Quickdraw Machete Sheath (pic heavy)

[Dreadhead]

My friend kindly donated 2 boxes of leather scraps tae me. as a thankyou i have made this sheath for his machete and shall most likely make matching sets for his other knives. It is a quickdraw sheath made fae pre-dyed veg tan leather, hand stitched with waxed linen thread with a few brass rivets and a brass sam browne stud. also has a loop for a sharpening rod or firesteel

this is in nae way a tutorial. merely pictures of my process and some problems i faced whilst making the sheath.


I started with a basic template drawn around the blade then added an extra centimetre for welt.

By wanderingpict at 2012-01-11

cut out both sides using normal scissors. nae much precision here because it all gets sanded down neatly later

By wanderingpict at 2012-01-11

cut out and glued on a welt. kept it in place with paper clip things and washing pegs whilst glue dried. i left the firesteel loop out until later as i wasted tae smooth out the edges before i added the loop you can see here that it is the shape of the welt that really locks the blade intae the sheath

By wanderingpict at 2012-01-11

Sew on belt loop with brass d-ring

By wanderingpict at 2012-01-11

By wanderingpict at 2012-01-11

next i glued the sheath together, keeping it all in place with whatever i had closeby

By wanderingpict at 2012-01-11

Next i sanded down the edges so they were all neat and alligned. buffed them down with spit and my bone fork and SAK. i used a stitch groover around all the edges, and added the loop. i just got this tool and it has mightily improved my work for practical reasons and it looks great

By wanderingpict at 2012-01-11

Punched in my stitching holes with a stitching iron and a small screwdriver for the stitch groover found this difficult as i often had tae prop the sheath up either side of the belt loop so i had an even surface and the punch would go straight down. i used the fork and awl tae widen stitches and make sure they go all the way through. i think i need a dremel....would save so much time and effort (i made a shoddy leather sleeve tae put on my tools as i only have a metal hammer this stops me damaging my tools)

By wanderingpict at 2012-01-11

stitching kills my fingers so i use my handy SAK as a stitching palm. also find it good for buffing edges with spit.

By wanderingpict at 2012-01-11

almosy finished just adding the strap tae secure the blade. this locks the blade intae place with the shaped welt. the strap was a real pain tae add as i waited until the last minute without realising the problems for stitching! so i used a stitching awl you can see the in picture. SWMBO bought it for me and it really saved the day here as i wouldnt be able tae get a normal needle around the the stitching inside the sheath. tis a lesson tae either add the strap early on or just use rivets for it

By wanderingpict at 2012-01-11

I added the sam brown stud and ta-dah

By wanderingpict at 2012-01-12

By wanderingpict at 2012-01-12

By wanderingpict at 2012-01-11

By wanderingpict at 2012-01-11

By wanderingpict at 2012-01-11


This is the first sheath i am really happy with mainly because of the neat stitching. wish i had just bought a stitch groover and stitching iron months ago!

comments are very welcome, thanks for looking.

Hamish

 

[whats wrong with you all]

looks brilliant nice work

 

[monkey boy]

very nice indeed

 

[Dreadhead]

forgot tae add: for stitching i use the most basic stitch in the book. in and out and double back i know most people use a stronger stitch but how strong has it got tae be? this machete has seen its last war and should be fine with my weak stitching

 

[cowboy]

GREAT JOB DUDE!!!! That looks awesome!!

 

[copper_head]

Nice work

 

[blacktimberwolf]

That's great man, you've come on leaps & bounds since your attempts at sheath making


That machete has seen some action

Thanks for the photos.

 

[blacktimberwolf]

forgot tae add: for stitching i use the most basic stitch in the book. in and out and double back i know most people use a stronger stitch but how strong has it got tae be? this machete has seen its last war and should be fine with my weak stitching

That's the saddle stich isn't it ?......most people use that with leather.

 

[Dreadhead]

nae sure, i thought most use two needles and stitch from both sides. i just use the one needle. simpler and i get stabbed less

appreciate the comments folks

 

[luckylee]

you remind me so much of when i started, good on you brother, it looks grand mate.
now, as for the stitching, as how strong does it have to be, its not a case of how strong it has to be, but by doing the saddle stitch, if one stitch breaks, it will only come undone at that stitch, as it is locked into place inside the leather, and wont unravel all the way down, if one stitch brakes. hope that makes sense mate.
so it is important, as in going back a few spaces when you have finished stitching is.
are you gluing to bud? as this helps to, the reason why this is so important with knife sheaths, is if that sheath comes undone, and that knife escapes its sheath, and is dangling right next to your femoral artery, its not a place i would like to be in.
if you start using this stitch,m it will become second nature to you mate, and you will be quicker at stitching this way to, rather than going all the way down, then all the way back up.
to help with this get your self a sticthing pony, for ages i sawed with out one, and i don't now how i got on with out it, a bit like you and the stitch groover, i should have bought it strait away.
take care mate, and keep up the good work, any advice you need mate, please don't hesitate to ask.

 

[Dreadhead]

thanks lee. aye thats fair doos about the stitching it really is a case of needing a pony though! i have a cheap workbench which i use tae grip things in now and then tis tis tricky. also been recovering fae some nasty ops which means i cannae sit down so using a pony would be rather tricky right now do all my work on my feet or on my knees right now (steady now )

and aye i add a layer of glue tae hold it together too. always comes in handy. in future i will be getting more tools at somepoint as more tools means more consistency which i reckon is the route of good leatherwork.

 

[blacktimberwolf]

nae sure, i thought most use two needles and stitch from both sides. i just use the one needle. simpler and i get stabbed less

appreciate the comments folks

Some may use 2 but 1 needle or 2, the actual stich is the same.

 

[Dreadhead]

aaah cheers wolf

 

[Robbi]

brill mate ! spot on

 

[mountainm]

Great work, love it.

 

[luckylee]

thanks lee. aye thats fair doos about the stitching it really is a case of needing a pony though! i have a cheap workbench which i use tae grip things in now and then tis tis tricky. also been recovering fae some nasty ops which means i cannae sit down so using a pony would be rather tricky right now do all my work on my feet or on my knees right now (steady now )

and aye i add a layer of glue tae hold it together too. always comes in handy. in future i will be getting more tools at somepoint as more tools means more consistency which i reckon is the route of good leatherwork.

it sure is mate, as there are a lot of leather workers that can make stuff, but making stuff of the same quality, time and time again, thats the key mate, thats what sets good leather-smiths and great leather-smiths apart, you have it in you mate, bit by bit, keep buying your tools, when i first started i did it all of a leather puffy, as we call them in the midlands, you no the leather square seats that you use to but your feet up on, that matches your 3 piece suit lol, in my living room, was a night mare, but a good bit of perseverance, and i started to see i was getting somewhere, the main thing that i concentrated on, was a nice even dye, and my stitching, i practiced with an awl untill my fingers bled, because i wanted to be able to do it buy hand, once you have mastered that, then there is nothing wrong with getting a pillar drill or dremal or what ever, as you no that if this brakes you can still achevie, what you want, as to me, stitching is everything with leatherwork, as you can make an outstanding sheath, and put 2 stitches out of place and it looks amaturish, what i kept saying to my self, when making these things was, if i bought that would i be happy to pay for it, you no deep down in you heart if you would be happy paying for it or not.
take care mate, and good look with you adventure.
when i get chance ill try and take a pic of my shop now.

 

[Tor helge]

Very nice work.
I`ve made something similar fot my bill hook some years ago. Not as nice as yours though.

 

[Lupis]

Nice job, but I'm just curious why you'd need to quick draw a machette...?

 

[Dreadhead]

it sure is mate, as there are a lot of leather workers that can make stuff, but making stuff of the same quality, time and time again, thats the key mate, thats what sets good leather-smiths and great leather-smiths apart, you have it in you mate, bit by bit, keep buying your tools, when i first started i did it all of a leather puffy, as we call them in the midlands, you no the leather square seats that you use to but your feet up on, that matches your 3 piece suit lol, in my living room, was a night mare, but a good bit of perseverance, and i started to see i was getting somewhere, the main thing that i concentrated on, was a nice even dye, and my stitching, i practiced with an awl untill my fingers bled, because i wanted to be able to do it buy hand, once you have mastered that, then there is nothing wrong with getting a pillar drill or dremal or what ever, as you no that if this brakes you can still achevie, what you want, as to me, stitching is everything with leatherwork, as you can make an outstanding sheath, and put 2 stitches out of place and it looks amaturish, what i kept saying to my self, when making these things was, if i bought that would i be happy to pay for it, you no deep down in you heart if you would be happy paying for it or not.
take care mate, and good look with you adventure.
when i get chance ill try and take a pic of my shop now.

Thanks for the feedback again. your quality of work is a good goal tae head for im sure 10 years down the line ill be making some pretty fine things, after all im in nae rush i only got intae leatherwork tae pass the time while im incapacitated. will keep this skill going for life and have plenty of time tae improve my work until i get a workshop of my own. i think what got me started was my friend who donated the leather. we used tae get drunk everynight in his fathers leather workshop and we were allowed tae use the scraps for anything and his fathers work is outstanding.

 

[Dreadhead]

Nice job, but I'm just curious why you'd need to quick draw a machette...?

uuh...zombie apocalypse?