question about center seam sheaths

[shortbow]

Hey Gents.

I do leather work and have over the years made a few center seam sheaths out of rawhide for stone knives.

I've never done it in leather for a steel knife because I wasn't sure how to do it so that the blade would not cut the leather. With a side seam the welt takes care of that. I could do a rawhide liner but with a hair-poppingly sharp blade, it would or at least could cut out of that as well.

How to over come this problem? :hmm:

Thanks.

 

[rabjr]

Are you using welts?

 

[LRB]

You are looking for a solution to a non-existant problem. If the sheath is form fitted, it will guide the blade as the knife is inserted.

 

[necchi]

If the sheath is form fitted, it will guide the blade as the knife is inserted.

Good point, but there is a large percentage of people out there that don't take the care to insert a knife correctly in it's sheath! :idunno:

It may throw the balance of a sheath off just a bit, but I wouldn't see a huge problem with a small strip of rawhide glued (contact cement) to the edge side of the sheath. It would lend longevity to a sheath in the hands of someone less skilled in the art of proper care.

If a thin "drum head" grade of buckskin rawhide is used, that stuff is paper thin but still resistant too cutting when dry.

 

[rich pierce]

The way Wick makes them it would be very challenging and unnecessary with most blade shapes to insert a welt there. If you really felt the need for extra protection you might choose to do a sheath within a sheath, with the outer sheath a center-seam.

 

[shortbow]

I'm afraid I'm still not understanding. My sheaths are quite close fitting and it is imperative to insert the blade properly, but I still don't see, in the rough and tumble of everyday wear including possible falls, climbing on a horse, sitting in a canoe etc, how you keep the knife from cutting out of the sheath. With the side seam the welt does the job. With the center seam there is nothing to protect the edge. :idunno:

 

[nc_cooter]

The welt is used to protect the stitching in a side seam sheath. A properly fitted center seam sheath is no more prone to cut through than a side seam sheath.
Mike

 

[rich pierce]

I'm afraid I'm still not understanding. My sheaths are quite close fitting and it is imperative to insert the blade properly, but I still don't see, in the rough and tumble of everyday wear including possible falls, climbing on a horse, sitting in a canoe etc, how you keep the knife from cutting out of the sheath. With the side seam the welt does the job. With the center seam there is nothing to protect the edge. :idunno:

Seeing, experiencing is believing. We can suppose what may happen if we did something we've never done before, but experience may tell us something else. Try using a good side seam sheath sometime, and you may find it works. Or ask yourself this question: If they did not "work" or hold up without cutting through, why did they exist; particularly why were they used in frontier conditions (rough and tumble, shall we say)?

 

[shortbow]

Got it. I shall make one and see what happens. Like you say, experience is the best teacher. I guess it's always just been counter-intuitive to me, so it's been contempt prior to investigation. Mea culpa. Off to the bench. Thanks a lot, guys.