Help!

[Vikefan]

Please help!! I've been having an extremely hard time with this knife sheath I'm trying to build. I have an stingray inlayed into a portion, and with the way the dagger is I needed three thicknesses of 8 oz leather (for wedges to taper almost to the tip of the knife for the thing to sit right) and it has a metal tandy belt clip deal on it too.

I've glued it up now and have now torn it apart twice. I am extremely frustrated! I cannot get the stitching holes straight from the from the front to the back. I am about ready to give up on the project.... I've now wrecked the inlayed front piece trying to drill from the back to be able to try to stitch it together.. I will most likely have to start over... too much time and money.

Can anyone help?

[DCKNIVES]

You mentioned drilling, so are you hand drilling or using a drill press? If your hand drilling it will be hard to keep your holes straight, so I would suggest buying a drill press.There can be good deals found for under $100 almost everywhere.Second I would not "Drill" your leather but punch it instead.I sharpen the shank end of various size drill bits and chuck them upside down and punch while the press is running.Your holes will be cleaner and will close up some instead of tearing up the leather.To help keep your holes straight get some 1"x 4" wood pieces about 6"-8" long and cut a notch in it for the clip,belt loop etc.This will keep your stitched edge alot flatter.Do not try and force the hole, ease it through and pull back frequently.Forcing especially on a wedged end will cause the bit to deflect.Hope this helps.Dave

[TwinOaks]

Calm down, put the drill on the table, and step back. Take some deep breaths, relax. Now, we need a little more information on exactly what you're doing. When you say 3 pieces of leather, I'll presume you mean welts. I completely understand how difficult it is to get through welts, I've done several by hand and that's one of the things that drove me to a machine stitcher.

Are you trying to hand drill the holes? If yes, then the issue is that it's very difficult to drill straight holes in angled material. You NEED some type of drill press. Ideally, you would be making the holes with an awl,( but that is a task in itself, pushing through that much leather) because you can watch where the point is emerging on the back and make small adjustments. Nobody cares how many corrections are INSIDE the leather.

Next is the task of dealing with the welted edges. I learned quickly that anytime you are compressing a welted edge, that the leather will tend to buckle. It's an easy solution to an apparently daunting problem: You need to make a blank to support the sheath from the inside. An example: Sheath composed of front, welt, and back....any weight you want. Since the sheath is hollow between the welts, you'd add a strip of the same material as the welt between the front and back to act as a temporary spacer. This is not glued or stitched in place, it's only there to keep the leather from bending. The same thing applies to punching holes on a sheath that has a wedge shaped welt....you need a wedge shaped blank. It also is important to do this for the OUTSIDE so you can keep a mostly level working surface. It's hell trying to stay plumb when your reference is an angle.

To tackle your particular issue right now: If you don't have access to a drill press, or the tools to make a press jig for an awl, all is not lost. It'll take a bit more time, but here's how to do it: Mark and punch the stitch holes in the front and back of the sheath with no welts, before doing any other assembly. If you've already added the belt clip, take it back off, you need flat leather. You can even do it one side at a time! What you need is some reference points to line up the pieces of the sheath, and a way to transfer the stitch pattern to both pieces. This even works on non-symmetrical sheaths because you can simply flip the pattern. Stop and check the alignment a few times along the way. Once you have the holes in both sides you should be able to lay them together and have everything line up perfectly. Now for the welts. If you have a constant stitch spacing marked, you could lay out some strips of welts and mark and drill them the same way. Use oversized pieces, longer than what you need, and with NO 'wedge' cut to them. The holes won't bother the blade that tapers the welt at all. You should be able to dry assemble everything (or use rubber cement, which is removable) and have all the holes match up. Well, that took some time, but wasn't too difficult. Ah, the inlay....If you've perforated the edge of the inlay, you can try to reuse it, but it might be better to skive down a border. Yes, extra work, but the end result is worth it. Lay out your inlay pattern, but include at least a 1/4" 'border' INSIDE the 'window' for the inlay. When you cut the border, it doesn't matter how wide outside the inlay because you can always trim it back. I'd suggest that the piece you use for a frame around the inlay be at least 3/4" wide to give you a little "wiggle room" in the assembly. Dye (and maybe tool?) the frame/border. Attach the 'frame' to the inlay, and you now have an inlay piece with an attractive border that has a solid edge for sewing. Assemble the frame/inlay piece and the sheath. Line up your holes and recheck everything. Should you need to make some holes in the inlay's frame where it's covered some stitch holes, use the existing holes as guides. Presuming everything lines up, add glue and stitches, then finish as usual.

A few steps back, when making the welts, you could skip the pre-drilled holes and just use an awl to stab the holes, using the front and back holes for guides.

If you'd like some additional reference material for how to do the holes, look in "holsters, sheathes, ..." at the first pinned tutorial, by Jim. He shows how to lay out and line up the holes.

Be sure to practice on scrap, and get back to us if you have any more questions. Some things can be a real PITA, but if you step away from it, and break it down into steps, then plan the steps, it gets easier.

Mike