Goater makes some nice knives and nice looking sheaths as well. I have had some good ideas for sheaths by looking through the photo albums here, just click on the toolbar where it says all photos or just click on the picture albums at the top of the home page. I've made sheaths to show off the handles and sheaths to protect them. It is fun to experiment with new types and I know from experience that a really nice sheath can sell the knife for more.
Things like a basket weave is best to practice on the cheap bellies first. There is a use for those scraps you can't use and that's practicing with new stamps and I use the Tandy Eco-Flo dyes which don't soak into the leather like the oil dyes do. I use some of the oil Fiebings too. Brown and black are favorites for sheaths. What I like about the eco-flo dyes is if it goes on a little too dark it's easy to thin out. Eco Shene from Tandy's will leave a really shiny finish on a sheath and it's a resist too. They have videos about using it for that. When you go onto their web site you can see them when you click on the Eco dyes. They'll have a little square with the video if you don't already know about it, but I presume you probably do.
Then there is my shoe wax technique, it will waterproof the outside of the sheath after you've dyed it. Makes it shiny too. I have used
just black or brown shoe wax by itself to finish a sheath, I rub it in, then melt it in with a lighter carefully and buff off, it is actually pretty nice. The sheath on the bottom I dyed with a brown eco-flo dye I thinned out and mixed with some green and then I waxed it with my method. They were both waxed to make them shine. The belt loops are angled so the handle points forward. As you can see I made these sheaths to show off the handles. One is a pouch sheath and the other is a two piece sheath. The knives are by Dtec a poster on here. If these were carbon steel steel knives the inside would get a waterproofing too. Note this is just one method I use. Some makers use melted beeswax for the inside and some will use paraffin or the silicone stuff you waterproof your boots with. I won't say any particular one is better than another, but if you use an oil like linseed oil it will soak into the sheath and make it darker so be forewarned. I put bees wax inside the snaps to to keep them lubed.
Those are solid brass snaps I got from Zack White Leather. When you go to buy hardware from Tandy, take a small magnet. Oh, try to make it as perfect as you can, but keep in mind that that hardly happens, there may be some little thing that bothers you that nobody will notice or care about, so don't be too hard on yourself. Those sheaths are not perfect, but Dave loved them. The knives are more important.
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