Loose Leather Sheath - HELP

[roger-uk]

Hi

I have a nice kneck knife but its loose in the sheath. I quite like the sheath and I wnat to make the fit tighter.

I've been told that all I need to do is wet the leather well, wrap the blade in cellophane and then put into wet sheath and then remould the leather around and leave to dry.

It seem so simple View attachment 7910

 

[woof]

I have quite a few sheaths all made by custom makers & they all fit fine. However i did buy a cheap one of ebay, and as you decribe, thats all i did, i used warm water, & it made it a good fit.

Rob

 

[lannyman8]

yep its that easy, be carefull what you use to rub the leather though as it will mark easy... when your done to make it stay there for a long long time hot wax dip it mate, bees wax is the best but normal parafin (candle) wax workes too, just heat the wax till it melts then dip the leather in the wax, dont keep it in to long as it could shrink the leather and ruin the sheath, the same as if the wax is to hot, the leather will start to cook and srink...

hope this helps...

chris.

 

[robevs73]

Another method is to rub semi liquid bees wax (you buy it in a pot for furniture, Tesco sell it) on the sheath then use a heat gun to melt it into the leather.

 

[Black Sheep]

It all depends on the type of leather, if its Veg tan soak it in warm water and mould it to the knife and leave it to dry. If you force dry it ie: sit it on radiator it will dry hard.

If you want to wax it its best to warm the leather first as the wax will just set on the surface instead of soaking in.

If its Chrome tanned you can try but it might not make any difference.

Richard

 

[stekker]

When you fixed the leather, it might be useful not to keep your knife in the sheath. Store it outside if you don't use it.

Theo.

 

[luckylee]

or you could not go and slap all sorts of stuff on it, and just add another strip of leather inside, and it will just close the gap, and that way you will still have the sheath you started with, but the fit will be what you wanted.
to attach the strip you want a contact adhesive.
hope athat helps.
lee.

 

[roger-uk]

To be honest I think its human error [mine ]. I wrapped the sheath in paracord and I think thats squeezed it and opened the top to make it loose. I'll go over the remedies and it will be fun sorting it otherwise looks like I'll be making a new sheath which should be fun.

Thanks for all your help - I love this forum

 

[brancho]

roger the sheath is already wet formed and so will easily wet for again. To make it shine/smooth I would suggest that you burnish it with a smooth roundish object an old fashioned butter knife handle does the job well
Here is a knife in a dring sheath with my homemade burnishing tool to the right of it. The shine on teh leather is from burnishing nothing else.


Aris knife 2 progress 20 by alfred.branch, on Flickr