Custom Knife Sheath

[JMcC]

My stitching needs work but I was pleased with how the grain of the leather took the dye and gave a marbled effect Wish all my leather would have that kind of grain for dying purposes. It was my first knife sheath and was a little worrisome. Now I just need to study how to make better stitches!  I would have posted more pics of back and side but was too lazy to re-size the other two photos lol ... Especially since this one was already very close to the maximum allowable  

 

Thanks for looking

James

Edited January 14, 2018 by JMcC

[bikermutt07]

The stitches really look pretty good. Your thread may be a little too large for he hole size and spacing. When you do your back stitching go really slow at the end. Try to get one to lay on top of the other.

Also, give your stitches a little tap with a hammer when you finish. That will help them lay a little flatter.

It's a great design, color, and knife. I like it.

[JMcC]

2 hours ago, bikermutt07 said:

The stitches really look pretty good. Your thread may be a little too large for he hole size and spacing. When you do your back stitching go really slow at the end. Try to get one to lay on top of the other.

Also, give your stitches a little tap with a hammer when you finish. That will help them lay a little flatter.

It's a great design, color, and knife. I like it.

Thanks Mutt, the thread was some left over from one of those Tandy kits and I really didn't have anything else to stitch with besides some white waxed nylon thread and I didn't want white for the stitches. I don't know much about thread weights and brands, etc...any suggestions onwhat is a good brand and what weight or thickness should be used on a project such as this? I welcome all suggestions as I am a newbie when it comes to stitching. Oh, the knife wasn't mine, I did this for a friend who makes custom knives and he needed a sheath for his knife which he had already sold and asked me to do it for him. He paid me 40 bucks for doing it and was very happy with it. I hope to improve with each project I do in the future. He wants me to do a holster for his pistol in the near future...gulp...haven't done one of those either!

Edited January 14, 2018 by JMcC

[bikermutt07]

Just take your time an research, you'll be fine. JLS leather has some great pistol holster patterns on his website. A lot of them are free to download.

As for thread weights and such, here goes nothing.

For a holster or sheath I would lean towards .8-1mm tiger thread. It is braided polyester and should hold up well. 

For that size thread I would use a 5mm pricking irons or stitching chisels.

Now about those, Amazon has plenty of cheap sets to be had. Don't pay more than 15-20 for a full set. For a beginner, look to the stitching chisels. You punch all the way thru the leather with these.

When you (and I) can afford it, I would forego the traditional pricking irons and look to crimson hide's version of pricking irons. They are more like a row of awl blades that you use like the chisels mentioned above.

Smaller items will require smaller thread and irons. 

[Rossr]

Looks pretty good to me.  If you used an overstitch wheel to make the holes and then an awl to punch through.  Once you stitch go back and run the overstitch wheel down the thread it tucks it in and gives it a nice finished look.   Picked that tip up years ago from a long time leather worker.   When i did my first sheaths all I used was a groover, then the over stitch wheel,  an old ice pick for an awl and hand stitched them.   worked fine.  There are so many ways to do it and  with practice you refine your techniques and improve!

 

Ross

Edited January 14, 2018 by Rossr

[JMcC]

I will definitely use that advice and thanks guys for those tips!