Knife Sheath for 3 1/2" Folder

[DonHo]

Still trying to learn.  Let me know what you think and where I can improve.

Still working on the painting of the letters.

 

Thanks

Don "Ho"

[bikermutt07]

That is a bold first effort. I really like the slip closure. I'm new myself and haven't thought of that one. I haven't put tooling on anything myself yet.

Just keep at it and have fun.

[Thor]

On 9/30/2016 at 0:55 AM, DonHo said:

Still trying to learn.  Let me know what you think and where I can improve. 

Still working on the painting of the letters.

Good effort.

Now let me try to help you improve step by step.

Planing is key to each project and be it just a knife sheath. The obvious are the 2 extra holes you made. Even when I'm just stitching I will mold the sheath properly and place on the back to mark the proper places. Same goes for lacing.

For this tiny sheath I don't think I would have done so much tooling. It just looks too much.

When I say properly molded - you may have tried to mold it well - I mean working out the contours of the knife properly with a bone. Not only that the knife will be held better in the sheath but even stitching and lacing will be done a lot easier as the surface will be even.

Looks like you used a wool dauber or something similar soft for edge painting/staining. Using something harder, like felt helps to get a clean edge and prevents that too much paint/stain is put onto the leather making fuzzy edges.

The belt loop in the back - well it's serving it's purpose. When stitching make sure each stitch is done like the other and if you have 4 stitches on one line you don't want 3 in the other line. Also what you see on one end of that loop you want to see on the other end of that loop.

Keep on practicing, it pays out.

 

[DonHo]

I am have an issue with the planning phase.  Everything you said was spot on.  Hadn't thought of using felt.   I'll give that a try on the one I'm working on.

 

Thanks for the feedback.  Exactly what I was looking for.

 

Don Ho.  

[Thor]

Planing involves some knowledge in pattern making. The more you practice it, the better you'll get in time. Just keep it up.

Here's a video on sheath making. You may not understand a word as the guy speaks Swiss German, but the video says it all. Please keep in mind the guy in the video is doing it for ages, so there may be things looking easy you will be struggling at first. 

 

[DonHo]

Thanks for the video, and yep, didnt understand a word.  But did see alot of things that I will be trying and struggling with. 

 

Thanks again.

 

Don "Ho"

 

[Gabriel Rasa]

What jumped out at me when I was looking at the sheath was:

1) The white initial, which is distractingly bright against the aged, weathered coloration of the rest of the sheath, and draws attention to the somewhat shaky lines of the paint. I wouldn't even say that's your fault -- it is really, really hard to make paint on leather look good, which is exactly why that's a technique I avoid if at all possible. I think it would have looked better if you'd stamped/carved the R and then used the same brown highlight on it that you used on the tooling. If you really wanted it to be a different color (which is an effect some people like), you'd take a white (or better -- off-white) enamel and very, very carefully paint it inside your cutlines. Any technique that involves "be very, VERY careful not to screw up" though, is a technique I tend to avoid. ;D

2) That your design is cut but not tooled. Just adding a layer of simple beveling around the outside of your design will go far toward making it look more polished and professional, and will also make the design more pronounced and easier for the eye to make sense of. Given the texturing you use on other parts of the sheath, I would recommend stippled bevelers, because when you add highlight they will make it immediately apparent what is the design and what is the background. (And also bevelling inward from your cutline along the border.)

It is a great start though, and I'm looking forward to seeing your subsequent projects.