Knife sheath

[Dave Richardson]

Got to make a couple sheaths for a local blacksmith who started making knives. Made from 10 oz latigo, welt is 3 layers 8 oz vegi. Saddle stitch assembly. Thanks for looking and comments are always welcome.

[alpha2]

Nice work! Certainly sets off the knives nicely.

Have you considered skiving the edges of the front and back pieces to reduce the overall thickness? I hate skiving, and it changes the angle of the front and back, think "more attention to stitching", but it really cuts down on the thickness of the sheath. 

I wish I could get hooked up with a knife maker around here. I like to do sheaths.

Jeff

[Dave Richardson]

49 minutes ago, alpha2 said:

Nice work! Certainly sets off the knives nicely.

Have you considered skiving the edges of the front and back pieces to reduce the overall thickness? I hate skiving, and it changes the angle of the front and back, think "more attention to stitching", but it really cuts down on the thickness of the sheath. 

I wish I could get hooked up with a knife maker around here. I like to do sheaths.

Jeff

Thanks Jeff. I didnt think about skiving the edges, great idea though. These blades were about 1/8 thick and the gaurds probably 1/2 wide. Had to do the welt so thick to get the handle to lay parallel to the belt loop. Thanks for you comments...

[alpha2]

There is some info on just that issue, without thick welts. I discovered it when I did a sheath for a KaBar battle knife for my brother. I'll see if I can find the other info, it was really recent. It has a lot to do with how you fold the belt loop and re-incorporate it into the sheath. Kind of ingenious, at least I thought so!

Jeff

[kiwican]

I just made a sheath with my boy using that method you spoke of Jeff. Turned out OK.  I don't skive a lot but the kbar sheath design called for it. I think I'll do it again for sure.

[Viking]

I love them - I actually like the thickness of the welts. 

[Dave Richardson]

2 hours ago, Viking said:

I love them - I actually like the thickness of the welts. 

Thanks viking. 

[GrizzlyBear58]

    Very nice work!! Snaps in the right place conchos great job!!

[Dave Richardson]

15 hours ago, GrizzlyBear58 said:

    Very nice work!! Snaps in the right place conchos great job!!

Thanks grizzly

[TexasJack]

They look pretty nice, until the side view.  Wow!  Very thick!  And all the layers show because you didn't finish the edge enough.

If you skive the spacers at the top of the sheath, you can taper it so that it more tightly fits the thickness of the knife.

[Dave Richardson]

On 6/22/2019 at 2:27 PM, TexasJack said:

They look pretty nice, until the side view.  Wow!  Very thick!  And all the layers show because you didn't finish the edge enough.

If you skive the spacers at the top of the sheath, you can taper it so that it more tightly fits the thickness of the knife.

Thanks for your comment you are correct " very thick" If you look at the picture closely , the maker of these knives made the finger guard 1/2 inch wide for a 1/8 inch thick blade, follow the center line of the tang, 1/4 inch over hang both sides of the blade. Only way to get the finger guard to not push the back of the belt loop out was to build the layers up. If I had of skived the top it would have made the push out worse.

[Josh Ashman]

Hello Dave! 

Good looking knives and sheaths! I know just what you mean about having enough welt to keep the guard from pushing the belt loop over, which in turn has a tendency to push the knife up a little in the sheath. I think what TexasJack was suggesting is that you could have skived the welt fillers down as you moved away from where the guard sits. They need to be full thickness at the top, but an inch or two down and 2 of your 3 - 8 oz welts could taper to nothing and just leave the 1 full welt which should match the thickness of the blade. Another thing you could have done would be to use a larger beveler, like a #4 or even a #5 to really round out the edge.

Both things are a matter of personal preference. Tapered welts to reduce the overall thickness or edges that are more rounded wouldn't make your sheaths any better, and not having them certainly doesn't make them any worse. Speaking for myself, I like thick leather and heavy duty gear, which of course leads to thick edges. I built my first saddle with my only beveler being a #3. When I see that saddle now the edges all do look pretty chunky, which is fine, just different that having them more rounded. 

Anyway, good job to you and the knife maker! 

All the best, Josh

[Dave Richardson]

On 6/24/2019 at 10:14 AM, Josh Ashman said:

Hello Dave! 

Good looking knives and sheaths! I know just what you mean about having enough welt to keep the guard from pushing the belt loop over, which in turn has a tendency to push the knife up a little in the sheath. I think what TexasJack was suggesting is that you could have skived the welt fillers down as you moved away from where the guard sits. They need to be full thickness at the top, but an inch or two down and 2 of your 3 - 8 oz welts could taper to nothing and just leave the 1 full welt which should match the thickness of the blade. Another thing you could have done would be to use a larger beveler, like a #4 or even a #5 to really round out the edge.

Both things are a matter of personal preference. Tapered welts to reduce the overall thickness or edges that are more rounded wouldn't make your sheaths any better, and not having them certainly doesn't make them any worse. Speaking for myself, I like thick leather and heavy duty gear, which of course leads to thick edges. I built my first saddle with my only beveler being a #3. When I see that saddle now the edges all do look pretty chunky, which is fine, just different that having them more rounded. 

Anyway, good job to you and the knife maker! 

All the best, Josh

Thanks for your comments Josh, always welcome other makers suggestions and ideas, its a great learning tool. I too went back and forth on the thick welt, in the end I thought the "look" matched the the knife design ( blocky, gladiator, mad max type look LOL). Im finding with custom work, the customer, most often has no idea on design, assembly , color, thread size etc. Got lucky with these and they were a hit. Thanks again for your comments.

[TargetRockLeather]

I also like a thick welt, but it does add bulk and weight. Adding a tapered "wedge" shaped spacer helps with the transition from a thick welt (to accommodate a thick handle) to thin blade. In this example, the entire welt would be unnecessarily thick due to the shape of the handle. In my opinion, the wedge keeps things aligned nicely.

[Dave Richardson]

Those look great. I would give this style a try if I get a chance.

 

[TargetRockLeather]

Here's another example. This is a larger knife with a more gradual transition from thick to thin. Note that the belt loop is folded over, then skived. Then a wedge is added which is also skived to very thin at the bottom of the wedge.

[Josh Ashman]

Good looking sheaths for sure TargetRock! 

 

[TexasJack]

Thanks to those who expanded on my comment and sent some photos to illustrate tapering the welt.

A big reason people post on this forum is to get feedback and ideas that will help expand their own efforts in the future.  Sometimes individuals will take comments in a negative way, but really this is how we learn and expand.

 

[RockyAussie]

On 6/27/2019 at 6:44 PM, Dave Richardson said:

I too went back and forth on the thick welt, in the end I thought the "look" matched the the knife design ( blocky, gladiator, mad max type look LOL)

My first thought was holly smoke that is thick but after a bit I reckon I can agree with your decision to go thick.

After looking at some of the other pouches I started to wonder about why the pouches I make don't suffer this thickness problem. Just the way I worked out to make them years back I guess. I went and had a look at the google images and yeah they are built different mostly it seems. After I make up my pattern I wet cast the top piece separately and form it over a leather built up shape that I make up out of leather beforehand.(couple of pictures below) On the backing piece after I cut out the shape I build up a welt onto it and then sand it down thinner on the outer edge and a lit less as I go down toward the tip as well. After the top piece has dried out some overnight I then glue attach it to the backing and welt and trim it down to suit the backing shape. After that I sand up the edges some and then go on to stitch it up. I just though to mention it in case it was of any interest. Also I believe not putting the retainer around the handle can sometimes help the shape as well

This shows the typical pattern and the built up knife pieces. They get nailed down onto a end grain board to start so I can nail down a strip of stiff veg around the outer edges after i have the leather top in place over it.

This one shows the side thickness better

I could not find any pictures here that show the side edges much good but this one should give you the idea I think. The thickest part on the outside at the top would be about 10mm (3/8") in total but on the inside welt at that part would be close to 10mm where the blade rides against if it touches. This sort of shape <.

I have never had anyone report back to me whether they have ever cut through any stitching or had any other problem with the pouch either.

What I make can be a bit expensive sometimes and that could have a factor in how they look after them perhaps but on the other hand if I was a purchaser I'd be back pretty quick if there was a problem.

[YinTx]

@RockyAussie those are awesome.  Quick question: are they welted also?

YinTx

[RockyAussie]

2 hours ago, YinTx said:

@RockyAussie those are awesome.  Quick question: are they welted also?

YinTx

Yes they are but sometimes only on the blade side. They taper thinner to the outer edge but are thick (about 3/8") where the blade touches inside. The welt would average 1/8" on the outside but be thicker up near the finger guard. Next knife I get to do I will take some progress shots and post them.

[darkmatter35]

On 1/19/2019 at 4:43 PM, alpha2 said:

 

I wish I could get hooked up with a knife maker around here. I like to do sheaths.

Jeff

Try going to a knife show in your area. There are usually knife makers that need someone to make their sheaths.

John 

[alpha2]

I'll check that out, thanks!

 

[dougfergy]

Very nice Dave!  I do like the thickness and I can only imagine what it was like to stitch all that!  For your sake I'm glad they knives were a little stubby.  I'm going to be making a similar sheath for a 15" bowie soon and I am going to try to skive the extra layer taper in pretty quick down to just the two layers with the welt for most of the blade.  (mostly to save me from the hassle of stitching all those layers) If it weren't for the pain in hand stitching, I would go full blade with the extra layers.  It looks awesome!  My plan is to also have two rows of stitches.  Hurts a little thinking about it.  The guard on this bowie is 7/8" wide.  I haven't quite finished the bowie yet but I'm stealing ideas from you guys in preparation for the sheath.   You guys rock!  Love this site! 

[Dave Richardson]

On 7/26/2019 at 11:08 AM, dougfergy said:

Very nice Dave!  I do like the thickness and I can only imagine what it was like to stitch all that!  For your sake I'm glad they knives were a little stubby.  I'm going to be making a similar sheath for a 15" bowie soon and I am going to try to skive the extra layer taper in pretty quick down to just the two layers with the welt for most of the blade.  (mostly to save me from the hassle of stitching all those layers) If it weren't for the pain in hand stitching, I would go full blade with the extra layers.  It looks awesome!  My plan is to also have two rows of stitches.  Hurts a little thinking about it.  The guard on this bowie is 7/8" wide.  I haven't quite finished the bowie yet but I'm stealing ideas from you guys in preparation for the sheath.   You guys rock!  Love this site! 

Thanks for the comments. Stitching isnt bad if you drill the stitch holes and saddle stitch...two rows however would be twice the effort. Good luck with your project and hope to see some pics