dye, glue, stitch?

[jbradford]

Ok, my first post. First of all, thank you to everyone who makes time to make this forum a success. I have been impressed with the quality of the content and the helpful, encouraging attitude everyone conveys. I have found myself spending an increasing amount of time here!

I've recently taken up the trade. Yep, the bug has bitten me hard!

I'm starting with smaller projects. Hopefully, I'll be on to bigger and better things soon. I have a question about a knife sheath I've been working on and trying to refine. This sheath requires two pieces of leather that ultimately get sewn together. Here's a picture of my first:

I've determined I need to bevel and burnish certain edges, then dye and oil prior to glueing and then stitching. I accidentaly discovered what came out to be a pretty cool finish. Mixed dark brown dye, conditioner, and neatsfoot oil together. Then applied two coats w/ a small dauber. Once dried, applied resilene. My question right now is, will the glue stick over this mixture? Or does the stitching provide the proper "support" to keep it together? I've noticed on this one, after wearing it for a couple of weeks, that my "edge" where several layers of the leather are joined, looks like it is beginning to separate a little. I stitched by hand (PITA!), and pulled the thread pretty dang hard when doing the stitching. What should I be doing to make this right and last a long time?

Thank you!

Jim

PS: If my pic's did not upload, I'll try again! Keeping my fingers crossed!

[wildrose]

I'm still learning on this one, so let me tell you my experience, using a binder/folio project as an example:

Previously, I would do all the tooling and hole punching, then stain it, hole punch the lining (praying they matched up), glue it to the lining, and then stitch.

Now, the last batch I did, I tooled, stained, glued together, hole punched, trimmed the lining, and edge-koted it (colored the edges). Then sewed. That worked much better.

The problem I found the one time I glued before staining was that the glue (in that case, contact cement) prevented the stain from absorbing properly.

My .02 (or more) cents...

[Shorts]

I suppose it will depend on what exactly you're building but, for holsters I cut, glue, even/sand edges, stitch, mold, dye, burnish edges, and topcoat.

For belts, that depends on whether or not I want the inside layer dyed or natural.

[jbradford]

I suppose it will depend on what exactly you're building but, for holsters I cut, glue, even/sand edges, stitch, mold, dye, burnish edges, and topcoat.

For belts, that depends on whether or not I want the inside layer dyed or natural.

Ok, thanks Shorts. That's probably what I need. Here's a new pic that shows the separation. I have already glued it. But it is separating. I have not stitched yet. Soooo, should I take this "outer" piece back off and re-glue prior to stitching? I'm using Duvall #88, super strength all purpose cement.

If I don't dye it prior to assembly, there are places I won't be able to get to. Also, my stitching will be discolored (maybe it should be....) Also, I tried glueing one together and then dying. The dye did not take in a couple of small places where the glue squeezed out onto the leather.

[Shorts]

One of the tricks I've found that helps smooth my edges and rids the glue is using a Dremel sanding drum (for general edge evening) then several grits of paper for leveling and smoothing (120, 320, 400).

I then dye, either by dauber or airbrush. I definitely understand what you mean about hard to reach places. I've found my way around it, and since I use waterbased dyes, I can only dye after molding. So, just been my experience with that.

When I burnish the edges, I dab dye on the edge to dampen, then I burnish with my dowel. It gives a good dark, colored edge.

What you can do on your edge there is dab some glue in it with a toothpick or something tiny and slim. Clamp it, let it dry. Then sand it up with the Dremel or paper like I noted above. Then redye the edge and burnish it. I've had to do a touch-up on an edge once and I did the above and it came out alright.

[tonyc1]

What retains the knife ?

Tony.

[jbradford]

What retains the knife ?

Tony.

It's a snug fit and I kind of wet molded the toe of the sheath to the knife. Also, once on your belt, the outer layer of leather is snugged up to the knife sheath. Initially, I was concerned about the knife being too tight, but it loosened up a bit and I can get it out with one hand (cross draw). I ride horses and wanted a knife accessible. I'm very confident the knife will stay in the sheath, but if anybody has a redundant safety suggestion, I'm definately interested. I've seen some horizontal knife sheaths before and decided to give it a go. Also, I used 9-10 oz. leather, so it is fairly stiff. That probably helps retain the knife.

Here's the second one with a shiney coat. I need to buff it out somehow. The acrylic resolene applied with a dauber doesn't seem to be working well for me. Seems impossible to get a smooth coating.