From Sheathes to Bracers, a Hat to a Saddle Bag. I have too many things I want to make.

[Saradamon]

I keep forgetting that I signed up here a while back. Might as well get caught up with stuff I've made. 

So... uh....

Knife sheathes! I've done some of those.

 

First one I made, for a knife a coworker of mine had. Scrap leather the guy I apprenticed under gave me for a pair of bracers (further down).

and these two:

For a Tops Buck Nighthawk. Guy wanted two of them "just in case". Probably should have made a template so the two were identical, but it's good practice (I think) to make them both from scratch on their own. Right? (sobbing)

since I mentioned them, Bracers!

Made these for my girlfriend's dad for Ren Faire use. 

As well, a few weeks ago I made this one for a costume:

It fit very well. Comfortable to wear, but when I released the clasps it practically launched itself off. 


Bracers too big? What about bracelets?

I... uh... I have no idea where those snaps could have come from.... *cough*

oh, that's better. 
Turquoise on the first one, Onyx on the second. 


Remember that costume I mentioned, well it was McCree from Overwatch, for whom I also made

all this stuff. As well as

This dopey, oversized hat that I still need to finish the edge on. Was a first try at a hat though, so... 
well, almost all the stuff I made was a first try....

anyway, what else could be left?

well, from the same leather as the hat, I made a pouch for a usb power bank to keep my phone charged at conventions I'd wear the above costume to:

Fancy.

Also working on a bag for my GF's herbalist Ren Faire garb:

Recognize the leather? Tandy's latigo remnants. Notice the mistake I made in not skiving the edge at all? This thing here taught me that I should do that. It also gave me plenty of experience in replacing busted rivets. 


Finally, that bag is nice, but what about a bigger one? What about, say...

A saddle bag!? This thing was so much larger than anything else I'd tried, and it took up a quarter of a side of a Water Buffalo hide. It's the same leather that would also be used for the longer bracer I made myself.

bonus image of it in use: 

 

 

 

someone save me from this maelstrom of too-many-Self-Imposed-Projects, and let me know what you think.
Also, if the pics take up too much space, I'll revert them to just links. Let me know about that ASAP. 

 

Thanks!
-Joe

 

 

PS: Feel free to criticize. I know plenty well about different issues with every single one of these, but knowing others I didn't notice would help!
PPS: (or is is PSS? idk) Any stitching is hand stitching using a stitching awl, just to let you know. 

[AussieMade]

Nice, I like them. Probably a little too many rivets for my liking, but for what you have done it suit the work.

Looking forward to seeing what else you show us.....Im starting to like the rivets the more I look at them, very steam punkish.

[TonyRV2]

I'm curious about the sheaths, since thats primarily what I make.  I've never used rivets, preferring to sew instead.  Did you put a liner in the sheath to protect the knife edge from contacting the rivets, or did you glue a welt to the inside of the rivets?  One other thing I've learned along the way from a few master sheath makers is to always make a pattern.  Many claim its the most important step in the process and I think I'm inclined to agree.

[Saradamon]

1 hour ago, TonyRV2 said:

I'm curious about the sheaths, since thats primarily what I make.  I've never used rivets, preferring to sew instead.  Did you put a liner in the sheath to protect the knife edge from contacting the rivets, or did you glue a welt to the inside of the rivets?  One other thing I've learned along the way from a few master sheath makers is to always make a pattern.  Many claim its the most important step in the process and I think I'm inclined to agree.

Because of how the rivets compress the leather together near the edge, the blade wont ever reach the rivets. The leather around the rivets will press against the sides of the blade before that happens. And yes, I definitely should make patterns, and for most stuff I do. For one-off knife sheathes though, I tend to just wing it. I'll do a rough (very very rough as my talent at drawing can't quite be called such) sketch of what I think it should look like, and a dimensioned not-to-scale outline of what pieces to cut out, and then just make it. In total it probably took about an hour per sheath for the smaller two and it was like 3 hours for the big one (should have been just over 1 hour, but I wasn't getting the edges to slick like I wanted them and had to fix quite a few simple mistakes across it.)

I haven't really tried stitching for the actual pocket of the sheath (though the belt loops were stitched on on the smaller two), mainly because I prefer the look of rivets, trust them more, and it's faster to set them than to stitch it. It's also just more fun to set rivets, in my opinion. Also, given what I said above about the rivets keeping the blade away, I'm not quite sure if hand stitching would get enough tension to simulate that, so I'm worried about the blade eventually cutting out the stitching (I also don't like the thought of liners).

Sure, if I got an order for one that's stitched, I'd do it, but I'd probably pop a few rivets in to reinforce it, just in case. 

[TonyRV2]

Stitched properly, with a welt inserted, there's no chance that a knife blade would ever contact the stitching.  I think there may be tradeoffs with each method however.  Over a long period of time stitches may fail, but they can be easily fixed.  Also over a long period, rivets will eventually rust, especially if they're not stainless steel, which would also oxidize over a longer period of time.  Of course a rivet can always be drilled out and replaced, but I don't see them as being necessarily a superior fastener.  I do like the look of rivets on some items though, and they're certainly much easier to master as opposed to proper stitching.

[Saradamon]

Key word being "properly". Never tried a welt before, and only effectively been practicing leatherwork for about 6 months.

[bikermutt07]

Welts are pretty easy. You just oversize the area along the edge of the blade. Cut a filler, glue it in, sand the edge and stit.....err, rivet it together.

[bikermutt07]

Oh yeah, everything looks great. Looks like you been having lots of fun.

[TonyRV2]

There are a lot of great videos on youtube that show how to do saddle stitching and also how to build a sheath if it interests you.  Another most excellent source of instruction is a series of 3 videos put out by master sheath builder Paul Long   Do a google search for 'paul long sheaths' and check out some of his work.  They're absolute works of art.  The videos are a bit pricey but they probably knocked about 5 years off the learning curve for me, had I just decided to have at it.  

Edited August 30, 2016 by TonyRV2

[Grey Drakkon]

Wow, way to jump in with showing off.  ;D  I gotta say, everything's pretty rivet-heavy but in the case of the herbalist bag is ends up as a pattern and looks pretty nice, also good job with matching the rivet color and latch for the bag.  The saddlebag nearly looks like a mini-chest, I like it.  

[Saradamon]

21 hours ago, bikermutt07 said:

Welts are pretty easy. You just oversize the area along the edge of the blade. Cut a filler, glue it in, sand the edge and stit.....err, rivet it together.

Ah, but that's just it. I don't quite think I need the welts if it's riveted ;P

20 hours ago, TonyRV2 said:

There are a lot of great videos on youtube that show how to do saddle stitching and also how to build a sheath if it interests you.  Another most excellent source of instruction is a series of 3 videos put out by master sheath builder Paul Long   Do a google search for 'paul long sheaths' and check out some of his work.  They're absolute works of art.  The videos are a bit pricey but they probably knocked about 5 years off the learning curve for me, had I just decided to have at it.  

Those are very nice. Identifying what the welt is though has confirmed for me that... I prefer my way. I didn't realize THAT was the welt. I... honest am not a fan of how those look. Of course I'll use such if it's the only option or if it's ordered as such, but otherwise I'll probably continue to avoid it.

I do, however, know how to do saddle stitches. Usually I just stick with stitching awl because it's a lot faster and easier.

1 hour ago, Grey Drakkon said:

Wow, way to jump in with showing off.  ;D  I gotta say, everything's pretty rivet-heavy but in the case of the herbalist bag is ends up as a pattern and looks pretty nice, also good job with matching the rivet color and latch for the bag.  The saddlebag nearly looks like a mini-chest, I like it.  

Thanks! Yea, rivets are probably my style. That and stuff made with leather far heavier weight than needed... (ie the herbalist bag). 
And funny story, originally the saddlebag was going to basically be a leather chest, with edge flanges and the like. But then the customer brought in a friends' smaller bag and asked for it to be styled like it, so I modified the initial design to what it became.