Knife Sheath Makers Your Input Is Needed

[Southernbeau]

So an acquaintance of mine makes beautiful custom knives. He is kind of the reason I attempted making holsters in the first place. He has made a couple of leather sheaths, but prefers to work with kydex. He let me borrow the few leather working tools he had and off I went. He asked if I would be interested in filling orders for him when he has customers that request a leather sheath. While I am very interested in doing just that I am still very much a novice in working with leather.

My question is this...(oversimplified I know but) If I can make a gun holster with fairly decent results (my opinion FWIW) is the jump to making knife sheaths possible with less of a learning curve?

What is different in design and construction? How is the approach different? What do I need to know about making sheaths that I haven't learned in making holsters?

I'm including some pictures of the 3 holsters I have completed to give you an idea of my meager skill level and to better give a representation of my limited abilities below... The pictures are in order from earliest to most recent work FYI.

[steelhawk]

If you have a knife, make a sheath for it. You will learn things by it. I've made two, and will soon make a third, better one for the same knife. Visit some knife making websites and look at their work.

[TacticallySharp]

First I like your holsters. I am a bladesmith that on occassion makes a holster. I started out making sheaths. The main difference is the use of a welt to protect the thread used to sew the seams. I do simple sheaths as the man who showed me how to make them will make all the high end custom sheaths my knife customers want.

I find that most knives will fit in a basic pouch stlye sheath. If you have a guard on the knife use a strap to secure it'

Here are some f my simple sheaths that I have made over the last few months:

[IngleGunLeather]

I've done a little research as I had a couple friends approach me to commission a sheath. I'm still researching before I waste a side of beef learning the ropes. One thing I've seen that's recommended by most is a welt to keep the cutting edge away from the threads. Some of the sheaths I've seen also have been skived to connect the belt loop to the body. A great example of one of the most recognizable sheeths would be a ka-bar. just like holsters, there's a bunch a different styles. But, I believe I joined the blade forum and came across a couple tutorials there. Been a while since I looked into it though.