Sheath for a Leatherman

[MacB]

Hi,

my brother works for a wilderness NGO and needed a new sheath for hie leatherman. the color and the wolf was choosen, since it is part of their logo. The wolf is more bad than good, but my first carving experience. this is my 5th project. Enjoy! I first cut off too much of the upper part, therefor I had to add an extra layer :-)

[bikermutt07]

Hoooooowwwwwllllllll!!! 

Looks good. Keep it up.

[garypl]

Nice work!

[DJole]

Nice construction for piece #5!
 

[Mjolnir]

dig the green!

[JMcC]

Good job Mac! I think the wolf looks fine and although I have never used green to dye an entire project, that turned out nice. What type of dye did you use?

[MichaelT]

Count me in with those liking the color. I really like the two tone effect. How did you do that?

[battlemunky]

Looks awesome man! I'm working on a Leatherman sheath myself and only hope it turns out as good as this.

[MacB]

Thanks for so many positive responses :-)

1) The green I used is fiebings Kelly green

2) The striped color was a mishappening on a piece of scrap leather where I tested to make the dye less instensiv (Dont know the english word for that) -- To make it thinner

What I did:

a) Mix the normal dye with alcohol (isopropanol) 1 part dye and 3 parts isopropanol.

Then I used a wool dauber, and just took a little paint that it isn't too soaked ... dab it on a piece of paper to get rid of too much color -

c) now color the workpiece from top to bottom working from left to right, to get straight lines.The coating doesn't have to even, so overlapping the strokes is what you want and brings in the shades. Let it dry for a few minutes and repeat 2 or 3 times. (again with drying)

d) now buff the leather with a cloth and use the dauber and stroke a few more times from top to bottom .. but try not to cover the whole witdth ... thats where the "darker" strokes come from

e) for the edges I took unthinned color and a the tip of a normal household sponge (for dishwaching) and dapped from edge to the center real lightly (Be careful -- just take a minimum of color) -- This I repeated a couple times ..

the pictures show the volored "unbuffed" version and then buffed -- What i have noticed, is that the wetformed leather needed more coatings than the normal veg tanned leather .. it didn't keep the color so good..

@battlemunky - luck to your project and it would be nice to see your sheath

 

 

Edited January 15, 2018 by MacB

[Orangeleather]

That colour really stands out, nice project.

[battlemunky]

Here's my stab at a Kelly Green Leatherman sheath. I somehow messed my stitching all up on the backside.

[MacB]

Nice done.. Camouflage Design ?... is it all one piece?? I had problems with the moulding at the bottom .. It seems you have found a diffenerent Solution... Show the backside .. I love messed up projects (got a ton of them in my little basement)  ;-)))

[battlemunky]

Here's the back and the bottom.

I didn't intend for it to look camo, just something to break up the sea of green but it works. It is all one piece except for the belt loop. I almost made it a 3 piece (back, front, and belt loop) but got a little lazy and pressed for time.

[MacB]

nice idea with the one piece sheath... looks easier to make than the wetforming i did becuase of the bottim part... and with that you have an air circulation and a built in waterdrain :-))

[battlemunky]

I was certainly shooting for the waterdrain. It is still semi wetformed though but I didn't bake it. Over all, it was pretty easy with the sewing being the hardest part and that wasn't hard. Setting the snap was a PITA though, I think I used the line 20 setter and was too lazy to get up and find my line 24 setter after I realized I could still make it work.