making of sheaths

[makattack]

I have a knife for GP use but it has no sheath. I have a little leather left from a possables bag. I was wondering what to use to sew it together? Can I use staples? rivits? thread?

 

[boar]

I hand sew mine with a sewing awl. Use a good waxed thread , when you sew the side where the edge will be put in a leather strip to protect the threads. I use a 3hole punch to make the holes for sewing. Can put some small brads in to hold in place or glue. I have done them with twisted copper wire. Punch small holes with leather punch and weave. I have made 25 or more knife sheaths plus horse gear and gun holsters. Mine are all ways one of a kind. Last count I had 13 Awls I had bought at Flea Markets. To make a cheap punch, I have used them to make bags and such, get a nut pick and straighten end. They have a offset that helps to enlarge hole. For a cheap 3=4 hole punch, get a old heavy fork and straighten, cut tines back about half and sharpen. Dilly

 

[2172]

I agree with Boar Dilly, but I also try and put some rivets between the stitching and the blade edge...I'm sure that there are pc objections to that...be guided accordingly..Hank

 

[pa woods roamer]

Not traditional, but In use my Dremel tool with a small drill bit to drill the holes. Pretty easy to align all the layers and drill at the same time.

 

[Many Klatch]

If you want to make the sheath according to PC that will make the threadcounters happy, you will need to put a welt in the seam. The only metal rivets that are "really correct" are pounded out lead balls. It seems that copper rivets are more of a Civil War 1860's era thing.

I have done my sheaths both ways and no one has ever said anything, but at least I know that the lead rivets are more correct.

BTW, you can also make a sheath out of wood. I have done it for big knives and small. Lay the knife out on a piece of pine. Trace around the blade, remove the wood. Do the same for the other side. Clamp together and make sure that the knife slides in and out easily. Glue the wood together. Cover the sheath with leather or canvas. I covered mine with canvas that was glued to the wood and then painted with oil paint. That sheath has been through a lot and is still in good shape.

Many Klatch

 

[blacksmithshoppe]

Now a wooden sheath might be something to look into, I have seen them for military use and used in other cultures but have not seen any for colonials. Not to say that there weren't any I have just never seen any. I may have to look into that.
Jeff :hmm:

 

[crockett]

On the pounded out lead balls- I've done some thinking on that.......
Why cast a round ball and then pound it out? That's how I did it because that's the way I was told but does it make any sense? Didn't a lot of folks carry a bar of lead? I then experimented with using a knife and very slowly pounding out "Nails" from the end of a bar of lead. I guess that was okay but I just did a few before the thought occurred to just stick a 3/16" diameter twig in some wet sand and instead of casting balls, just pour some melted lead into the sand. I tried making little short rivets but there would be a blob of lead on top and sometimes the bottom was wider because I wobbled the stick- in any event I found casting a long rod of lead and cutting out the bits to proper length works pretty well. You can use a knife to cut to length and then dress up the riviets with a file- files are pc. The casting in sand gives a grainy surface that disappears when you hammer the ends. In any event it has worked for me.

 

[atki]

Sorry if I am changing direction a bit, but the subject is the same. I have made many tack knife sheaths. This time I am working on one that will be hand stictched. Thanks to Chuck from Wild Rose and his directions on how to hand stitch, it should work out fine. My question, is when do you wet mold the sheath? Before hand stitching or after?

Thanks

WB

 

[crockett]

The way I do it is to first sew up the leather and then wet the leather and add the knife(wrapped in plastic, etc). Periodically remove the knife as the leather dries to make sure the knife doesn't become stuck AND wrap the plastic in such a manner that little bits don't get stuck down in the sheath.

 

[Goldhunter]

+1. I stitch then wet and mold.

 

[Bountyhunter]

I take the leather and wet it and then lay a sheet of saran wrap on it and place the knife on half of it and fold it over and wrap with several paper towels. I then put it in a food saver bag and vacuum it down and leave it overnight. The next morning the vacuum has moulded the leather to the knife. It has also pulled the excess moisture out of the leather into the paper towel. I then insert a welt and then lace or sew it. If you use a rawhide liner, it has to go in before you vacuum it down. The saran wrap keeps the blade from rusting. If you sew or lace without the welt, it will be almost too tight to get the knife in and out of.

 

[Razz]

I Stitch first using a welt layer, then wet the leather. Wrap blade in plastic food wrap and put into sheath. Wrap the whole deal in papertowel and then I place 1 or 2 25# bags of shot on top of the sheath. They conform to the various shapes nicely.
Buffler Razz

 

[Bountyhunter]

Before I got the food saver, I used to lay them on one bag of shot and put two on top. That way it moulded it both sides.