1 leather washer knife handle in my 20 's and went straight to scales  or hidden tang  in any thing but leather ...... hadn't ever had the desire to do it again  .

[MikeRock]

Great work, as usual.  Did you happen to photograph the tang of the knife before adding the handle materials?

God bless

[chuck123wapati]

40 minutes ago, Gezzer said:

Outside of the box  on the sheath !!  I tried 1 leather washer knife handle in my 20 's and went straight to scales  or hidden tang  in any thing but leather ...... hadn't ever had the desire to do it again  .

thank you! the stacked handle was easier than i thought, punched and fitted them to the tang then glued each layer with contact cement, after it dried i took them off soaked em and put them in a vice between two pieces of oak, cinched em down let them rest cinched em down again until they wouldn't cinch no more lol. let them dry over night and they were harder than rock lol. cleaned out the tang hole and stuck them on. 

 

Just now, MikeRock said:

Great work, as usual.  Did you happen to photograph the tang of the knife before adding the handle materials?

God bless

Thanks Mike no I should have, its a full through tang  its  5/8"th wide 3/16"th thick, made just like a ka bar lol 1095 steel 6"blade. drop point fighter.

[MikeRock]

Thanks, the tang photo shows most of what I needed.  How is the butt secured to the tang?  I used to peen the heck out of the tang to fill a taper filed in the butt.

God bless

[chuck123wapati]

12 minutes ago, MikeRock said:

Thanks, the tang photo shows most of what I needed.  How is the butt secured to the tang?  I used to peen the heck out of the tang to fill a taper filed in the butt.

God bless

it is pinned to the pommel like the newer kabars are constructed. i should have peened it, would have been easier lol. i shimmed it up about half a hole off so the pommel would be forced down and tight against the handle. 

[PastorBob]

Beautiful work all the way around.  I love the way you constructed the handle.  The sheath is great as well.  I like the option of carrying other stuff as well.

[chuck123wapati]

1 hour ago, PastorBob said:

Beautiful work all the way around.  I love the way you constructed the handle.  The sheath is great as well.  I like the option of carrying other stuff as well.

thank you Pastor.

[Bert03241]

awesome as always Chuck

[chuck123wapati]

18 hours ago, Bert03241 said:

awesome as always Chuck

thank you Bert 

[Hildebrand]

Nice work Chuck, I like the outside the box thinking on the sheath and beautiful knife.

Todd

[chuck123wapati]

1 hour ago, Hildebrand said:

Nice work Chuck, I like the outside the box thinking on the sheath and beautiful knife.

Todd

thank you  i really appreciate that.

[battlemunky]

Great package in its entirety Chuck. Love the taper on the blade side stacked bit for some reason, it just makes it look well thought out. And the utility of the sheath is great too. I'm surprised not to have seen it before its such a good idea.

[kiwican]

Love it all!

[Brokenolmarine]

Very nice all around.  I would have had no problem strapping that to my vest just before I climbed in the helo.  

[chuck123wapati]

On 10/14/2022 at 2:37 PM, battlemunky said:

Great package in its entirety Chuck. Love the taper on the blade side stacked bit for some reason, it just makes it look well thought out. And the utility of the sheath is great too. I'm surprised not to have seen it before its such a good idea.

thank you it did take some planning, the handle makes the knife, it has to fit the hand to do any good.

11 hours ago, kiwican said:

Love it all!

thank you.

[chuck123wapati]

10 hours ago, Brokenolmarine said:

Very nice all around.  I would have had no problem strapping that to my vest just before I climbed in the helo.  

now that's a compliment! thank you it got its first field test this last ten days spent in the mountains of Wyoming hunting elk.

[doubleh]

Looks good to me. I made a few knives as a teenager on a farm out of what I could scrounge up. No good steel and I wouldn't have known how to heat treat it if there were. One of the ones I made had a stacked leather handle because that was what most hunting knives had back then. It wasn't nearly as nice as the factory made's but not bad for a kid with absolutely no source of how to do it. Later on I made one of good steel for my wife with a stacked leather handle that was better. By then that type of handle was going out of style and I could understand why. Lots more work than other materials and time is money to manufactuers.

You have awaken an interest and I know what I am going to do with a bunch of little leather scraps I have laying around. I have lost interest in blade making as it has become unpleasant with worn out shoulders and elbows so I will just purchase a good blade and one of the grand sons will get an old timey leather washer handled knife.

[Brokenolmarine]

I got into leather work so I could make a sheath for a Kit knife I made for my middle daughter.  I too have medical issues that caused me to look hard at the blade making process and say, "Ah, No."

I buy the blades and then build the knives and give them as gifts.  I make the sheaths and sometimes presentation boxes to put them in.  Woodworking first, then came knives because the kid asked me to.

 

 

I thought I had pics of the cleaned up knives.  The above pic is of the knives after final sanding.  The pic below is of them after waxing and buffing.  These were Christmas gifts.

The daughter chose the Cherry in the middle.  The top knife matches the cocobolo grips I had made for my Match .45.

The bottom was going to a Son-in-law but HE asked for something else not knowing the weeks of work I had put into his gift.  The wife didn't say anything and ordered what he asked for.  His loss. (City Boy - Woke.)  That knife is still in a drawer in the den and will eventually find a home, or not.  No matter.  I will make a few more.  I bought some turquoise to do inlays, that will be my next goal when I am up to it.

 

The knives laid on the bench waiting to be finished for a full year.  I had fallen and broken my wrist in two places and the surgery to repair the breaks caused major nerve damage.  I lost the use of the left hand for about nine months, and then didn't have enough strength to trust use in the shop for over a year.  Nearly eighteen months later, I have 80% range of motion back (Don't expect more due to the plate in the wrist,) and about 40% of the strength.  That may improve with continued therapy at home and use.  I am VERY cautious when using equipment in the shop.  The table saw, bandsaw, and other power tools causes a major pucker factor. I use a LOT of hand tools these days, but then, I always did.

Edited October 29, 2022 by Brokenolmarine

[chuck123wapati]

On 10/29/2022 at 11:16 AM, doubleh said:

Looks good to me. I made a few knives as a teenager on a farm out of what I could scrounge up. No good steel and I wouldn't have known how to heat treat it if there were. One of the ones I made had a stacked leather handle because that was what most hunting knives had back then. It wasn't nearly as nice as the factory made's but not bad for a kid with absolutely no source of how to do it. Later on I made one of good steel for my wife with a stacked leather handle that was better. By then that type of handle was going out of style and I could understand why. Lots more work than other materials and time is money to manufactuers.

You have awaken an interest and I know what I am going to do with a bunch of little leather scraps I have laying around. I have lost interest in blade making as it has become unpleasant with worn out shoulders and elbows so I will just purchase a good blade and one of the grand sons will get an old timey leather washer handled knife.

thank you and I am glad it inspires. I grew up with stacked leather knives also, the Western brand being my favorite knife of all. I carried one in the woods for most of my life. The feel of a good leather handle is hard to beat. and you can use them on other tools as well, here is a combination lifter and stylus i made a while back now i have a set of them, made from stainless all thread.