Is there a better way to end your hand stitching?

[DeWayne Hayes]

I am curious if anyone has a novel approach to finishing a stitch line.  I do knife sheaths and gun holsters and have never been happy with my final two or three stitches being backstitched to lock down the thread end. It always looks bulkier in that one spot and attracts my OCD eye every time I look at it.  My understanding is that even with nylon thread, where you'd simply melt the thread ends, most people backstitch one or two holes to lock it down. 

Is there a better way? Some sort of internal knot in the last hole maybe (though my experience is nylon knots tend to come loose.) 

Any novel approaches I'm not aware of? 

[chuck123wapati]

3 minutes ago, DeWayne Hayes said:

 

Is there a better way?

Nope IMO. If there was it would be widely used, and very well known already the practice of sewing leather is thousands of years old.

[Mablung]

Conceivably one could tie a few tight knots in the last hole and hide them between the two layers and the tension of the stitches would keep them tight, as would any edge treatment done (especially if one finished veg tan edges using beeswax, as I generally do).  But that's not quite as tight or sure as backstitching.  Personally, I kinda like the look of the backstitching, but that's me.

[DeWayne Hayes]

I hear you, guys. It's the standard for a reason, I'm sure. 

What I have done before, like on these two sheaths, is literally backstitch the entire thing - just so I could achieve a uniform fat stitch line. It's tedious, but I like the robust look. Just trying to explore if there might be a way to do it with a single line, ending tidily with no backstitching. May be the impossible dream ... 

 

[toxo]

There are times when the locking stitches can come through between the layers. Not tested but maybe there's an answer using what I'll call the fishing rod whipping end technique where a separate length of thread is doubled over and previously laid between the layers so that the main thread can be pulled through to be finished elsewhere. Don't know if I've explained this sufficiently. No doubt someone can do a better job.

[Gezzer]

My 2 cents

If you have contacted it all , maybe just a touch of white glue on the thread just as you pull them in .I think fiction and the white glue would hold BUUUUUUUUUUUT I don't know this .

 

Or like Toxo said , something like a bowstring serving finish .

Edited November 30, 2023 by Gezzer
late to the game

[GrampaJoel]

1 hour ago, DeWayne Hayes said:

I hear you, guys. It's the standard for a reason, I'm sure. 

What I have done before, like on these two sheaths, is literally backstitch the entire thing - just so I could achieve a uniform fat stitch line. It's tedious, but I like the robust look. Just trying to explore if there might be a way to do it with a single line, ending tidily with no backstitching. May be the impossible dream ... 

 

Hummmm, didn’t back stitching the whole length leave you with the same dilemma?
of,   Where, and how,  to end the stitch?

 

[DwightT]

A long time ago when I was first starting my grandfather showed me a technique where on the last stitch he would push the needles into the last hole on each side, but come out between the layers.  He would then tie a knot that was pulled tight between the layers, add a dab of glue as has been mentioned, and cut off the loose ends.  He wound up with a slight bump in the leather from the knot, but otherwise it looked OK.

I tried it a couple times, but I never could get the knot to hold tight enough, so I just went back to backstitching.  The doubled-up stitches didn't bother me (just seems like the way it should be in my mind) and it seems to hold better.

    /dwight

[DeWayne Hayes]

2 hours ago, GrampaJoel said:

Hummmm, didn’t back stitching the whole length leave you with the same dilemma?
of,   Where, and how,  to end the stitch?

 

No, when I back stitch the whole thing (i.e. double stitch the whole thing) I just pull through my last stitch hole and cut the the thread off very tight to the hole, and press it into the waxy thread next to it. By this point , that hole is tight with four thicknesses of thread, so I'm not too worried about the thread backing out of it. 

Also, I stitch before wet forming, and that causes the leather to shrink and tighten around the stitching anyway when it dries - so I imagine those holes are all pretty darned tight to the thread. 

Edited November 30, 2023 by DeWayne Hayes

[dikman]

If the layers aren't glued then what Dwight said should work (I've seen this method mentioned elsewhere) BUT whether it will be as strong as backstitching.......