HELP with thick leather stitches

[zuludog]

I have never made a holster, and probably never will, but I have made knife sheaths and axe covers, which are of similar construction

The leather used is 3 to 4 mm thick, so the combined thickness of the front, back, and the welt will be about 10 to 12 mm; this is the method I use

Cut out the pieces for the sheath, including the welt.........glue the pieces together with contact cement and trim the edges

Mark the line of stitching on the front & back, using dividers set to 4 or 5 mm

Use a stitching chisel with 4 to 5 mm spaced prongs to make holes along the line of stitching. Typically a stitching chisel will only penetrate up to about 7 mm thickness

Transfer the workpiece to a clamp........complete the holes with a saddler's awl, using the part formed holes as a guide.........pay attention that the awl emerges on the line at the rear, and with the correct spacing; with a bit of practice you can do this quite quickly and accurately. The awl blade needs to be very sharp & polished so that it glides through the leather easily, with hardly any effort. If you struggle the work will not be neat, and you will get tired & frustrated, making the process even worse.

Saddle stitch and finish the piece as usual

Edited July 30, 2021 by zuludog

[chuck123wapati]

14 hours ago, JohnnyLongpants said:

Buy a piece of cork that is an inch thick or better.  I bought a 12x24" piece that was 1/2" thick and glued two layers together.

Mark/punch your holes on the outermost layers.  Then, glue the inner layers except the innermost layer to the outer layer.  Lay those out flat on the cork and use your awl to push a hole through all the layers.  Do thesame thing to the innermost layer--lay it on cork and use awl to push awl straight through.

Then, apply adhesive to the innermost layer and next layer up.  Don't press it together.  Start sewing.  You have a needle poking through 2-3 layers through an existing hole, and the other needle coming in through 1 layer with the holes premade.  As you stitch awl-free, align the edges.

I suggest cutting each layer slightly large in order to be able to cut or sand the excess off when done sewing.

Yes, a master could sew through this thickness on one fell swoop with just an awl and have the back look as good as the front.  A $4k sewing machine could too.  But if you dont have 10+ years to master awl work or 4k to spend on a machine, this will get you very nice results.  It's just a little slower, unless you compare it to 10 years.

my cork came free with a good bottle of wine included.