Thread: New Pocket knife , new sheath

Here's my latest go at " Bending The Moo "

Nice work.

Very nice.

I love your work but for me I would like the sheath to be an extra inch or so, I've lost a couple over the years and I would like that little bit extra length.

Originally Posted by nor-west

I love your work but for me I would like the sheath to be an extra inch or so, I've lost a couple over the years and I would like that little bit extra length.

Believe me I've lost a few over the years , but that was out of my pocket , not out of a sheath .
It's probably a bit hard to see , but the contour of the knife actually locks it into the sheath and it actually snaps into place when pushed fully in .
I had to grind a contour into the handle of the knife in the picture , because as it was it just had a continuous taper which didn't allow the sheath to get a good hold ( that photo of the knife was taken before my alterations , but if you look hard at the sheath you hopefully can see the changed shape of the handle ). The whole idea of wet forming the leather to the shape of the knife is so that you achieve a good hold of it and then you don't require a flap with a stud .
It takes a real firm initial pull on the knife to get it to move then it should come out with less effort .
I've only just started making folder sheaths and I'll be honest when I say they are 10 times harder to get right than a fixed blade .
I made a quick sheath the other day to house my small fixed blade knife that I use when making my leather work , and it really brought it home to me how much simpler they are



Happy New Year .

Ken

What kind of sewing machine do you have? Or is leather sort of hand-punched and sewn? This is really cool stuff.

Originally Posted by Dougie

What kind of sewing machine do you have? Or is leather sort of hand-punched and sewn? This is really cool stuff.

I hand sew with two needles .
I mark out the line of the stitching with a grooving tool , then mark out the sticking spaces , then use either a Awl ( A spike on a handle ) to make the holes , or if its through to many layers of leather I'll drill the holes .
This is all hand made stuff , no machines apart from the drill .

Happy New Year

Nice work mate, looks good!!

Real good

This my lastest sheath for a Leatherman Skeletool , it has a lot of unseen features in its construction that I won't bore you with .

It's just got one problem , during the dyeing process a drop of sweat fell from my nose onto the still wet sheath and permanently stained it .
I completed it for practice, but didn't really bother final polishing etc .

Do you get the skins for leather yourself?

Originally Posted by Toby

Do you get the skins for leather yourself?

I buy the leather already tanned but not dyed .
The quality of the leather has a huge influence on the finished product .