Knife Sheath

[deanscamaro]

I'm just curious about leather carving. I am making a sheath for a large Bowie and have decided to have some leather carving on the sheath. Anyone on the forum do much leather carving or do most of you keep them more "frontier" style and stay away from the SAS style?
:hmm: :v :hmm: :v

 

[paulvallandigham]

Tandy Leather sells leather working tools. I don't know much about "carving" leather, but they have tools that shape the leather when wet, that leave impressions in the leather after it dries. I do have a cutting tool, for use when I want a border that is separated from the rest of the leather work, but its used sparingly.

Check Tandy's website, and catalog. You will get a lot of good ideas just looking at the catalog. If not, they also sell lots of patterns to use. :hmm: :thumbsup:

 

[deanscamaro]

Thanks, Paul. I should have explained my situation more when I asked the question. I have already given Tandy an arm and a leg for tools and have been practicing on carving-size leather. I have also done my planned carving design for the sheath on a piece of practice leather. I guess I am just looking for those little nuggets of advice that I have seen before on the forum; only this time on carving leather. Thanks for the comeback.
:thumbsup:

 

[T.C.Albert]

Get ahold of LaBonte and order up a copy of his Holster making dvd, he has a great carving tutorial on there that would apply to sheathes as well.
TC

 

[LaBonte]

Deano - are you looking for period carving patterns used on sheaths, etc. There are samples of such from plain to fancy dependent on the period you are looking at.
Pre-1900 carving patterns are generally much different than those from the 20th Century such as oak leaf and maple leaf........

 

[deanscamaro]

Yeah, mostly I guess I am always looking for designs. I guess I am also looking for techniques to do a better job in completing carving efforts. I do have most of the tools to get by now; also when I don't, I can sometimes make my own out of square concrete nails, ground down to the shape I need. One example of one thing that I ran into that was good, was the recipe for the "Sheridan Finish". That helped a lot to finishing my work.

P.S. I have always admired and respected your work.
:v

 

[shortbow]

Sir, I for one would be most grateful to be directed to pix of commercial knife sheath carving patterns of the 1800 to 1840 period. I've got access to lots of "cowboy" era stuff, but none at all from the trans-miss west of the above time frame. I've always assumed everything was very plain, I don't really know why.