Hello...

New kid on the block.. this block anyway. Been a custom leather maker for 10 years. The more I participate in SCA events as a leather merchant the more I have started to learn about custom knives. A couple of the knife makers refer their customers to me to make sheaths for them at events.

I take a nearly complete leather shoppe and set up at SCA, RenFair events. Never know what blade is going to show up to make a sheath for.

What I hope to gain here is more knowledge about blades.. what makes a good one. Not too interested in making em myself. I have plenty to do with my wide range of leather work.

I hope to participate as I can.

Thanks

Charles
SCAka as Lazarus Wolfdracca
www.members.aol.com/lthrcatlg

Welcome aboard, Charles. Feel free to jump in with comments- your experience is worth a lot!

Welcome aboard, Charles.You couldn't have picked a better place to learn about knives.I agree with Don, your experience will be valued.Thaks,Dave.

Charles, Don and Dave have stated our position very eloquently, what more can I say? other than-WELCOME! Sandy

Thanks for the warm welcomes..

Will try to add a couple cents worth of help.. or maybe learn more than I wanted to know from yous guys.

I have been reworking my website.. still need to edit the pics of sheaths.. but if you wanna take a look..

www.members.aol.com/lthrcatlg

BTW... any hoodlums from this list up in the pacific northwest?

Charles
Leather scrap maker

LthrWrk:
Do you happen to know how to get leather enough to make a holster. I have tried to make one already but can't get the leather hard enough. Any info you can give me would be great.

Hardening Leather...

Mold your holster as best you can by using warm water dip for only a few moments. Dont saturate it.. just tease it. Give it a couple minutes. When it is pliable massage it with your hands to get the shape ya want. Assuming that you did protect the weapon with a tight saran wrap!!!

Now you have a shape that is near to what ya want. Dip it in rubbing alcohol... yep cheap stuff from the pharmacy.

The alcohol takes nearly all the oils out of the leather, makes it nearly rock hard as you 'cook' it under a space heater with a fan set on a medium heat.

huge drawback with this method. The leather will not last long if you use it frequently. but it does make it hard. Some combat shooters use these kind of holsters for only a few competitions because they dont hold up. Top level shooters though generally can afford it.

The alcohol tip actually came to me from Tony Lair I believe.

Ok so you dont want to make it that hard. ... I been tryn to splain it to my girlfriend ... keep it hard.

oops.. wrong hard topic.

So you want a holster that wont be like a rock on your hip.. leave out the alcohol step but dry it the same way. It still should be fairly hard.

I make costume flasks... use the same method as above. Then you can heat a mixture of beeswax and parrafin wax, in your wifes double boiler.. be very very careful do it slowly and dont leave it alone. It can flame up rather quickly.. (Question... why is the fun stuff sometimes hazardous?) ohh the wax can flame up and the wife too if she catches ya with her pans.

Brush the melted wax on the leather.. it will soak in a bit.. but leave a crusty mess on the surface... dont fret yet.

Take out a big honking blow torch affair.. or a propane cylinder with the wide flame attachment.. also known as a pet dragon in my crowd. Flame the surface.. keep the flame moving.. watch that wax just suck right down into the leather. Now if ya burnt the leather... toss it.. and start cutting a new piece for a new holster.

Over heated or burnt leather will not be a good thing. no cure if you mess it up with too much heat. so work upto it.

Hope that helps ya.

Charles

lthrwrk:
Thanx for all the info. I'm going to try the alcohol method and I'm also going to try the beeswax and parrafin. Have you ever tried the beeswax and minkoil? The store bought holsters are hard but not rock hard. Maybe I need to use 8 to 10 oz. leather instead of 3 to 5 oz, but anyway I'm going to try both. Thanx again.

Ron

oh my Ron what where ye thinking.. heheh.. yah 3-5 ounce is way too little to make a good holster. Though you can make a functioning one. some of the simplest holsters Used on the trail were little more than folded over triangles.

You can also get so much more detail on a quality 8 ounce tooling veg tanned leather than others. Just take the extra time to 'case' it correctly.

Course anything rushed is just that.. rushed and will always show up in the details.

Charles