Does a sheath need a safety lining?

[Willie0]

Hello,

I am making a sheath for an extremely sharp Cold Steel dagger out of 9/10 oz leather.  No kidding this thing is scary sharp.  I can imagine it piercing the leather if sheathed rapidly.  Any ideas of what would be good to use as a safety lining?

Thanks for any ideas

[bikermutt07]

Just apply a welt. It should be fine.

[Willie0]

I am using welts out of the 9/10 along the sides.  Should I make the sheath double strength as well?

[Instinctive]

Single 9/10 oz with the weld will be fine. I usually use a 1/2" with strip for the weld with a stitch 0.15" in from the outside edge. That leaves a little more than 3/8" of leather protecting the stitch.

[Dwight]

I made this sheath for a "scary sharp" BIG knife some years back.

I, too, was afraid of something happening, . . . so I took matters a different route.  

Instead of relying on a welt that over time might be compromised by the knife, . . . I lined the sheath with good old rawhide.  And the break in the rawhide is not at the blade, . . . but up on the back of the knife.  

That blade will have to cut through the rawhide, . . . then into the welt, . . . before it can hurt the sheath.  I'll be worm food long before that happens.

May God bless,

Dwight

 

[battlemunky]

I have several scary sharp knives and have yet to bust through a welt, even when used hard in the woods. If I was trying to get the sheath to perform some heroics then maybe I could get the knife to cut through it but that IMO isn't a sheath designer issue as much as it is the knife user realizing that a sheath is a safe means of carrying a knife and can only be expected to do so much.

I don't get upset at my wife's Prius when it can't pull a 5th wheel trailer.

Sure, you can over build the sheath but it can still be bested by a knife used in it in an unsafe manner. Unless you use metal, hardwood, or something as an inner sleeve. Even the rawhide could be compromised. I'm basically saying that if it comes down to a fight between a knife and a sheath, my money is on the knife alllll day. Just used to carry it around like its supposed to be, you should have no concerns although I do like the idea of the rawhide for an extra bit off toughness.

Please post some pics when you figure it out. I'm super interested to see how this goes.

[Willie0]

Thanks for the replies.  I am pretty excited about this project and will post a picture when it is finished. 

[TonyRV2]

Good luck with your sheath.  Building knife sheaths is the reason I got into leatherworking because I'm also a knifemaker.   With a 9-10oz welt, you could pull that knife in and out 10,000 times and I don't care how sharp it is, your not going to bust through to the stitching.  A person would really have to purposely start sawing on the welt to try to damage it to that extent.  As one other poster mentioned, after you get it all glued up put your stitch line about 1/8 to 3/16 or so from the edge and make your welt about 1/2 wide.  A person would have to cut through (sideways mind you) 5/16 of leather before a stitch was exposed.  Very unlikely so you can relax.  

[Willie0]

I probably wasn't clear enough originally.  I am thinking it is possible for the blade to be forced through the back of the sheath.  Unlikely, I know because the blade's path will be directed.  However, this thing is double edged and made to pierce.  The blade's owner is not concerned, I just want to do this right. 

 

[Instinctive]

5 minutes ago, Willie0 said:

I probably wasn't clear enough originally.  I am thinking it is possible for the blade to be forced through the back of the sheath.  Unlikely, I know because the blade's path will be directed.  However, this thing is double edged and made to pierce.  The blade's owner is not concerned, I just want to do this right. 

 

That helps. You can go to this style sheath then and have a welt on all sides if it works for the knife.