Thread: Leatherwork : design options for knife sheath

Guys, one of the knives I want to make a lefty sheath for is this Victorinox boning knife.

It currently lives in a "Kilwell" branded sheath, but the straight design of the sheath is not optimal. Because of tip of the knife is swept back, it has already punctured the sheath where the tip is pointing in the pic below.



So my question is what are my options for designing a better fitting sheath ?

Taurus have a "folded" model where the tip is slightly back, not sure how you actually do this...
https://www.tlcnz.co.nz/farming-outd...fe-sheath.html

The other option is to do the sheath in 2 parts and stitch all the way round...

Keen to hear your ideas

you will probably find the tip thing in that link is just where the leather has been compressed by the rivet after a wide fold along the rest of the edge .
you could possibly wet and stretch the leather down the middle longways to dish it before folding to get a forward swept edge along the fold ???

I think with a blade curved as much as that one with such a fine prominent point you may have issues getting it in (especially) or out without some damage to the leather by the point .
perhaps a small plastic inner liner down the pointy end of the sheath ?

Actually @ebf , scratch that above reply . That's back to front . You need to stretch the leather longways out towards the edges you are sowing to allow the fold to curve out at the bottom . If you drape a piece of leather over a banana you will see what I mean ... You may be better off sowing two pieces together with the curve cut into the pattern and make an extra wide insert between the two pieces to allow for some knife damage and don't make it too tight around the blade , leave plenty of wriggle room .
Then mold the leather around the handle to limit how far into the sheath it goes without the tip poking into the bottom and to hold the knife in place without it wobbling around .
And maybe add a fold over poppered flap as extra security to hold it in the sheath .
Just allow for that in the rear panel design . Make it long at the top to give you your fold over flap .

I'd ditch the folded style and do the two parts one and stand it off with a spacer of leather, cut quite close to the profile of blade.

Can't find a picture of what I mean but google the type quite often found with high end Bowie's.

Never mind Ftx325 already covered it

If the knife is a 6 inch or 15cm it will be to long either buy a 5 inch or cut/grind the tip back like a katana

We often used Air Boats for Buff etc Hunting in Arnhem Land swamps,tidal rivers,as the conditions & use was very hard on knives ie lump of wood sometimes used to surgically caress blade through heavy cartilage /ribs etc as fast as possible while Overlanding carcass to beat approaching blackout of Mosquito swarms or temping/annoying the Swamp Dogs for longer than required

To stop wrecking good knives l would purchase Swibo's from the mobile Pet Meat Chillers & modify those generic sheaths like shown by using a blow torch/heat to melt a bit of 10-20mm etc elect/irrigation/plumbing conduit/pipe with the pipe collapsed down so blade could firmly slip in ,bottom clamped down shut.

Soak the sheath until malleable then push new blade holder down to position at bottom of sheath, allow to air dry & it will form fit around pipe , you now have a much safer design that also firmly holds knife while on Quad,bike ,horse etc.I used the above Kiwi Bush Bastardry for decades on my Overlanding Butcher kits across Top End of Oz, Africa & Alaska .

Tx @country cuts, good idea about grinding the tip !

Blade is 6 inches / 150cm.

As previously said,regrind the tip so it's less likely to stab the sheath.Or as @Ftx325 said make the sheath long and mold so the handle stops the blade from poking the bottom.Or do one similar to this?

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Originally Posted by hunter Al.7mm08

As previously said,regrind the tip so it's less likely to stab the sheath.Or as @Ftx325 said make the sheath long and mold so the handle stops the blade from poking the bottom.Or do one similar to this?

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That pic is exactly what I was trying to describe Hunter .... A picture truly is worth a thousand words ....