What to line a knife sheath with

[GAELICROSE]

Hello all,

Long time lurker, first time poster.  I have a client, who knows that I am an amateur where knife sheaths are concerned.  Through the posting this fabulous site I have learned what leather to use, how to custom design, and how to sew them together.  However my client insist that all of the sheaths that he ordered be lined.    I have no clue what to line it with.  He is concerned that the knives might get rusted in the leather.  Would cordura or kylex be better?  Any suggestions? 

I have read several posts that suggest not storing the knife in leather is the best way to keep the knife from getting damaged.  He still insists on a lining.

Any help would be welcome.

[battlemunky]

You could always line it with a thinner leather but that defeats the purpose he thinks, wrongly, that he wants a liner for. I have several carbon steel knives and store them in their sheathes. Can it rust, of course, but it can rust no matter what, it's what carbon steel does. I honestly can't recall seeing too many liners on sheathes. Cloth would hold moisture as bad or worse than leather I'd think. Plastic would work if ventilated but would look kind of junky if not done right.

What kind of knife is it for? Some $1000 Turley or Randall? If so, he should probably store them out of their sheath anyway.

Just my thoughts on the matter, I hope it helps. 

[GAELICROSE]

Thanks for the reply. I am grateful for any input.

They are all skinning knives.  I don't think they are expensive ,but he is wanting to get into forging his own knives.  Right now he is getting blanks on the internet  and crafting his own handles.  I know that one of them is Damascus steel.  Would you ventilate the plastic or the leather or both?

(un)fortunately I am old school the customer will always be right. ( even when they are not ) 

[battlemunky]

If it is a field use knife you leave a little bit of welt off down at the tip so water can drain/vent.

[zuludog]

I haven't heard of lining a leather sheath, but I suppose it could be done

You could try 0,5mm G10 which is normally used as a liner or spacer in knife handles, but I doubt if you could use it easily as part of a 'fold over' sheath, it would have to be a separate front & back. The problem I can see, though, is that any plastic that is soft & flexible enough to be formed & moulded to fit the knife would wear quickly. And conversely a tougher plastic would be difficult to form & mould; unless we know someone with a better knowledge of plastics

You could try coating the inside with Resolene before sewing, but I think that would eventually wear off and be difficult to re-apply. Search YouTube for 'Applying finish to Leatherwork and the products I use'  by Jacklore Knives

To treat my sheaths - I have made a paste or cream by simply thinning some leather grease with a spot of leather oil & white spirit, then applying it right inside the sheath with a toothbrush, and letting it soak in. Then let it dry and polish it; the advantage of this is that you can keep on topping it up. As mentioned, I cut the bottom of the welt about 3mm short to leave a drain hole

Alternately, you could make a sheath out of kydex. I have thought from time to time of making a sheath from wide webbing, like seat belt, but not yet got round to it

[RockyAussie]

In the past I made a lot of knife sheaths for a fellow in Norway and I think it was called a Puukko from memory. He used to supply me with a shaped plastic liner to be installed in the pouches. That gave me the following idea for the following. The sheaths for the Puukko's  were all made out of porosus crocodile skin so the cost was not such a problem. What I have done a couple of times since is made something similar by first making a wooden blade copy then heating up some thin poly pipe tubing until it started to flatten then gently pushing the wooden blade down into it. If you make the tube longer you just need to sqeeze it together at the end and leave clamped until it cools off then trim to shape after. Hope that helps some. Brian 

[bullmoosepaddles]

A month or so back I bought a set of videos from another member. The videos were produced by Chris Crawford Knives. They feature sheath making by a man named Paul Long, he lines all his work with deer hide. Hope that may help you.

Good luck with your sheaths.  

[Rockoboy]

You could make a wooden copy of the blade and handle up to where the sheath with fit, and use that as a form for heat shrink tube. If you make the form over size (compared to the knife) that would give you some extra liner that could be part of a welt and/or sewn along the edge. 

[GAELICROSE]

Lots of good ideas.    I was wondering if using something like Tokonole burnished on the inside with and small gap at the bottom might not be the way to go.  Is there a big difference between Resolene and Tokonole?  It's not a lining per say... I did warn him that I don't know anything about making sheaths.  

Again I am grateful for the help I have received.

[Mattsbagger]

Tokonole is more like Gum Trag. Resoline is a water based finish. Not unlike Mop&Glo floor finish, some people use M&G instead of Resoline.

4 hours ago, GAELICROSE said:

Lots of good ideas.    I was wondering if using something like Tokonole burnished on the inside with and small gap at the bottom might not be the way to go.  Is there a big difference between Resolene and Tokonole?  It's not a lining per say... I did warn him that I don't know anything about making sheaths.  

Again I am grateful for the help I have received.