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Miss T picked me up a book at Hobby Lobby with some cool techniques in it for using non-border tools for borders on the leather. Plus, I have the new Cowboy 3200 sewing machine in the shop that I hadn't gotten a chance to use yet, so since it had rained for two days, I thought I'd go out in the shop, since I couldn't work on the berm wall.

I re-read the pages on the creative borders, and gave that a shot, and it turned out okay. I didn't get the spacing exactly right and the curve at the bottom of the "sheath" blank wasn't perfect, but it was a practice piece. I wasn't actually going to make a real sheath, right?
(My usual rule is to ALWAYS work as if the piece will be fully finished, but it was raining and arthur was working on me.)

Okay, I had the border done and had the blank center... Basketweave practice. THAT went well.


I thought the completed piece looked a bit too "busy" and was going to toss it, but Miss T loved it. Now I had to finish the dang thing.
I went back in and cut the back and did the rest of the steps. Beveled the edges... and set it up to sew. Then I remembered, I don't have a clue.
Miss T came in and stood behind me, and gave me a running coach's commentary over my shoulder.

"Slower, watch your line on the right side."
"Good, WATCH that LINE.'
"Good, good, line.... line."
"Now backstitch to lock."
"Perfect."


Anal that I am, in the future, I'll have a mark where the stitching starts and stops so that I am not ONE stitch off between one side and the other. It stands out to me.

So, went back out and applied the various finishes. I dyed the back and edges black, then burnished the edges. The front panel was dyed golden, then antiqued. The entire sheath was treated with Mink Oil to keep it supple. Dye will make the sheath stiffen up.


It was all practice, and if I redo the project again, I'll apply all the lessons learned. The important thing here is that Miss T Loves it.

What? That hole at the top? Miss T wanted to be able to hang this sheath from a lanyard around her neck and tuck it inside her shirt and carry a small knife around the farm until needed. She has several I have made that fit it.

Note: After several hours drying time, the finish evened out. I'll post another pic soon. Sorry.

Here is the sheath after the colors evened up a few hours later, pictured with the knife I made Miss T a few years ago. Curly Cherry Scales.

For a first try that looks darn good!

fortyshooter wrote: ↑

Sat Jun 04, 2022 7:59 pm

For a first try that looks darn good!

Thanks.

Not my first sheath, just the first not sewn by hand.

Nice sheath but I have to say that the knife looks very useful. Nice

Nice leather work Marine.