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The Sheath/Holster Makers Forum This is the place to discuss all forms of sheath and holster making.

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  #16  
Old 08-12-2003, 04:32 PM
gator68 gator68 is offline
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Leather for wood/leather sheathes?

What kind of leather do y'all use for "covered" sheathes -- like a wood (or nowadays plexiglass) core, with leather stretched over it??
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  #17  
Old 08-12-2003, 06:13 PM
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Chuck Burrows Chuck Burrows is offline
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Welcome Gator-
Saw your sgian dubh and loved it.
For cover leather it really dpends on what you want to do. If you are going to do any carving on it at all then the only thing to use is vegtan (2-4oz works well).
If it's for a cover than just about anything can go - buckskin, pigskin, goat - although the edges on the stand up seam don't always finish real well on the soffter "garment" leathers. A lot of the 19th century sheaths used "book binding" leather which is usually a thin (1/2 -2 oz) pattern grained vegtan calf/cowhide although thin pigskin was used as well.

Here's a dirk sheath I did a while back that uses 2 different types of leather - vegtan for the carved inlay, tip, and chape and garment calf for the "cover"


BTW - I don't use wooden or plexi cores much any more except on pure museum replica pieces - I use a core of hardened vegtan. Much easier to work with and it won't break like wood can.

On using/reinactor swords and other long blades where wood is almost a necessity I use either aircraft grade (the BEST - 8 layers in the 1/8" thickness) or marine ply (4 layers for 1/8") since they are virtually indestructible.


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Wild Rose Trading Co - Handcrafted Knife Sheaths



The beautiful sheaths created for storing the knife elevate the knife one step higher. It celebrates the knife it houses.
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  #18  
Old 08-13-2003, 12:06 PM
gator68 gator68 is offline
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That is beautiful work. Thanks for the info. I like the idea of using a leather core . . . Do you build it sort of like you might from wood, top, middle with cut out to blade shape, bottom?
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  #19  
Old 08-13-2003, 12:27 PM
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Chuck Burrows Chuck Burrows is offline
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Thanks.
Yep make it just like you would from wood face-welt-back. I put the smooth side in (towards teh balde) that way the rough side is out to make a better glue bond for the cover.
After it's all glued up and hardened (wet it and then dry at 120-160F) I sand the outside to shape just like wood.

Here are couple of pics of one I just did with a leather core.




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Hand Crafted Leather & Frontier Knives
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Wild Rose Trading Co - Handcrafted Knife Sheaths



The beautiful sheaths created for storing the knife elevate the knife one step higher. It celebrates the knife it houses.
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  #20  
Old 08-19-2003, 01:10 AM
Ladybug Ladybug is offline
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Thanks for all the great info Wild Rose.. You do a super job with leather... hope i live long enought to be a quarter as good
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  #21  
Old 12-26-2003, 12:19 PM
DaQo'tah DaQo'tah is offline
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Wild Rose....

well...first off,,,I use bellies.
Okay, I know I know, , most say to stick to the better backs,,,But I gots ta think of the moment, and I am still learning,,

ANYWAY....

I try to use what is called 12 oz leather for my knife sheaths.

I get it from a placed called Dakota Leather, she ship all over the world, they are so helpfull to me, and,,,,they are a block away from my house,,,(save gas) They let me dig around in this big pile of leather until I find and pull out a section that is without any flaws,,I get about 5 sheaths from each bellyn and they run around $20.00

Anyway, this last month they didnt have any 12 oz leather, and so I had to get a 8-9 oz leather belly,,,Im happy still, But I asked the Dakota Leather people to get some more of the thicker stuff...He said he had not ordered that thick of leather because Im the one of very few people that can use 12 oz leather, and becides you have to order it in"LOTS" and each Lot is of 30 bellies each but I kept after him, and so he said he would place the order this week.

My question,,,what makes some leather 12oz, and other leather 8 oz?


is it the size and age of the cow?
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  #22  
Old 08-23-2009, 04:44 PM
Hapla Hapla is offline
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I just read this on the Tandy Leather Factory site so I hope it is right and I am not giving wrong info.

Quote:
Thickness or Weight - Leather is usually measured in terms of ounces. One ounce equals 1/64th of an inch thickness. Thus, a weight of 7 to 8 oz. means the leather is 7/64th to 8/64th of an inch thickness. In an effort to make leather a uniform thickness, wet hides are run through a splitting machine. However, each animal is different and there is always a slight thickness variation throughout the hide. This is why leathers are usually shown with a range of thickness, such as, 4 to 5 oz., 6 to 7 oz., etc.
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