Making a leather knife sheath?

[Farmer17]

We just built a new home on an acreage and I was wanting some type of small machete for clearing the new growth off of our trees. What I ended up buying was an Uncle Henry Bowie Knife with a 10" blade.

Uncle Henry Knives Bowie Knife | DICK'S Sporting Goods

After using the knife a little, I'm really enjoying it and like its fake stag handles and "old time" looks. It just doesn't seem to be right that it has a ballistic nylon sheath so I was thinking about making a leather one. Is it easier/better to buy a kit from the Tandy company or some knife store or is it better to buy the raw materials and start from scratch?

 

[fixitfred]

Cost Prohibitive

Is Tandy still around? I don't think they would make one for your specific application. If you bought the leather and tools needed it would cost more than you knife.

If you just want to do it for fun go for it. If you want to practice to make holsters go for it.

 

[05CarbonDRZ]

Tandy is most definitely still around.They will not have a "Kit" for a Knife like that,Usually only for smaller fixed blade Hunting Knives.A One off Sheath is a ton of Work,I have made quite a few.I don't think I am allowed to post Pictures of my Work anymore otherwise I would share them.

 

[snubbyfan]

There's a certain sense of pride in doin' it yourself. I first started in leatherwork, making stuff for my own personal use. Check out some videos on leather work and sheath making. It'll give you an idea of what's involved and the tools required.

 

[Maddog 521]

Years ago while deer hunting I lost my sheath for my fixed blade knife. I needed one rather quick so I cut the top out of an old work boot. I folded it over several times and wrapped it with a leather thong. It isn't very pretty but it's still in use today. Sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do to make things work.

 

[Eaglestroker]

You might give this a look - considering you can order a few sq ft of leather and the only 'needed' tools are thread/needles, you could get it done yourself. Lot of folks use forks as stitching spacers and drill the holes.

How To Horizontal Sheath for a Buck 112 - WIP

 

[Drm50]

I made my own sheaths from leather bought in Farmers Leather Repair Pac.
Got at my local Tru-Value HWD, for $5.99. Each pac is different so you
have to sift through them to get what you want, clear plastic packs. I used
my wife's pattern transfer tool to mark for holes. Tacked to wood scrap and
drilled the holes on drill press, with small bit. Used 2 sail needles with pliers
to pull through. Used nylon string to stitch. The other method is to use 2
piece rivets, drill as needed.

 

[k22fan]

The easy way.

I made a sheath for my home made knife by gluing together pieces of heavy leather that I cut out of scraps. I took the glued together sheath to a local shoe repair shop and paid a couple bucks to have them stitch the edges on their large sewing machine.

It’s been quite a while. The holster maker that gave me the scraps is long gone. I want to make a sheath for a stag handle German knife that I recently bought with out a sheath in a pawn shop. The hold up has been finding the leather. Ordering one of Ace Hardware’s farmer’s repair scrap bags sounds risky without being able to look at the specific bag. I’ll be patient and eventually find appropriate scraps inexpensively. In the mean time I can carry it in a too large sheath from another knife.

 

[05CarbonDRZ]

A lot of the Leather in the Farmer repair Packs is chrome tanned which is not what You need for making Sheaths and Holsters.Will it work? Sure it will work but it won't be a nice finished product.I guess what I am trying to say is if You are going to spend the Time to do something,Get the right Materials.Plus the Salts in Chrome Tanned can interact with the Steel in your Blade.

 

[firebyprolong]

Weaver leather sells everthing you need. They sell shoulder bends fairly cheaply and having some extra leather around just means you need to find more things that need sheaths. You could get away with using 6 oz leather and have a nice heavy sheath when you get done. To get started a stich awl, a stich gauge and an exacto knife are all the tools you need. A guy can get descent results with a stich awl if he lays out the spacing with a stich gauge first. If you want it to look really good buy a French edger from them to clean up the edges. Tools are cheap and if you need to do ANY saddle or leather repair in the future your set. The folks at weaver are really helpful and compared to the hardware store really cheap.