Leather sheaths

[Janne]

Me again, with another stupid question:
I am now ready to embark on starting making some sheaths. This is what I have done so far.
I have wet formed them, and dried under presdure to the wanted form, using individually cut wooden shapes.
Now, I thought of first glueing the edge together using a flexible glue, then do the fine shaping ( cutting) of the shape, then stitching.

Is that OK? The various Youtube totorial guys only stitch, but I am a raw beginner, and it should be easier to glue - cut - stitch. Then polish edges, stain, wax.
I can not see myself doing a decent stitching with two loose leather ends!

Edit: if this is the wrong subforum, please be kind to move to a more suitsble one!

 

[Seagull]

For the two loose ends, I can only speak of my own ways of joining up the sections. It really depends on the type of sheath...f'instance the only way of sewing a leather upper to a wooden lower, is to mark out the stitches and literally haul the two edges together. Same thing applies with a one-piece deep Scandi sheath, the one with all the sewing on the reverse side..I dunno any other way.
But, when it comes to sewing the two bits of a wet-formed object, I find that a very large Stapler is the go-to kit. I also use the same gadget on 18 ounce canvas jobs.
Ceeg

 

[John Fenna]

I always glue before I sew - this is what I learned to do from Barney and Loveless's book "How to make knives".
Good enough for them is good enough for me!

 

[Dreadhead]

aye i glue before i sew. it doesn't have to be strong glue, it's just to hold the peices together to allow you to line up your stitch holes neatly

 

[Janne]

Thank you lots and lots!

Will start glueing tonight!

 

[Broch]

Even though I glue, which protects the stitching from the blade a little, I still put in a welt which means you have three layers to stitch; I recommend you consider it

Cheers,

Broch

 

[Janne]

I have done an insert from marine ply where the blade rests in the sheath, and glued a welt the edge will touch upon removal and inserting.

I suspect I will need to drill the holes throught the leather, it is so hard!

(In Scandinavia and Siberia it is the trad way to do inserts.)

 

[Broch]

I have done an insert from marine ply where the blade rests in the sheath, and glued a welt the edge will touch upon removal and inserting.

In Scandinavia and Siberia it is the trad way to do inserts.

OK, just wanted to make sure, didn't want all your nice stitching to be cut through

 

[Janne]

I did it because it seemed the logic way, thank you for confirming!

I suspect that these was a need to do inserts, to maybe prevent the blades from breaking?
The usual thickness on old knives is around 2mm, sometimes less.

The Same people made the sheath from wood or even reindeer horn, with just a collar of leather.
More laborious, plus they had plenty of leather, so it was done for practical purposes, and the only one I can think of is the risk of fracturing the blade,