thinking about expanding my sheath making capabilities. Does anyone have a "cheap but effective" approach to what tools I'll need and what to buy for leather? Even point me in the direction of a good tutorial would help. Thanks
Hi Chris, Really all you need is a sharp knife, an awl, contact adhesive, some thread and a needle. If you like fancy, pick up or make a few stamps. The one tool that's worth buying is a groover. The rest you can improvise. I got lucky when I put an ad on Kijiji asking for leather and "leathercraft tools". A lady called me and I picked up a trunk-load of stuff for cheap. Some stamps I make myself. As for leather, I kept checking Tandy's website until something went on sale. A veg. tanned double shoulder will go a long way. Look for something in the 8 to 10 oz. weight. There's a few good videos on YouTube, for a basic foldover I owe a lot to Paul Beebe for his picture tutorial: http://www.beebeknives.com/html/make_a_sheath_tutorial.html Simple and informative. Dan
so many good tutorials at your finger-tips........... a few simple tools mentioned above to get started but most importantly in my opinion is patience........... take time in between steps, you see so many makers that try and finish a sheath in one sitting and it shows , patience is the best tool
Thanks for the input fellas, I've gone and done it though, I have an order for 2 knives with leather sheaths.. So I've got to learn one way or another. I have one blade nearly finished and I'm going to make a sheath for it as "practice". Already grabbed a bag of scrap leather that I can get maybe 4 fold overs. Just need a little bit of tooling I'm guessing a razor is sharp enough to cut with? What should I get for thread? a heavy gauge would be my guess. Also, when I dye the vegetable tan stuff can I use just any stain to get the colour I want? What do I do to form the leather to the knife. I realize I have to watch a few tutorials, I'm just busy with work and family and haven't gotten around to it yet. Thanks in advance
Definitely check out some tutorials because they are likely better than anything we can describe without writing a whole essay. Michael's does have some stuff but I found them to be very expensive.
We lucked in we bought out a fellow who was retiring from leather craft, sold his 40+ years of tools/stamps , leather for dirt cheap filled our Ranger truck 3 times. As mentioned above Tandy is a great spot for tools and leather. We use a range of leather thickness depending on the knife size/style. Bristol board is your best friend for leather work, cheap and effective templates. You can use a drill press with a awl needle for making holes in the thicker leather. If you like PM me anytime your stuck on how to do something. Here are a couple of the sheaths i made up recently.
