Sheath construction and skiving

[ThisIsMyFirstRodeo]

So I made a sheath with 10-12oz, and a welt the same. It all stitched together beautifully, and is one of my better pieces on the learning curve. 

But here’s the issue:

The welt is thick enough that the blade can rattle freely inside, and there’s most likely enough capability of compression to compromise the stitching. Yes, I should have skived (1 v or 2?) to match the spine of the blade.

So question:

I just cut the stitching so I can address and redo, but should I skive the welt or the sheath? Or both?

TIA,

1st Rodeo

[fredk]

Cut the stitching carefully. You can reuse the sewing holes. Skive all three mating surfaces. Some on the inside to make a tight fit with a bevel towards the outside.

[DieselTech]

Another option is to wrap the knife in saran wrap & wet form the sheath to the knife. So it is not rattley or flopping in the sheath. 

[ThisIsMyFirstRodeo]

Fred, thank you for that input. I do plan on using the same holes as they are still quite strong.  At this point, I’m rethinking the stitches. I was using round lace and a unique stitch that just came natural (no clue what name it might have, perhaps a variation of a lock stitch). This time, I’m either going back to tiger thread/saddle stitch, but I also just had the wild hair of using wire instead, or possibly split rings intertwined through similar to chain mail. Prolly bad ideas…
 

Diesel, I do wet form my sheaths. This particular blade is about 12” (I actually used it as one of my primary knives, back when I used to work the line), and the sheath itself about 15” long, which is why it’s floppy.
The mouth of the sheath does have a tight form to the handle. Have to shake it fairly hard for it to fall out.
Still learning how to harden leather. The integrity of smaller pieces and lighter weight leather is good, but I have only had mixed/mediocre results on larger pieces. Still have a lot of learning curve left. 
 

But thank you for your input. I plan to skive it down some and probably wet form and bake. 
 

1st Rodeo

[chuck123wapati]

2 hours ago, ThisIsMyFirstRodeo said:

Fred, thank you for that input. I do plan on using the same holes as they are still quite strong.  At this point, I’m rethinking the stitches. I was using round lace and a unique stitch that just came natural (no clue what name it might have, perhaps a variation of a lock stitch). This time, I’m either going back to tiger thread/saddle stitch, but I also just had the wild hair of using wire instead, or possibly split rings intertwined through similar to chain mail. Prolly bad ideas…
 

Diesel, I do wet form my sheaths. This particular blade is about 12” (I actually used it as one of my primary knives, back when I used to work the line), and the sheath itself about 15” long, which is why it’s floppy.
The mouth of the sheath does have a tight form to the handle. Have to shake it fairly hard for it to fall out.
Still learning how to harden leather. The integrity of smaller pieces and lighter weight leather is good, but I have only had mixed/mediocre results on larger pieces. Still have a lot of learning curve left. 
 

But thank you for your input. I plan to skive it down some and probably wet form and bake. 
 

1st Rodeo

dont bake it. Just let it dry

[ThisIsMyFirstRodeo]

Somewhat of a random musing on the subject…

Does the speed at which the leather dries affect the hardness (or any other characteristic) of leather?

[fredk]

Yes it does; drying faster, especially with some heat, will harden the leather

[ThisIsMyFirstRodeo]

45 minutes ago, fredk said:

Yes it does; drying faster, especially with some heat, will harden the leather

What would temp would you recommend?

I’ll probably be experimenting with my fancy pants air fryer (moving air, temp drops all the way down to 100F)

[ThisIsMyFirstRodeo]

As a follow-up, how does the leather weight play into the equation (besides lighter drying faster)? 

[chuck123wapati]

5 minutes ago, ThisIsMyFirstRodeo said:

What would temp would you recommend?

I’ll probably be experimenting with my fancy pants air fryer (moving air, temp drops all the way down to 100F)

I recommend just air drying, or using a fan to speed up the process especially in AZ. But if you're set on trying it, then do your sperimentin with some scrap and let us know how it worked. Just a reminder that leather is still skin, so it can be cooked and if that happens its not BBQ its just ruined lol.