Ok, so it has taken me a bit longer than planned, but this evening I can finally put my first ever hand made knife sheath in to service. I did post a thread a while ago about the carving work I did on it so I won't bore anyone again about that. Over the last few evenings I've found the time to stitch it, dye it (3 coats of Fiebings Institutional Dye in 'Tan') and polish the edges using gum tagacanth and a bone folder.
This has been a really fun project for me. I've been one of those people who has said for years " I'd love to do something like that" when it comes to leather work. When I needed a new sheath for my Fieldcrafter it seemed a perfect chance to give it a go, what's the worst that can happen right?!
I handled this knife a while back with some English walnut scales, but I like my knife handles chunky. The result was this is a fair bit thicker in the handle than one made by Matt himself so the stitching on the supplied sheath was looking a bit strained. Not wanting to ruin an excellent sheath I decided to use Matt's original as a pattern, but just add a little extra around the mouth of the sheath to accommodate my handles voluptuous curves! I also made the belt loop a lot longer so it would hang lower from my belt as this is my preference. It was a nice opportunity to try my hand at carving too of course, to make it more personal.
I've learnt a huge amount on this, and will do things a little differently on the next one. Yes there will be a next one, I've definitely caught the leather working bug! The only problem is the wish list of tools is too long already! I used a fork from my cutlery raw to mark my stitches, I just picked one that looked 'about right'! To be fair it worked fin but the Mrs might start complaining so a stitch marker might be the next purchase. I bought a cheapo awl from my local fabric shop, it's much better than it's £1.75 price tag might've suggested, but the handle is narrrow and plastic. Whilst the point went through 3 layers of 4mm leather quite happily the skinny handle did start to bruise my palm. I'd like to set it into a nice homemade wood handle; another project!
Anyway enough waffle, here are my efforts:
Cheers,
James
This has been a really fun project for me. I've been one of those people who has said for years " I'd love to do something like that" when it comes to leather work. When I needed a new sheath for my Fieldcrafter it seemed a perfect chance to give it a go, what's the worst that can happen right?!
I handled this knife a while back with some English walnut scales, but I like my knife handles chunky. The result was this is a fair bit thicker in the handle than one made by Matt himself so the stitching on the supplied sheath was looking a bit strained. Not wanting to ruin an excellent sheath I decided to use Matt's original as a pattern, but just add a little extra around the mouth of the sheath to accommodate my handles voluptuous curves! I also made the belt loop a lot longer so it would hang lower from my belt as this is my preference. It was a nice opportunity to try my hand at carving too of course, to make it more personal.
I've learnt a huge amount on this, and will do things a little differently on the next one. Yes there will be a next one, I've definitely caught the leather working bug! The only problem is the wish list of tools is too long already! I used a fork from my cutlery raw to mark my stitches, I just picked one that looked 'about right'! To be fair it worked fin but the Mrs might start complaining so a stitch marker might be the next purchase. I bought a cheapo awl from my local fabric shop, it's much better than it's £1.75 price tag might've suggested, but the handle is narrrow and plastic. Whilst the point went through 3 layers of 4mm leather quite happily the skinny handle did start to bruise my palm. I'd like to set it into a nice homemade wood handle; another project!
Anyway enough waffle, here are my efforts:
Cheers,
James
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