Angles For Crossdraw Sheath

[MorningStarL]

My second question for the day. Well, it's my second commission for the day -- that ain't bad.

I belong to a knifemakers' group on FB. One of the guys asked about a sheath maker. I told him to Google Paul Long. And the next day, since he'd no other answers, I posted a picture of a sheath I'd done for someone last year, similar style, and told him my technique has improved since then.

Which is true, thanks to all y'all. But he wants a crossdraw sheath, to sit just below flat. I've never done one. Found a great tutorial on British Blades, lots of pictures; looked at lots of posts on cross-draw sheaths here. (Not making a pancake.) I'm looking for what angle to attach the belt strap, or how to figure out the angle. I'm not making enough on it to want to experiment a lot and have to start over.

Thanks again, in advance here, and for past help in general.

[Thor]

I would say it depends. Longer torso, steeper angle. Shorter torso, lower angle. Does that make sense? You could have him hold his current knife in convenient position and go from there. Won't get any more customized than that.

[chiefjason]

My .02.

I have one offed several cross draw sheaths. I hand stitch, so this is easy for me. I build the sheath to about 90%, everything but belt loops. Then before doing stitch lines, I cut my belt loops a bit longer than necessary. Then I start playing around with the sheath on a belt. When I find an angle I like, I mark the leather. Cut the loops, and glue them on. Then I start working on my stitch lines. It's worked so far. Might want to dye between marking and glueing. It's tough to get under the loop to dye the sheath. I try to keep the dye off my glue area though. Also, burnish the loop edges before glueing. Easier to do that way.

[byggyns]

As Thor said, it depends on the user as to the right angle, but I would say that 30 degrees from vertical is the starting point. You should just go more horizontal from there. Also, the larger the belly of the user, the more horizontal the angle should be.

For me: 5'7", long torso for my height, and a big belly, I like mine at right around 45*.

[MorningStarL]

One of the problems is, I don't know the client. We're doing this online and have never met. He did send me a link to a site that has a picture showing me how he wants it. (I don't mind to aska stranger how tall he is, but I'm a little shy about asking about his belly size.) If I blow that up enough to measure the angle on the one the picture, and it's 30 degrees, then I cut the loop at a 30 degree angle from the short edge?

ChiefJason, the tutorial on British Blades is like that. He cuts the sheath, does the tooling, grooves the stitch line on the front and punches the holes through the top only. He adds an extra line of holes for the belt loop just inside the ones for the whole sheath. Then glues in the welt and puts the stitching holes through that. Sews the loops in place on either side and then puts the whole thing together. He dyes before gluing and stitching, and reminds you to do the tooling first too, cuz he had the loop sewn on before he did. That's how I was thinking of doing it.

Thanks, everyone.