Hi...recently joined BB and one of the members contacted me straight away to do him a sheath...I had a quick look at the pics available and said yup yup....very happy to get a commission so quickly.
A week or so later I picked the monster up to start work and noticed how slim the leading edges of the handle were...and with a sinking feeling I saw that it could be a problem...what with the slimness combined with the weight (and sharpness...see below) of the knife I was concerned about it slipping down into the sheath and in time slicing through the welt.
After a chat on the phone I decided the best route was to do something I'd done only once before, and that was to put a harder insert into the sheath...the first time it was purely as a precaution, this time it was out of absolute neccessity. But at the same time I didnt want the extremely fine edge of the blade to become dulled by constantly being on something hard.
So....I tried my absolute best to get the knife and/or handle resting on three parts all at once...the opening of the sheath, some of the leather welt and some of the insert. I've never fussed and worried about a sheath so much and anyone who's worked with leather will know how tricky that result could be to achieve.....especially on a very large sheath like this where a small error is magnified by the time you get to the end.
Some of you know that commissions stress me anyway...I always worry about pleasing the customer to such a point that I get in a right flap and unless I'm in the right frame of mind I find my creativeness swamped by the stress. This can lead to shakey fingers and stupid mistakes. I'd also never done this kind of closure before with the strap coming round and over....getting the angle right took some painstaking fiddly, insecurity and guesswork lol!
And you never know how well youve done until the very end, when youve put in all that work already and are carping yourself that the knife will even go in ok lol
So...a couple of nights ago in the early hours I let out a big WOOOOOHOOOO when I tried it for the first time....its not 100percent, but its 98 and I'm really happy with the result....heres pics, hope you like!
DRAWING THE TEMPLATE:
BLANKS AND WELTS CUT, SCORED, GROOVED ETC:
DYED, EMBOSSED, TOOLED AND READY FOR HARDWARE:
GLUED AND TRUSSED UP LIKE A CHICKEN:
CONTACT MANAGED AT ALL THREE POINTS I BELIEVE, JUST A TEENSY BIT OUT, BUT AT LEAST I KNOW ITS SUPPORTED WHERE I WANTED IT TO BE:
JUST EDGEKOTING TO BE DONE:
THIS KNIFE HATED ME FROM THE START LOL:
A week or so later I picked the monster up to start work and noticed how slim the leading edges of the handle were...and with a sinking feeling I saw that it could be a problem...what with the slimness combined with the weight (and sharpness...see below) of the knife I was concerned about it slipping down into the sheath and in time slicing through the welt.
After a chat on the phone I decided the best route was to do something I'd done only once before, and that was to put a harder insert into the sheath...the first time it was purely as a precaution, this time it was out of absolute neccessity. But at the same time I didnt want the extremely fine edge of the blade to become dulled by constantly being on something hard.
So....I tried my absolute best to get the knife and/or handle resting on three parts all at once...the opening of the sheath, some of the leather welt and some of the insert. I've never fussed and worried about a sheath so much and anyone who's worked with leather will know how tricky that result could be to achieve.....especially on a very large sheath like this where a small error is magnified by the time you get to the end.
Some of you know that commissions stress me anyway...I always worry about pleasing the customer to such a point that I get in a right flap and unless I'm in the right frame of mind I find my creativeness swamped by the stress. This can lead to shakey fingers and stupid mistakes. I'd also never done this kind of closure before with the strap coming round and over....getting the angle right took some painstaking fiddly, insecurity and guesswork lol!
And you never know how well youve done until the very end, when youve put in all that work already and are carping yourself that the knife will even go in ok lol
So...a couple of nights ago in the early hours I let out a big WOOOOOHOOOO when I tried it for the first time....its not 100percent, but its 98 and I'm really happy with the result....heres pics, hope you like!
DRAWING THE TEMPLATE:
BLANKS AND WELTS CUT, SCORED, GROOVED ETC:
DYED, EMBOSSED, TOOLED AND READY FOR HARDWARE:
GLUED AND TRUSSED UP LIKE A CHICKEN:
CONTACT MANAGED AT ALL THREE POINTS I BELIEVE, JUST A TEENSY BIT OUT, BUT AT LEAST I KNOW ITS SUPPORTED WHERE I WANTED IT TO BE:
JUST EDGEKOTING TO BE DONE:
THIS KNIFE HATED ME FROM THE START LOL:
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