My First Sheath

[tobrien1]

I made my first knife a while back now but never got around to making a sheath for it – mainly because I misplaced the leather that came with the kit ><
Anyway, I got some leather for a very reasonable price from a kind member on here and gave it a go!
I had a look at a guide on britishblades which goes through it step by step so I’m following that.

I started by drawing out the shape of the sheath on some paper:

Then realised it was actually a bit big and wouldn’t fit on the piece of leather that I had so drew a smaller version inside the template:

I cut it out along with another piece for the welt:

Then I transferred it onto the leather:

I also cut a smaller welt to make the sheath thicker and sanded an angle on the inside to make it easier to put the knife in:

Then I took a rasp to the smooth side of the welt to make the glue stick better (don’t know if this actually makes a difference or not. I know when painting car parts you should ‘key’ the surface with sandpaper to make the primer stick properly so thought I’d apply the same theory with leather and glue lol):

Glued up the welts:

When they were dry I drilled the holes for the belt strap and stitched it up:

I think I saw this on a Ray Mears programme, to stop the stitches coming undone you should use a lighter/match on the back (excuse the messy stitching on the back):

I then marked out the other holes with my professional leatherworking tool… a fork… lol:

And drilled the holes:

That’s pretty much where I’m up to so far. It’s not perfect but has gone pretty well so far
I’ll update this thread as I make progress.
Thanks for reading

 

[resnikov]

Thats good work so far and a great post on the progress. Looking forward to seeing the final product.

 

[addo]

Looks like you have it sussed. Looking great as is the knife.

 

[tobrien1]

Just finished the stitching. Looks ok I think. Theres a couple of slightly wonky stitches but keeps in theme with the hand-made look I suppose lol

 

[Robbi]

thats a good looking sheath mate, be proud of that !

 

[Retired Member southey]

That looks brilliant dude! big thumbs up from me.

 

[persistent king]

very nice, good work mate

 

[brancho]

Thats a cracking job and much better than my first sheath.

 

[offroadmick]

Great work mate... A knife and sheath to be proud of.

 

[beeperboy]

Nicely done bro, and thanks for posting the tutorial.

BB

 

[Black Sheep]

Looking good

Common mistake folks make when making a sheath is to draw out the shape with parallel sides. When its sewn up they end up with the bottom being too wide.

If you make it taper so its wider at the top - tapering slightly towards the bottom kind of like this... \_/ but not as steep. You need to remember that you need more leather to go round the handle than the blade

Richard

 

[rancid badger]

Well I've seen a lot worse

another tip; you could also have used the fork to mark a stitch line around the edge, by bending one of the end tines, up a bit, then running the fork around the edge, keeping the unbent tines against the job.


kind regards

R.B.

 

[tobrien1]

Thanks for all the comments
Thats a good idea rancid badger, didn't think to do that. I put a pencil in a (maths) compass, ran the pencil down the side of the leather and used the pointed side to mark the line. I'd imagine using the fork would have given a straighter line though

@blacksheep - Yeah the top is a little snug on the knife but I'm hoping that when I wet it and put the knife in it might stretch a little bit!

 

[tobrien1]

Some small progress today. I cling filmed the knife, wet the sheath and moulded it to the shape of the knife. Just waiting for it to dry out now

 

[dancan]

A sheath to be proud of !

 

[IBrown]

Very nice sheath, I like the shape.