Let's Talk About Leather

Don't Fool Yerself, Girl! It's Winking At You!!

LEAAAATHHHERRRRR!!!

Er, sorry. Had a bit of a Zappa moment there. The post title and the above gibberish is from his song 'Broken Hearts Are For Assholes'. There's a running commentary in the background of the song that I had memorized at much too early an age, and it's stuck in my noodle like a festering parasite.

OK, I digress...

I'm still flailing away at this knife sheath project. I've got to go back to the Tandy Leather store and pick up some scrap leather to practice how to inscribe designs and tool the leather. Also, I'm gonna need some stain or dye, and I don't think that can of Minwax wood stain is gonna do what I need.

So, project #1 has been revised until I can get better at working leather. The basics, like cutting, punching, lacing, etc. I'm OK with. I want to move forward on it, though, and not wait to learn the leather tooling. I've got a nice Bowie knife that needs a home!

Here's the idea:


The base & the top will be separated by a gusset or gasket layer. That'll keep the blade away from the stitching, and it won't stretch or strain the leather or lacing when you stuff the knife inside. The belt loop will be sewn onto the base layer. I'm still working out the retention strap details.

The top guard layer will be a thinner piece of leather, holding down a layer of stingray hide. Since I (currently) suck at leather tooling, this first sheath will use the fancy ray hide for visual bling. The white "star" in the center of the ray hide should contrast nicely with walnut-dyed leather. The cutouts in the top leather layer will let the ray hide peek through, and keep the ray hide from getting damaged or peeling.

Here's a ray hide similar to the one I'm using. Mine's a lot narrower, it only needs to cover a 2.5" wide blade! I got it on eBay for less than $10.


I'll start the cardboard pattern this weekend, then, given the cost of leather, measure THRICE, and cut once, and commence to stitching.

Should be fun!