Elk Hide Gun Sheath

[garypl]

Made a gun sheath for a customer out of smoked elk hide from Springfield Leather.  45" long.  First time I have worked with elk and it is soft temper, so not so easy to cut!  Seems very sturdy and he liked how it turned out.

[battlemunky]

I just made a knife roll out of elk. It's is beautiful stuff and super strong.

Good work @garypl!

[garypl]

3 hours ago, battlemunky said:

I just made a knife roll out of elk. It's is beautiful stuff and super strong.

Good work @garypl!

Thanks - where did you get the elk hide?  The hides I bought were inexpensive but had a lot of loose, ragged skin on flesh side.

[battlemunky]

49 minutes ago, garypl said:

Thanks - where did you get the elk hide?  The hides I bought were inexpensive but had a lot of loose, ragged skin on flesh side.

It was either Maverick or Montana...I get the companies mixed up. This did have some ragged parts on the flesh side but I was able to hide them for the most part. I'll get some pics up one of these days. I enjoyed working with it. It was still really soft but didn't dimple badly when sewing.

[garypl]

Thanks - I will take a look when I order more elk!

Gary

[chuck123wapati]

Thats a fine lookin sheath indeed smoke it up good an it'll be pertnear waterproof. I put a strap on mine so I could carry it over my shoulder like a regular rifle then just grab the butt and sling the sheath off for a quick shot. I think its harder to get good elk and deer hides due to how they are collected, mostly from hunters compared to cow which is bought from slaughter houses. Hunters don't take the time skinning as well nor are the hides treated as well afterwards, here they are collected by a couple of clubs but set around out in the weather for a good month before being picked up and sent to be tanned. Man do they ever stink lol, I,ve tanned a couple hides for myself but I have to do it when they are fresh. 

[Frodo]

 

On 5/18/2020 at 7:47 PM, garypl said:

Thanks - where did you get the elk hide?  The hides I bought were inexpensive but had a lot of loose, ragged skin on flesh side.

Springfield leather  has 2 different grades of elk hide

economy  and craftsman.  the economy that i have bought has ragged skin and holes

the craftsman grade i have had very good luck with beautiful leather.   craftsman is about a buck or buck and a half more

[garypl]

I bought one of each from Springfield and the price difference was $1.00/ft.  I would recommend only buying the craftsman grade unless you had a lot of very small projects, as there were more holes and ragged leather in the economy grade ( as Chuck mentioned above, the craftsman grade also had holes, but not so bad as economy.  I can make two sheaths from a 20 ft section of hide.)

Gary

 

[garypl]

Made another rifle case this afternoon using a piece of 3-4 oz Italian cowhide.  Took me a little less than 2 hours start to finish.

[AzShooter]

Great looking sheath. Whoever it's for will be very happy.

[garypl]

8 hours ago, AzShooter said:

Great looking sheath. Whoever it's for will be very happy.

Thanks - appreciate your comments!

[garypl]

Made another case today using economy grade elk - had to trim a lot of loose skin and patch a few holes.  I think for large projects I will stick with the better grade hides from now on.  Still have to install hoeprn button and tie.  Anybody have a good source in the USA for elk or deer horn to make buttons?

[RockyAussie]

20 hours ago, garypl said:

Made another rifle case this afternoon using a piece of 3-4 oz Italian cowhide.  Took me a little less than 2 hours start to finish.

I am getting tooo old I think. 2 hours for me to do the frills maybe. How do you do them @garypl?

[garypl]

I just lay out a piece of leather and take a straight edge and rotary cutter and cut one at a time.  Takes me 15-20 minutes to cut two pieces of fringe 10” wide.  

[RockyAussie]

1 hour ago, garypl said:

I just lay out a piece of leather and take a straight edge and rotary cutter and cut one at a time.  Takes me 15-20 minutes to cut two pieces of fringe 10” wide.  

Thanks Garry, I am still getting used to the idea of using a rotary cutter on leather as yet. I have only used in on the fabric face masks as yet which was the reason I bought it. I will have to give it a go as that sounds like a good idea for that sort of cutting.

[stelmackr]

 

[stelmackr]

https://www.junetailor.com/fringe-cut

[RockyAussie]

Thanks Bob. I started pla+printing something along that line about 5 hours ago. My printer will only allow a 7" x 7" jig but I may give it a go later on my laser as well. I will pop some more pictures in the morning as it will be printing for a couple of more hours yet. I am going for 4.5mm (.177 of an inch)spacing for this one at the moment. I am going for 4mm height and solid with a 5% outward lead in for the knife and a .5mm gap at the bottom. That is for a quicker line up in the slot. More info tomorrow-

 

 

[RockyAussie]

Yep she worked and better than I thought possible. To clean up the print from any connecting strands I thought I would cut down into a bit of stiff veg and this below is what I got.I didn't think I was pushing all that hard.

A little push and WOW

A light shade or bottle cover who knows-

Back to cutting a fringe now

Bit hard to see at this stage

Still took a couple of minutes to do though first time and all

Gary if want to give me whatever spacing you would prefer I will do you up an stl file if you like or you could try this size if that works for you.

Regards Brian

 

[Bert51]

Thant makes it look easy, I avoid anything with a fringe.

I think you might find a good market for those.

Bert.

[garypl]

23 hours ago, stelmackr said:

 

That’s a cool fringe guide Bob - thanks for sharing!

2 hours ago, RockyAussie said:

Yep she worked and better than I thought possible. To clean up the print from any connecting strands I thought I would cut down into a bit of stiff veg and this below is what I got.I didn't think I was pushing all that hard.

A little push and WOW

A light shade or bottle cover who knows-

Back to cutting a fringe now

Bit hard to see at this stage

Still took a couple of minutes to do though first time and all

Gary if want to give me whatever spacing you would prefer I will do you up an stl file if you like or you could try this size if that works for you.

Regards Brian

 

thanks Brian - that looks great!  If it isn’t too much trouble, I would love to have the stl file.  My printer bed is 250 x 250mm, so your template size should be fine.   What percentage fill are you using?
 

I only use a rotary cutter when cutting soft temper leather up to 4-5 oz.  Seems even with a sharp razor knife that thin leather tends to bunch up, but the rotary cutter rolls right through it!

Gary

[RockyAussie]

3 hours ago, garypl said:

thanks Brian - that looks great!  If it isn’t too much trouble, I would love to have the stl file.  My printer bed is 250 x 250mm, so your template size should be fine.   What percentage fill are you using?

I will pm you the file Gary. I have started a 6mm(1/4") with a few more features to help in lining up which I will send as well. (Wife's request). It is still in print to test as I type this so I will send them once it has proven to work in the morning I hope.. I could easily do a longer one to suit your 250mm bed but could you let me know what the outer limitation size is? I think for the rifle sheaths you will want the guide a bit longer than this one which only goes about 6 1/4 long in the cut". Wish my printer was at least that size.

6 hours ago, Bert51 said:

Thant makes it look easy, I avoid anything with a fringe.

I think you might find a good market for those.

Bert.

Hey Bert let me know what width fringe you would like to have....

Edited May 26, 2020 by RockyAussie

[dikman]

Brian, you've done it again! If you need to cut longer fringes than your jig allows could you cut them and then slide it up to extend the cuts?

I'm also wondering if it would work with a head knife, using a rocking motion with the knife rather than dragging it.

[garypl]

16 hours ago, RockyAussie said:

I will pm you the file Gary. I have started a 6mm(1/4") with a few more features to help in lining up which I will send as well. (Wife's request). It is still in print to test as I type this so I will send them once it has proven to work in the morning I hope.. I could easily do a longer one to suit your 250mm bed but could you let me know what the outer limitation size is? I think for the rifle sheaths you will want the guide a bit longer than this one which only goes about 6 1/4 long in the cut". Wish my printer was at least that size.

Hey Bert let me know what width fringe you would like to have....

Thanks Brian, I think the size you have will be fine.  I normally don’t like to print larger than @220mm in any direction to allow room for brim/skirt around the outside.   The case I just made had fringe from 6” out to 12” - I cut the leather at an angle and then start cutting the fringe.  Like Dikman suggested, maybe cut and then move the template further down to continue for longer fringe?  I think this might be difficult to do and keep cuts aligned with the slots in the template, but worth a try.

Worst case, I go back to using my straightedge, which really doesn’t take that long once you get going.

Gary

[RockyAussie]

16 hours ago, dikman said:

Brian, you've done it again! If you need to cut longer fringes than your jig allows could you cut them and then slide it up to extend the cuts?

I'm also wondering if it would work with a head knife, using a rocking motion with the knife rather than dragging it.

Shhhhhhhhsh, I am trying to convince the powers to be I need a larger 300x300 base printer

I think the sliding up or down could work but would you would need to be O so careful doing it. The head knife would work but there are a lot of different width blades and I think the rotary cutters do a good job and a cheaper ass well and more standardised in the blade thickness.