Questions on Sheaths

R

remist17

Well-Known Member
I am making some basic sheaths for knives I use. I have some questions I would like to see if anyone can offer help on. I have read zero books and started with what I thought should be done.

-Is there a how to make sheath book for knives?
-I make straight handle knives and I am running into how to keep the knife in the sheath without it falling out when turned over. I have a loop at the top of the sheath that goes around the handle but it seems not to grip the handle tight enough.
-Stiching the sheath by hand. I punch holes at equal spacing and then thread the wax thread. I do not have a machine. Is this the best way to stich?.

Here are some I made recently. The two show the straight handle and how I try and secure the knife. I turn these upside down and the knife will fall out. How do I fix this?
The first one is made the knife really tight in the sheath and it seems to be ok.

IMG_20151129_134309136.jpg2015-06-29_19-49-55_423.jpg2015-06-29_19-51-23_563.jpg
 
I'm fairly new to leather working too, but I think the first step to getting retention is designing the knife with something for the sheath to grab. A finger choil or swell or dip etc. With that design, you may have to go with a more deep pouch style or put a fold over flap on the top.

I've pretty much learned knife and sheath making from YouTube, with help from this forum. Justin Wolfe, Bruce Cheany, Tandy Leather, and a ton of others have excellent tutorials on leather working.

edit: There's a guy named Leodis Leather that's got some good leather videos too.
 
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Get this book:

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Or this DVD set:

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Both are great and covers how to do it if you are hand stitching. A food bag vacuum system would be of help in forming your sheaths. The inexpensive $20 ones work great.
 
Sticking with the keep it simple methodology get the suggested books,watch the videos on you tube. To fix a thought to add a guard or finger groove for the strap to grab like anthony said as well as making the sheath go up to almost where your pin is. I use a kydex insert in my sheaths since I already had the equipment and sheeting.
For just getting started your doing good.
 
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a couple quick tips-

1. heavier leather 4-6 oz minimum

2. practice with paper to make a template. lay the knife on the paper and draw a line 1/2 inch following the contours of the knife blade. (as Walt says, bring the line up to cover half of the handle, too)

gently roll the knife onto its other side and draw the line again.

cut out the template. fold it over like a finished sheath with the knife in it and see how snug it is. now you can make minor adjustments.

make a "welt" which is a strip of leather which pretty much almost touches the cutting edge along its length and gets sewn in between the two sheath lips. the welt is important.

YouTube, like the others said, is the greatest self learning tool ever invented.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
For the style where the handle is the same size without finger guard or notch, you might want to consider a flap from the top that folds down and snaps onto the sheath in the blade area.
 
remist17 don't miss Paul Long's DVD, they are so clear. You can find them in Chris Crawford knives. Good luck!
 
great Thanks !!
These are for me so I dont care so much on looks, just making sure they are secured ok. I dont want the knife to fall out and into my foot...
thanks all for all the help I have some reading and looking to do.
 
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