Knife Sheath

This knife sheath is sweat fit to the knife so the the knife is held fast by the tight fit. This means you need no snaps or straps to keep your knife secure.

Trace the knife on paper or card stock use compass to leave space for stitching. Cut out half and fold over. Cut out around folded half and cut a flap at least twice the length plus an inch as you belt is wide at the top so you get something like pictured. So if your belt is an inch wide make your flap at least three inches long. You should be able to place your knife on the paper and fold it over and have about 3/4 of an inch around the blade. At this point you can test the fit and make changes if necessary. It's better to leave to much material than to little. Keep in mind the leather will not bend like the paper so if things are tight with your paper template your sheath will be to small.

Lay out template on leather, trace and cut. Also cut out an extra 1/2 inch strip. If you don't have professional tools a razer blade will work.

Moisten leather. While wet, do tooling work with a hammer and punch in the design. If you don't have tools, be creative. We only had one professional tool so used a bolt, key, and inexpensive letter punch set as well.

Get the belt loop wet and fold it over. Use rubber cement to hold it in place while you work.

Drill holes in the belt loop. Make sure they are evenly spaced. We lightly pressed the threads of a lag bolt against the leather to give us our spacing. After drilling use a V shape carving tools to cut a shallow trough following the holes. This allows the stitches to be sunk into the leather keeping them from getting abraded during use. Then use dental floss with a needle at each end to saddle stitch. Stitch across two times back and forth. At the last hole take each needle through only one layer of leather so that the ends of the thread come together between the layers of leather. Now tie some knots in the floss and the will be hidden between the layers.

Wet the main body of the sheath and fold in half. Glue the 1/2 inch strip of leather in between the leather. At the tip leave a hole for water to flow out should you ever get drenched. Drill holes evenly spaced then saddle stitch two times through. Tie off like above. Trim the edges so all three layers are even and soften any sharp jagged edges preparing the edge for burnishing.

Use a sponge to get the sheath wet. Place the knife in the sheath and press the leather in around the contours of the knife. The leather will form when wet and when it dries it will hold the form. If done correctly the knife will snap into place and be held firm by the leather without straps or clips. If you want to add color now is the time. You can use coffee to darken the leather or use professional dies. Rub wax on the raw edges and then burnish them with a smooth piece of wood rubbing the leather until it smooths and starts to shine. Mix olive oil, coconut oil, and beeswax. Melt in pan. Smear on sheath use a hairdryer to melt if needed. YOUR SHEATH IS COMPLETE!!!