Buckstitch Knife Sheath

[Fraulein]

Customer wanted a new sheath for his dad's old knife. Told me to make it as close to the old one as I could.  Wasn't sure about the rivets on top of the buckstitching but I kinda like the look now that it's done. Think it turned out pretty good. Critiques and advice always welcome!

~Frau~

[Dwight]

An old boy scout teacher . . . told us never to put rivets in hatchet sheaths or knife sheaths . . . UNLESS . . . the blade especially is protected by a substantial welt.

As the leather gets older . . . it will always loosen up . . . allowing the blade to come into contact with the rivets . . . which will dull the blade in a NY minute.

That advice is more or less 65 years old . . . I still do it that way.

May God bless,

Dwight

[chuck123wapati]

great copy he should be pleased. the only thing i would change is to turn the strap / snap around so it doesnt catch on stuff and come open

 

[Fraulein]

@Dwight thanks for the tip! Never thought about that but definitely see the logic in it and I'll keep that in mind for future work.

@chuck123wapati good catch, thanks! Never would've noticed that little detail.

~Frau~

[dikman]

I agree about the rivets, never liked them on sheaths......but you gave the customer what they wanted so they should be happy. Definitely looks better than the original!

[Doc Reaper]

Way back in the day the rivet stems were thinner and the leather was better. The rivets are there to stop the knife from pushing through that leather and causing the user harm. Some of the better knives are razor sharp. The knife gusset was v shaped so it would keep the threads safel

Edited March 17, 2023 by Doc Reaper

[PastorBob]

Great copy of the original.  I have yet to buck stitch anything.  It definitely looks better than the original.

[Fraulein]

15 hours ago, dikman said:

I agree about the rivets, never liked them on sheaths......but you gave the customer what they wanted so they should be happy. Definitely looks better than the original!

Thanks! Think it was more important to him for it to look like the old one than to be highly functional as he's mostly keeping it around for show. So the rivets worked out alright for this project, but I'll keep 'em off my future sheaths.

12 hours ago, Doc Reaper said:

Way back in the day the rivet stems were thinner and the leather was better. The rivets are there to stop the knife from pushing through that leather and causing the user harm. Some of the better knives are razor sharp. The knife gusset was v shaped so it would keep the threads safel

Thanks for the info about the rivets! Think I'll stick with welts to keep the stitching safe.

2 hours ago, PastorBob said:

Great copy of the original.  I have yet to buck stitch anything.  It definitely looks better than the original.

Thanks! This was my first buckstitching project and I really like it a lot more than I thought I would. Definitely try it out when you get a chance!

[TexasJack]

You did a great job of copying the original sheath, and that's what the customer wanted.  Personally, I hate rivets on sheathes for all the reasons others have cited.  Plus they're just not necessary if you do a decent job sewing.  That's not relevant here because you were duplicating another sheath, and again you did a good job of making that work.

 

[Bert03241]

On 3/16/2023 at 12:24 PM, Dwight said:

An old boy scout teacher . . . told us never to put rivets in hatchet sheaths or knife sheaths . . . UNLESS . . . the blade especially is protected by a substantial welt.

As the leather gets older . . . it will always loosen up . . . allowing the blade to come into contact with the rivets . . . which will dull the blade in a NY minute.

That advice is more or less 65 years old . . . I still do it that way.

May God bless,

Dwight