First stab at it!

[fredk]

16 minutes ago, Chris623 said:

  I'm pondering whether to cut 1/8" spacers to get rid of the slop and finish the sheath or just nail what I have to the "Wall of Shame" and start over.  If this sheath was for a customer, I'd not even consider continuing on with it, but since it's just for me and the idea was just to get a little practice in making sheaths,  I'm tempted to finish it.  It's my first sheath.  If I "toss it" over every little mistake, I'll never get it done!      Thoughts?

Put in the spacers. Angle the tops a bit to guide the blade into the sheath

On this copy of a 16th century sheath the knife has a 1 inch wide blade. I cut spacers to the main shape and to narrow the blade area down to 1 inch wide. In this case the spacers are also the welts, but the same idea holds

[Retswerb]

1 hour ago, Chris623 said:

I'm tempted to finish it.  It's my first sheath.  If I "toss it" over every little mistake, I'll never get it done!      Thoughts?

Finish that sucker! If for no other reason because there’s still a host of opportunities remaining where you can still screw up this build lol. At least this way you can see the process all the way through and limit your chances of running into surprises on the next one.

Your spacers should work just fine.

[Chris623]

Thanks, guys, I agree with you both.  Just feelin' my way down this dark corridor, not really knowing what to expect ahead of me.

I have already cut and glued the spacers.  This is an interesting journey, for sure.

[Chris623]

Working on it.  Got the front all stacked up and tapered.  Now to figure out how to stack up the back so the guard is clear of the belt hanging loop.  Going to have to do some "pondering".     I hate guards on knives.

[fredk]

How far have you got with this:

This suggestion needs doing before the front is sewn on.

1. cut a piece for your hanging loop strap (here after, hls ), make it the width you want and about 7 or 8 inches long*

2. cut one or two 'spacers' the width of your hls and about 1/2 inch high

3. sew one end of your hls thru the spacers to the back of the sheath, with the rest of the hls going upwards

4. bring your hls up, around and down past the part you sewed and sew that end to the sheath, about 1/2 below where the spacers end is sewn.

5. you now have a sheath standing-off from the hls

 

* hls = say 1 inch from sewing point to top of sheath, up for about 2 inches, curve over 1/2 inch, then down 2 inches, plus 1.5 inches past the first sewn point = 8 inches

[Chris623]

Haven't glued the whole back onto the front and welt yet.  Was (originally) planning on using the back as part of the HLS, as you call it but realized the overhang of the guard messed that up.   So I did it differently.  I've glued a skived piece the width of the back to the back of the welt that was tapered from the guard to about half the length of the blade.  I plan then on the back making the HLS.  I may have to put another shorter tapered spacer on this piece before doing that.   Not sure if that makes sense, but I'm sure it'll work out.  I understand what you are explaining, but I don't really like the look of sewing through two pieces and then into the back piece of the sheath to make the loop.  I think it's unattractive doing it that way.  Being new to this, I'm just making it up as I go, so humor me.  It's a puzzlement, but I'm sure it'll work out just fine.  I'll be sure and post pics.

[fredk]

I think you are finding, as many of us have found out,

1. making an item from scratch is like a 3 dimensional jigsaw without either instructions or the box picture to guide us

2. its worse than chess, you need to think about things many stages ahead and plan on them, doing them in sequence when you least expect to have to do them

3. for every 'how do I?' question you'll get dozens and dozens of answers, and all can be perfectly correct

[battlemunky]

Its such a fun puzzle though, hopefully :D

[Chris623]

.

"its worse than chess, you need to think about things many stages ahead and plan on them, doing them in sequence when you least expect to have to do them"

Just found that out !!!  Glued that tapered piece on the back WAY before thinking I needed to sew the HLS on!  DUH !!!  Had to cut it off and I'll get the back done and start playing a better game of chess!

It IS a fun puzzle, battlemunky.

Some good news...........................just got an email saying my makers mark has shipped.  So I'll be able to use it on this sheath..................................that is if I'm proud enough of it to mark it!

[YinTx]

6 hours ago, Chris623 said:

I'm tempted to finish it.

I dig the texturing.  Also, finish it.  You will discover that there are other little things you will learn as you go through the process.  Better to learn them all on one sheath than to have 10 sheaths in various stages of completion that demarcate each lesson learned!  Then when you go to make the next version, you have learned a lot of the lessons already and it will go much smoother.

YinTx