Symetric wet moulding

[AdamZ]

20 hours ago, Dwight said:

I would then make something or find something that is about 2/3 the thickness of the pliers, . . . wood, plastic, other leather, etc, . . . but which outlines the pliers fairly close.  Lay that all around the pliers.

 

When dry, . . . lay the front face down on a terry towel, . . . put braces under the edges, . . . lay the pliers in that front "shell".  

When you mention the braces under the edges, do you mean the thing you made about 2/3 the plier thickness?

20 hours ago, Dwight said:

For these types of "holsters" I also will put in another piece of leather between the front and back, . . . it is the basic outline of the tool itself, . . . will be about 3/8 of an inch wide, . . . and will follow the coutour of the edge of the holster, . . . all the way around.  I usually get it by first making the front piece, . . . laying it down on another piece of leather pretty much the same size, . . . outline it, . . . cut it out, . . . then lay the tool on that piece, . . . outline the tool, . . . cut out the outline, . . . discard that piece from the middle.

Is this 3/8 wide piece different than the 2/3rd thick piece you mentioned above? If not, I'm a little unsure about things. Also, is this 3/8 wide piece essentially a welt that goes around the pliers to make more space and so the points don't rub the bottom of the sheath with wear?

 

Anyway, this was a fantastically detailed response and very much appreciated. If I can fully understand it I may give it a go next time. I don't have any access to a belt sander, so unfortunately for now will have to hand sand. I've got some pictures now I've finished stitching - a big challenge for me was when punching holes because the back panel had the belt loop stitched I could not lay it flat to punch the holes near the top. I also had to re-dye after punching holes as the raw veg tan was visible - I didn't do a very good job and now the stitching doesn't look great. The holes near the top are much less straight on the back than those on the lower section because of my inability to lay it flat when punching those holes too. Keep in mind I am working on my dining room table and only have a few basic leather working tools and not an ideal working environment. Stitching was done on my couch with the sheath either in my hands or between my knees  as I don't have a stitching pony.

As can be seen, I had cut the back to size from the beginning and the front is slightly oversized and was trimmed to match the back once glued.

[AdamZ]

You can see there wasn't a massive amount of overlap, however I think I may have trimmed it a bit prior to glueing

[AdamZ]

This is where I'm up to now. I need to sand and burnish the edges, and apply some sort of final finish. The fit is very tight and there's quite a bit of leather between the points of the pliers and the stitching in the bottom -  I doubt they will ever make contact, especially as they are bent nose pliers. The fit is very tight, but will no doubt loosen a little with use. As the pliers are cheap, about $10 Australian, so even less than that in US$, and the sheath was made from scrap veg tan, I think it will be ok though I'd definitely like to improve on my next one. On a belt the worst of the back side of the stitching is covered...

 

11 hours ago, Outfitr said:

For wet molds I always set the item on a board and lay the oversized wet piece of leather which is cut straight on top and layed over the item at the right position for the top line. The rest of the leather drapes over at least an inch too big. then start molding with appropriate modeling tools while stapling the leather to the board. When its molded enough I remove the item and put in oven till pretty hard. Using dividers mark a fat quarter inch boundary line and cut there. Then the back piece is just flat leather bigger than the front, glued on to the front and then trimmed exact to the front. Then stitched.

Thank you for your reply too Outfitr!

 

[AdamZ]

Lastly, and I hope it's ok to post a link, but this was the inspiration behind my design: https://www.bearsden.com/product14357.html

[Dwight]

2 hours ago, AdamZ said:

When you mention the braces under the edges, do you mean the thing you made about 2/3 the plier thickness?

Is this 3/8 wide piece different than the 2/3rd thick piece you mentioned above? If not, I'm a little unsure about things. Also, is this 3/8 wide piece essentially a welt that goes around the pliers to make more space and so the points don't rub the bottom of the sheath with wear?

 

Anyway, this was a fantastically detailed response and very much appreciated. If I can fully understand it I may give it a go next time. I don't have any access to a belt sander, so unfortunately for now will have to hand sand. I've got some pictures now I've finished stitching - a big challenge for me was when punching holes because the back panel had the belt loop stitched I could not lay it flat to punch the holes near the top. I also had to re-dye after punching holes as the raw veg tan was visible - I didn't do a very good job and now the stitching doesn't look great. The holes near the top are much less straight on the back than those on the lower section because of my inability to lay it flat when punching those holes too. Keep in mind I am working on my dining room table and only have a few basic leather working tools and not an ideal working environment. Stitching was done on my couch with the sheath either in my hands or between my knees  as I don't have a stitching pony.

As can be seen, I had cut the back to size from the beginning and the front is slightly oversized and was trimmed to match the back once glued.

 

Yes, . . . the brace would be about 2/3 the thickness of the pliers.

And yes, . . . the basic terminology is a welt. I always put a welt up the outside seam of my cowboy holsters, . . . knife sheaths, . . . and tool holders like this.  1) it makes the molding easier and 2) it gives the finished product more of a professional look I think and 3) the tool holder will eventually become looser, . . . allowing the tool to bottom out, . . . and the tip of the pliers hitting a welt will not hurt the holder, . . . but if it gets to the stitches, . . . trouble lays ahead.

I would suggest a couple things, . . . google "drill sander" and take a look at some of the ideas there.  Any kind of a powered sander will give you a quicker and more professional looking edge.  Plus, . . . stitching pony's are a piece of cake to make, . . . see below.

You are doing good, . . . keep up the good work.

May God bless,

Dwight

[AdamZ]

5 hours ago, Dwight said:

Yes, . . . the brace would be about 2/3 the thickness of the pliers.

And yes, . . . the basic terminology is a welt. I always put a welt up the outside seam of my cowboy holsters, . . . knife sheaths, . . . and tool holders like this.  1) it makes the molding easier and 2) it gives the finished product more of a professional look I think and 3) the tool holder will eventually become looser, . . . allowing the tool to bottom out, . . . and the tip of the pliers hitting a welt will not hurt the holder, . . . but if it gets to the stitches, . . . trouble lays ahead.

I would suggest a couple things, . . . google "drill sander" and take a look at some of the ideas there.  Any kind of a powered sander will give you a quicker and more professional looking edge.  Plus, . . . stitching pony's are a piece of cake to make, . . . see below.

You are doing good, . . . keep up the good work.

May God bless,

Dwight

Thanks Dwight, all very helpful! I'll definitely invest in some more and better tools as time goes by. It's a bit difficult right now with the virus lockdowns. I just gave the edges a sand with some fine grit paper (finished with 1200). since the sanding went through the dye layer in places and discoloured the stitching a bit (which I was already not thrilled with), I'm considering restitching after I re-dye. I wasn't happy with the dye around the holes anyway, so despite it being a bit of a pain I figure it will give me more stitching practice and I can be satisfied it is as good as it can look despite the problems I had along the way.