Leather Bush-knife Sheath

leather craft bush knife sheath. made from veg tan leather.

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also feel free to comment and ask questions!

trace your knife, and draw an outline around it about 1/4" around to account for stitching.

be sure your knife will slide out of the sheath. this knife in particular would never be able to be inserted if i sewed it with the same outline. (not to point out the obvious...sorry)

cut out your pattern and lay it on the leather. trace and cut carefully with and exacto knife. I modified mine before i cut it. made the belt loop longer and the snap closure longer.

i then cut the pattern again for the front. i used a thinner leather for this part ( i had some scrap around)

i also used some scrap to put a border of leather around to prevent my knife from cutting the thread. ( i also needed this to make the thick blade fit)

cut the strip insert to a point as in picture 1 and contact cement it in place.

cut your straps. mine are 1" wide. leave them as long as you can for now.

then finish one end of the strap to your liking.

this will be a good time to burnish your leather. wet the edges and flesh sides and use a wood, or glass tool to rub them down smoothing everything and making it look glossy.

i have an instructable for the tool i used.

then if your going to dye your leather be sure to do this now before construction

figure out where you want all of your snaps. punch holes through the front piece as well as the the straps. be sure to measure carefully or take lucky guesses to make sure everything lines up.

i get my tools, hardware and snaps from tandy leather. the first picture shows whats needed for this phase. they are line 24 snaps i believe.

make another "spacer strip" for the top of the sheath. and glue eveything together.

glue about 1/4" all the way around your sheath where you will be sewing

hopefully the pictures will speak for themselves in this step.

take your chisel and punch around the sheath for sewing.

touch up anything you missed with dye and give it a quick hit with the burnisher (dont worry if its not perfect we'll hit it one more time before its considered done)

line up everything just right and mark your snaps on your straps. again... punch holes and add your snaps.

i also punched a hole at the tip of the blade so i could tie it to my leg in the bush.

chisel punch and sew your belt loop.

cut off the excess from your straps and finish them to your liking.

burnish and dye.

i put some paracord i had kicking around through the hole.

finish with a clear sheen.

hope everything worked out! you will have to come up with your own measurements as im sure your knives will vary. if you get stuck i can try help you through it.

thanks for looking!