Farting around with leather.

[Dwight]

Not to be hard nosed, . . . but it looks like you really got cheap on the welts for those knife sheaths, . . . or you didn't put any in.

A welt for a knife sheath is kinda like a steering wheel for a car.  Might get along without it for a while, . . . but in the end you'll sure wish you had it.

Thin welts allow the knife to cut to one side of them, . . . eventually cutting the threads, . . . a thicker welt, . . . especially the top 1/3 or so, . . . nearest the finger guard, . . . is mandatory if you want to not cut up your leather work.

AND, . . . nix on the rivets, . . . it is always the hallmark of a  cheap sheath, . . . 

May God bless,

Dwight

[dikman]

I agree about the rivets, I've always thought they make a sheath look "cheap", much nicer without them (imo).

For a first effort I reckon the gunbelt looks pretty good! Could the cracking in the leather be due to the type of leather used? One way of looking at it, you've already achieved a worn, used look right from the start.

[hawgrider]

14 hours ago, Dwight said:

Not to be hard nosed, . . . but it looks like you really got cheap on the welts for those knife sheaths, . . . or you didn't put any in.

A welt for a knife sheath is kinda like a steering wheel for a car.  Might get along without it for a while, . . . but in the end you'll sure wish you had it.

Thin welts allow the knife to cut to one side of them, . . . eventually cutting the threads, . . . a thicker welt, . . . especially the top 1/3 or so, . . . nearest the finger guard, . . . is mandatory if you want to not cut up your leather work.

AND, . . . nix on the rivets, . . . it is always the hallmark of a  cheap sheath, . . . 

May God bless,

Dwight

Hard nose all you want. As I said to you on another forum the rivets were used to stay close to the original sheath which is what I wanted.  And every sheath I did has a welt on the edge side of the knife some thicker than others. The original bowie sheath did not have any welt . The sheath I made for the bowie does have a welt only on the edge side.

I was very happy with how the bowie sheath turned out. Its look and function is exactly what "I wanted"  to each his own you don't have to like it  I made it for me.

Thanks for your critique.

Now why did the stain and leather balm on the gun belt show wrinkles and a cracking  look when the belt is flexed? Is the the pro dye or is it the leather balm with atom wax?

Would a oil stain have been better for this project?

Edited April 26, 2019 by hawgrider

[hawgrider]

13 hours ago, dikman said:

I agree about the rivets, I've always thought they make a sheath look "cheap", much nicer without them (imo).

For a first effort I reckon the gunbelt looks pretty good! Could the cracking in the leather be due to the type of leather used? One way of looking at it, you've already achieved a worn, used look right from the start.

The leather was a discount piece of double shoulder veg tan from Tandy. I suppose it may be the the piece of leather. It was not very pretty it had lots of bug bites in it.

[Dwight]

1 hour ago, hawgrider said:

Now why did the stain and leather balm on the gun belt show wrinkles and a cracking  look when the belt is flexed? Is the the pro dye or is it the leather balm with atom wax?

Would a oil stain have been better for this project?

Don't know as I've ever ran into that except an occasional light wrinkling effect on the inside layer of some double layer belts I've made.  Just every now and then after the thing is done, I see some slight wrinkles but nothing that is harmful, . . . and it is not on the outside where they can be seen.

The worst one was one I attributed to an extra heavy application of Resolene, . . . and it was one of the thicker belts I've made.

But FYI I also do use all Feibings oil stains, . . . got a bottle of black water base I need to take out to the trash some day.

May God bless,

Dwight

Edited April 26, 2019 by Dwight

[hawgrider]

2 hours ago, Dwight said:

Don't know as I've ever ran into that except an occasional light wrinkling effect on the inside layer of some double layer belts I've made.  Just every now and then after the thing is done, I see some slight wrinkles but nothing that is harmful, . . . and it is not on the outside where they can be seen.

The worst one was one I attributed to an extra heavy application of Resolene, . . . and it was one of the thicker belts I've made.

But FYI I also do use all Feibings oil stains, . . . got a bottle of black water base I need to take out to the trash some day.

May God bless,

Dwight

Gotta be the dye then.

So I will fetch me some Fiebings oil dye for future use then. Thanks Dwight appreciate the critique and advise.

Edited April 26, 2019 by hawgrider

[Josh Ashman]

Regarding the cracking, it seems like lesser grades of leather (read Tandy bargain bin) is often more susceptible to this than better grades (read Hermann Oak or Wickett and Craig). Some neatsfoot oil may help. In my experience, both the Fiebings pro oil dye and regular Fiebings alcohol based dye dry out leather and require NF oil after dyeing. The regular, alcohol based, dyes just require more oil. 

Regarding rivets on knife sheaths, it's your sheath and you made it the way you like. This is just the way it should be and I don't presume to tell you what you like or don't like. However, if you look at your old bowie sheath you'll notice the leather has a tear in it at the top corner of the sheath, right there by that rivet. Look around at old knife sheaths and if they have rivets they very often have tears at them. 

Just one man's $0.02, worth exactly what it cost you. 

Have a good day and nice job on your various projects.

Josh

 

[Dwight]

Yep, . . . Josh hit this one, . . . I should have mentioned about the oiling that goes with Feibings dyes.

I had a bunch of aggravation with their saddle tan, . . . until I got in the habit of oiling before I dyed the leather.  I take a cheap bristle brush and lay on a light coat on the flesh side of what ever I'm getting ready to dye, . . . give it 24 to 36 hours in a warm room to dissipate out into the leather uniformly, . . . then give her the old dip dye treatment.  

My saddle tan problems went away when I started that, . . . so now it is just about universal as doing it that way.  I think it was Katsass who mentioned it one time, . . . and I tried it.

May God bless,

Dwight

[hawgrider]

Keep in mind the leather is not cracking. Only the finish is giving the appearance of cracking. I still believe its a finish issue. Either from the dye or the leather balm.

I've used the same dye with other projects but with Resolene for the top coat and had no issues what so ever. This is the first time I've used leather balm with atom wax and then this issue shows up... Draw your own conclusions. Looks like I need some more experimentation with this leather balm.

 

 

[dikman]

My mistake, I thought it was the leather that was developing cracks. In that case I'd say it's the treatment your putting on top? Try dyeing a bit of scrap and just coating with neatsfoot oil to see what happens.