two sheaths, one thread..

[Camp10]

..but not in one post.
Here is two different style sheaths all in one thread! I use heavy leather for my sheaths. These are made from 8-9 oz double shoulder. It makes more work but the finished sheath should last for a very long time.

There are a ton of pictures because a picture is worth a thousand words and I am not that good at talking my way through this.

First style is a basic pouch sheath and the second is the classic Marbles style sheath. These are pretty basic and neither require many tools but there are a few that will make things easier for you, I picked up all these tools from Tandy and none was more than $15. The snap setting tools came with snaps, but the other two, the overstitcher and the v-gouge are worth the few $$ they might cost.
V-gouge
http://i949.photobucket.com/albums/ad337/lewisknives/100_0211.jpg

overstitcher
http://i949.photobucket.com/albums/ad337/lewisknives/100_0212.jpg


First you will need to make a pattern for the sheath. I just used a scrap for the pattern. Fold a piece of paper about 1/3rd of the way across. Place your knife on a piece of paper on it’s side so that it’s spine is just off the crease you made. Now, on the side of paper that the blade is facing follow the shape of your knife with a pen but keeps the lines about 1” away from the knife. It should look like this.
http://i949.photobucket.com/albums/ad337/lewisknives/100_0193.jpg

Once that side is drawn, fold your paper onto itself with the knife still in place and trace the line onto the other side of the paper. In good light, you should be able to see the pen marks through the paper. This side wont go into the belt loop so it can be brought back to the other side when you have enough height to keep the blade firmly in place. I usually will go to about 1/3 to ½ the length of the handle.
http://i949.photobucket.com/albums/ad337/lewisknives/100_0195.jpg

Notice that when I brought the strap that will be the belt loop I went beyond the fold. This will make the mouth a little better looking (IMO) on the finished sheath
http://i949.photobucket.com/albums/ad337/lewisknives/100_0196.jpg


Next is to lay the pattern on a piece of leather. Pay careful attention to the direction the pattern is positioned on the leather. If you cut it out wrong, you might end up with the rough end out or a sheath made for a lefty. Talk your way through it if you need to. Also notice I added a few extra inches to the belt loop, I like my knives to hang a little low on my side.
http://i949.photobucket.com/albums/ad337/lewisknives/100_0200.jpg

When you have it right, mark it and cut it out of the leather. I use a razor knife and score my way through the leather. Don’t worry quite so much about perfect cuts just keep to the outside of your marks and work the corners slow.

Next, put the pattern back over the leather this time leave it folded and mark the fold line on the leather. Be careful not to run the mark high enough to be seen when the sheath is finished.
http://i949.photobucket.com/albums/ad337/lewisknives/100_0204.jpg

Use this fold mark and place the knife back in the same position as when you first started your pattern. Now fold the leather up and make a mark where the high side of the handle meets the leather.
http://i949.photobucket.com/albums/ad337/lewisknives/100_0207.jpg

With this mark and the center mark, you have the areas that need to be worked with the gouge. These two marks are the thickness of the handle of your knife and so it is the thickness you need to keep through the part of the sheath that the handle needs to fit in. The blade thickness is much less, so the higher mark only needs to run the length of the handle. I taper it back to the center mark about half way down the blade. With these marks in place, gouge the leather so it looks like this.

http://i949.photobucket.com/albums/ad337/lewisknives/100_0214.jpg
http://i949.photobucket.com/albums/ad337/lewisknives/100_0213.jpg

Next step is to wet the leather and brand it…no, you don’t need to do this but it is a shameless way to stick my brand name out into the world..
http://i949.photobucket.com/albums/ad337/lewisknives/100_0218.jpg

Once the leather is dry, I will put the knife back on it and this time mark where the blade will sit in the sheath. This mark can be made close to the edge and once again, be careful not to get the mark high enough to be seen when the sheath is finished. Make a pattern of this mark and cut it out of a scrap of leather.
http://i949.photobucket.com/albums/ad337/lewisknives/100_0237.jpg
http://i949.photobucket.com/albums/ad337/lewisknives/100_0238.jpg
http://i949.photobucket.com/albums/ad337/lewisknives/100_0239.jpg

Because this knife had a guard, the sheath needs to be a little thicker then what a single leather spacer can give but only through the guard and handle area. Use your pattern again but this time, you only need the lock portion of the spacer to be thickened. When you cut this out, make sure it fits perfect to the other spacer. Use your knife to taper it down so that the leather will follow smooth down the side of the sheath.
http://i949.photobucket.com/albums/ad337/lewisknives/100_0240.jpg

Two things I need to mention at this point. First, make sure that the belt loop strap is where it belongs when you make the pattern for the spacer so that when you start gluing and sewing everything fits. Next, notice the notches in the leather around the guard. This is the lock that keeps the knife in the sheath. The first portion of the lock needs to be rounded so the knife can glide over it but it needs to be tight to the knife in order to hold it in. The guard has to be pushed beyond the rise and fit into the notch in order to keep in place. When it is stitched and wet formed, it will hold very tight into this sheath. It isnt nearly as complicated to make as it is for me to describe.



Now you can start to glue things together. I use Barge contact cement. Fold your belt loop down and glue it in place. Next, glue the spacers in place. Be sure to stitch the belt loop before you glue the rest of the sheath together.
http://i949.photobucket.com/albums/ad337/lewisknives/100_0247.jpg

Once the sheath is glued together, I use the overstitcher to mark out where the stitches are going to be. Next step is to drill out my holes so I can stitch this..remember, this is 9 oz double shoulder!
http://i949.photobucket.com/albums/ad337/lewisknives/100_0248.jpg

Stitch it up and trim the extra off the edges. I used a very basic stitch on this sheath. I will sometimes saddle stitch and sometimes double the thread but with this sheath I simply went up and back with the thread and knotted at the ends. I use my disk sander to get an even and square edge.
http://i949.photobucket.com/albums/ad337/lewisknives/100_0257.jpg

http://i949.photobucket.com/albums/ad337/lewisknives/100_0262.jpg

Now, I wet fit the sheath to the knife. Simply get the sheath very wet and place the knife into it. Use your fingers to shape the leather to the blade. With the lock in the leather, it is important to pull the knife and put it back in place a few times while it is wet to be sure that it will work right.

As soon as I am happy with the fit, I get the knife dried. I don’t want a new knife to rust on me.
http://i949.photobucket.com/albums/ad337/lewisknives/100_0259.jpg

All that is left to do (once it dries) is to dye and treat it. This one I used a dark brown dye and sealed it with Resolene
http://i949.photobucket.com/albums/ad337/lewisknives/100_0264.jpg
http://i949.photobucket.com/albums/ad337/lewisknives/100_0268.jpg

Both are applied with a cloth in light coats. Here is the finished sheath. It looks a little spotty but it is still wet with the resolene.
http://i949.photobucket.com/albums/ad337/lewisknives/100_0267.jpg

Stay tuned for the second sheath…it looks like this right now. It is lefty because it is for me.
http://i949.photobucket.com/albums/ad337/lewisknives/100_0258.jpg

[panch0]

Sweet! Looking forward to the rest.

[hunter63]

Great tutorial, great pic's.
Thanks!

[welderguy]

Good looking work. Thanks for the pictures

[klickitat]

cool stuff. I always love when craftsman post pictorials and videos.

[rebel]

Nice "how to" pics. Thanks!

[Rick]

You bet! Had to give you some rep for that. Nice job.

[Camp10]

The second sheath is a Marbles style, sort of. I wanted to cater it to the knife that I had made and so I added a little Morseth style to it as well. I have run out of neatsfoot oil, so it isnt finished yet…but it is done enough for a show and tell.

There is no pattern needed for this sheath. Simply place the knife on a piece of leather and trace out the knife. Like the last sheath, leave about an inch all around the blade. Also, like the other sheath make sure you watch to make sure you are going to have the right side of the leather on the outside. I am making this to hang on my left side.

http://i949.photobucket.com/albums/ad337/lewisknives/100_0219.jpg

The other side of the sheath only needs to cover the blade, trace the shape from the other piece of leather but use the knife to determine the height. I probably could have worded that better, but here is a picture!

http://i949.photobucket.com/albums/ad337/lewisknives/100_0220.jpg

Next, I place the knife back on the leather and mark out where the blade is going to fall. Be careful to make sure the handle of the knife will stay near the center of the belt loop in the sheath. I will shift it one way or the other to make sure it is going to look right in the sheath.

Once you get it where it should be, trace the blade out inside the leather. Make sure your marks are not going to be seen when the sheath is complete. Keep these marks close to the blade. The better the fit, the better the knife will ride in the sheath.

http://i949.photobucket.com/albums/ad337/lewisknives/100_0227.jpg

The other marks (with the arrows) are where the spacers will need to go. The top marks are just below where they will end but close enough for fitting and gluing. The bottom marks are where the spacers will end. The spacers are needed because the knife is thick through the guard and will roll the leather if I just leave it flat.

I follow the marks with my spacers and taper them at the bottom to flow smoothly into the rest of the sheath. Here they are glued in place.

http://i949.photobucket.com/albums/ad337/lewisknives/100_0232.jpg

Next step for me is to fold the belt loop back on itself and glue it in place. Again, I use my overstitcher to mark out the stitches. Don’t drill or stitch it yet, this same row of stitches will also hold the keeper in place..

http://i949.photobucket.com/albums/ad337/lewisknives/100_0225.jpg

Make sure you don’t get any of the glue outside of your marks. It will keep the dye from coloring the leather and will leave a light spot.

Next step is to glue the face on the sheath. I cant believe I didn’t take pictures of this. Make sure that there are no gaps in the leather and hold pressure until it is completely stuck together. This only takes a couple minutes with the contact cement


Next, the keeper. This is just a strip of leather about 1” thick and 6” long. Make sure it will go around your knife handle at the point where the two will be. You can see in the picture that there are a few marks on the sheath. This is the center point for the strap and for the marks the overstitcher made on the back of the sheath. I only drill one set of holes and they will hold both the belt loop and the strap.

http://i949.photobucket.com/albums/ad337/lewisknives/100_0236.jpg

After I have this sewed down, I trim the edges of the leather. I want to get it to it’s finished size. Agaon, I will run it through the disk sander to get everything even. Then, I use the overstitcher to mark out the outside stitches on the sheath.

I bring it back to the drill press but this time I switch bits to a larger one. I used 3/16 for mine but your thread might be thicker or thinner. This will allow me to stitch the thicker buckskin thread through. I also skip every other mark from the overstitcher. Pay attention to the number of holes on each side. You can have a different number on each but they both should be either an odd number or an even number so they will start and end evenly.


http://i949.photobucket.com/albums/ad337/lewisknives/100_0249.jpg

Next, the snap. Place the knife into the sheath and fold the keepers over the handle. If everything was done right, the knife should sit very close to the center of the sheath and the guard should rest on the top of the front piece of leather.

With the keeper folded over, find the center of the leather strap as well as the center of the handle. Mark this point and drill a hole the size of the post on the snap. The snaps will usually tell you what size hole they require. I believe mine use 3/16” holes. With this hole drilled, I fold the leather back over and mark the bottom strap through the hole I just drilled. Again, I go back to the drill press and drill this second hole. These should line up and be centered to the knife….make sure you remove the knife before drilling any of your holes.

http://i949.photobucket.com/albums/ad337/lewisknives/100_0251.jpg

The snap kit comes with the two tools you need to set the snaps as well as the parts of the snap. There is a setting tool, an anvil (the small round steel part in the picture) and enough parts to do 25 snaps. Each snap requires 4 parts, a front finished side, a back and the male and female connectors. All the pieces needed are pictured here on top of my finish anvil. This is just a piece of low carbon round stock steel that is 2 ½ “ thick and 4” long.


http://i949.photobucket.com/albums/ad337/lewisknives/100_0252.jpg

The front and back have posts on them, simply push the post through the hole you drilled in the leather and add the male or female side to the post on the opposite side of the leather. Place the part with the post (front or back) in the anvil and use the setting tool (and a small hammer) to mate the two parts. Do the same with the other side and you are done.

http://i949.photobucket.com/albums/ad337/lewisknives/100_0253.jpg

http://i949.photobucket.com/albums/ad337/lewisknives/100_0255.jpg

The only thing left to do is stitch the buckskin thread through the holes drilled into the leather. I start at the top of the sheath and from the back. I tie a knot in the buckskin and add a few drops of epoxy to hold it good. Next, just stitch away. This is a little time consuming, the thread wants to roll and I want it to stay flat. When I get to the bottom, I tie in a square knot (and again, add a drop of epoxy) then tie the two pieces together and trim them off. Nice, huh?

http://i949.photobucket.com/albums/ad337/lewisknives/100_0258.jpg

All that is left to do is rub in the neatsfoot oil but…I will have to wait until I pick some up.

I hope someone learned something!! Thanks for putting up with another one of my posts all!

[hunter63]

You take some real good pic's, as well as talent with the leather.
Thanks.
Some of you boys give this guy an "atta boy", says I gotta spread it around.

[canid]

now that's the way to do it. good builds camp.

[crashdive123]

Great tutorials. Nice job on the sheaths.

[Camp10]

Thanks for the kind words. I hope it was helpful.