Making a Leather Sheath: Full tutorial

in today's video we're making this welcome to the channel in today's video we're going to make a sheath for this humping knife that we just recently finished now the customer of this knife recently showed me a picture of a sheath i had produced a while back they want something similar in design but they want to twist they want to add a white tail skull or white tail deer head so we'll have to see if i can fit that into the mix with this sheath design overall considering this blade profile is very narrow which could make it tough to create an intricate carving for the sheet so let's head to the leather station and get pulled up the sheath we're going to be making is a pancake style with a mexican belt loop possibly two loops so first things first i got to go ahead and create the design so i'm going to sketch out and rule out the sheet design and i'll put any notes some of the measurements on why i'm making some of those measurements on the sheath [Music] i prefer to grab my outlines directly from the blade itself because i find a finished blade usually varies from the original template what i'm doing here is trying to determine the best straight angle for the inside well of the sheath that would clear the belly and recurve on the blade what you don't want is a bottleneck at the throat of the sheet that is too snug or even stops the blade from insertion [Music] [Music] do [Music] okay we traced out our pattern front and back using a red gel pen for the mark out if you're not familiar as to why the color red is used it's because the majority of level dyes consist of a red orange base and it makes it easier to blend in and hide the markup or any wandering lines when you go ahead and dye the leather now before we trim out our sides i like to make an initial cut with a swivel knife and that helps guide the blade during the trimming process because nobody likes squarely cuts right so you probably notice the blade on this swivel knife is quite small i've actually made this out on the lathe and modified it to make very intricate cuts for small carving patterns but it works so well that i use it throughout the carving process so let me hone the edge on the blade and we'll get started trimming this out [Music] [Music] with the size of our sheets cut out we're gonna move on to laying out our stitch lines so i got a stitch grooving tool here we're gonna mark out down near the tip and i'll show you how you do that instead of pulling on a cut we're going to go the opposite way on the blunt edge and what that helps us do we're going to put a couple marks in here and it's going to show us when we start our groove where we come down to it's going to show us where to stop that way we don't pull too far ahead of the other line as we come down the other edge [Music] after cutting the stitch lines i come back with another cutter set at 3 8 of an inch and using the same process i begin setting my picture frame for the carving [Music] at this point i decided to change direction with a deer skull concept given a small width of this particular sheath it would be a real challenge to carve any decent amount of detail like i did on this quiver for example [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] here i begin making undercuts to the leaves and other areas of the pattern find a step to be the key detail towards giving any carving even those with the most basic design elements a 3d look most of my undercuts stem from the use of the b60 and b892 bevelers and a custom tool that i made from an old screwdriver which is sharpened this tool is used like a razor to get under the top grain of the leather and instead of pushing the undercut is lifted up [Music] my [Music] love you [Music] loud [Music] hmm [Music] okay so you probably noticed that i went ahead and tooled up a belt loop same process as i've shown thus far so i didn't feel there was a need or any benefit to showing the details of it at this point i've decided to skip on creating a mexican belt loop and go for a frog with a bullet keeper as i didn't feel like the ladder went very well with this sheath the main reason for this change is because i want to keep the emphasis on the carving so my apology to those who are watching for that style sheath however i promise to do a mexican belt loop build in a future video so before i begin mockup of the keeper strap i need to head out to the shop and melt some copper to turn on the lathe for the bullet yeah so i had this great little cinematic clip of me melting copper in the furnace and making some round bar in a mold of course i forgot to record the apex of the clip which was the pour out of all areas i could have missed recording i missed the pour so now we'll just jump ahead to the lathe and get this piece machine down so i can get back to making the frog [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] and that is how you make a custom bullet for a frog now what i need to do is get this centered up and hole punch for the screw that holds the bullet in place i'm using a scrap piece of leather as a backing for the punch to give it a clean cut through and since the screw has a beveled head i'll need to go ahead and countersink the back side of the hole using a french edge skiver to create a plush fit normally i stitch and pull a liner over the top of the sheath but the odd shape that i created to fit the knife guard won't allow for a clean finish so what i'll need to do prior to stitching up the sheath is skip a thin piece of leather and glue it over the screw head so it won't scratch the knife blade [Music] after i check fit on the sheath i can begin moving forward mocking up a template for the keeper strap i'll go ahead and show the template build but skip the tooling process as it's identical to what's already been shown in previous steps of the build [Music] here i begin prepping the well for glue up to the back side of the sheath all i'm doing is hitting the top grain with some 60 grit sandpaper to help with adhesion then i'll mark out where to place the to the cement so it doesn't creep out past the well and come in contact with the knife blade [Music] laughs [Music] so to get a rough measurement for the keeper strap on the frog i'm taking a piece of scrap about the same thickness as the sheath material and wrap it around the sheet layers mark out the center and ends making sure to leave enough material for adjustment later on [Music] as i mentioned earlier i'm not going to head into much detail on tooling the keeper strap i'll just highlight a few segments of the rough process for interest before heading into coloring the sheath i prefer to use a wheel spacer to mark out my stitch holes because it's easier to see at this stage spacing for the sheath is set at eight holes per inch once finished i'll begin prepping a passage bl airbrush to spray feelings alcohol based dies i prefer these dyes over water base and other dyes because of the great coverage and they dry uniformly [Music] so [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] so [Applause] [Music] [Applause] so [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] it's the next day and the resist has set so now we can begin working on applying antique to bring out all the hidden textures and details for this project i'll be using eco flow gel antique it's in the dark brown color it's a water-based antique and i find it easier to manipulate or clean up with a bit of water when working with this antique i like to apply it with a brush into small sections to get into all the details and undercuts and wipe it off immediately to avoid staining any highlights on the piece once the antiquing is finished i'll let it set for a couple hours before sealing it up again with resolene [Music] do [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] all right the antiquing is finished and another coating of resolene has been applied to seal it up i went ahead and coated the back side of the leather with mocks and brown prior to stitching in the next few clips we'll install the bullet stitch up the sheath round off and burnish the edges though i should point out the top of the sheath and components of the frog need to have their edges finished prior to any assembly [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] with the sheath sides glued and aligned with the help of a few makeshift pins we can begin measuring out the length of thread needed to stitch up the sheath what you want to do is take the parameter of your stitch line and multiply it by six lengths i find this gives me plenty of thread to finish two sides plus the well of eight to nine ounce leather thinner thicker leather or even a shimmed welt will require you to add or even subtract the length regardless it's better to add to your overall length of thread to avoid coming up short a few stitches from the end when working on knife sheets i prefer a heavy wax thread as it's more impervious to elements and is a lot less easier to break over time it also allows me to do a standard saddle stitch without having to wrap a knot on each pass however i do like to back stitch and overlap at each end to lock in the stitching [Music] [Music] channel [Music] [Music] [Music] after evening up the sides on the belt grinder using a 220 grit belt and beveling the edges with a size 4 beveler i can begin polishing a key tip towards smoothing the grain is to just moisten the leather not soak it too wet and the grain won't mold smooth and you'll just push it around causing the edges to crack or ball up multiple tools can be used above the edge but my personal favorites are this wooden slicker and a piece of old blue jean once i've gone over the edge with an initial pass of the slicker i hit everything back with 220 grit paper this extra step removes any imperfections and really helps create a smooth finish then it's back to slicking up the sides before adding the dye and buffing to a high polish [Music] [Music] so so foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] well that's a wrap what you just watched was several days worth of work cut into 40 minutes of video so i tried to cover as much of the build and processes as possible some aspects were not shown due to repetition overall i really enjoyed this build and having the ability to show you some of my techniques on sheath making so if you enjoyed this video and learned something from it then please hit that subscribe button now and like this video be sure to leave a comment as to what you liked or didn't like and also let me know what you'd like to see in upcoming future build videos i'll see you on the next one thanks for watching [Music] you

Channel: Twisted Oak

Views: 232,127

Keywords: Leather Sheath Making, Making a leather sheath, Pancake knife sheath, knife sheath, knife sheath diy, knife sheath leather making, leather carving, leather craft, leather knife sheath tutorial, leather stamping, leather tooling techniques, leather knife sheath making, leather sheath for knife, leather sheath stitching, leather sheath for bowie knife

Id: 6rlJSOG95PA

Length: 42min 32sec (2552 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 17 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/Miricrafts]

awesome 👍

[u/eyeofthecodger]

I didn't like this video. It confirms I'm a lazy, no-talent hack. Thanks. Seriousness aside, it's almost always a pleasure watching talented folks demonstrate their skill. Thanks for taking the time to make this.

[u/KingSmoke9]

Source?