Knife Sheath Tooling

[Mablung]

I made a new sheath for one of my knives, fold-over with a welt. I'm going to ask for critique but am posting it in this thread because, frankly, I was pretty pleased with the tooling and wanted to show it off a bit, which really means I thought it was going to look like crap, and I was pleasantly surprised when it looked like less than crap. Besides, I like oak leaves and wanted to make a foray into them with a simple design on a hunting knife sheath. 

Now, for the suggestions requested. I screwed up with the welt and left some of the stitching bare (thus the loose stitch at the end: the tip of the knife cut it). I have two questions on this point: How should I measure the welt, and how can I take the sheath apart with relative ease to redo the welt to get it right? I think I'm really asking how to efficiently undo the stitching (saddle stitch), as cutting apart the cemented portion isn't too difficult, with some care. I may also trim the shape so that it looks less like it houses a cleaver and try to match to the blade shape more effectively.

On the tooling, what can I do to clean up the backgrounding? I used a combination of a small backgrounder and a matting tool, but I don't think I understand how to background. I couldn't get an even texture to save my life.

[DieselTech]

I think your oak leaves look great! Great work. 

For the stitches I would get a seam ripper to cut your thread to take apart & re-stitch. You probably will have to cut every stitch with the seam ripper. 

I'm just learning back grounding myself, but I think the checkered back grounders are easier to use. I got a pebble back ground, that seems harder to execute. 

I'm not sure on measuring for your welt, I always lay the knife in the sheath, before it sewn & visualize my welt shape. 

Also to make your sheath look better/more professional, you should burnish your edges. 

Nice work & thanks for sharing. 

[Mablung]

9 hours ago, DieselTech said:

I think your oak leaves look great! Great work. 

For the stitches I would get a seam ripper to cut your thread to take apart & re-stitch. You probably will have to cut every stitch with the seam ripper. 

I'm just learning back grounding myself, but I think the checkered back grounders are easier to use. I got a pebble back ground, that seems harder to execute. 

I'm not sure on measuring for your welt, I always lay the knife in the sheath, before it sewn & visualize my welt shape. 

Also to make your sheath look better/more professional, you should burnish your edges. 

Nice work & thanks for sharing. 

My backgrounder is checkered, but its small surface may not allow that to come out as clearly. Seam ripper it is. 

I slicked some edges but didn't finish them off because I realized I needed to reconstruct a few components. They'll get slicked properly once I've redone a few things. (I need to adjust the belt strap and safety snap.)