bark textured sheath

[reddawg]

Have seen tree bark textured knife sheaths on various sites, thought it would be cool to try and make one myself. Have searched and searched, cannot find anything close to bark textured leather stamps . Anyone on here done this before, got any ideas how to do this, any suggestions where else to look for or make some stamps ?

[M&J]

Can you post a pic or link to an example of this?

[reddawg]

I'm not much on moving things around on the computer, Burt Foster has a video of 'liking texture', one of the better examples, he has a couple on there. I will never be at that level, but would like to at least know how to start the journey ! Thanks for replying, btw

[M&J]

I suspect that he has made some sort of die for this and presses the texture in. That is the way I see it. Can be carved in too. This may be a great way to buy 2'nd tier skins and achieve a really nice look. His sheath work looks really nice and quite unique by doing that.

[reddawg]

yeah, I don't even aspire to even close to that look, have only been making sheaths a couple of years, very amateurish, but can't give a knife without a sheath. I do some stamping, decent dye job, but this lit me up. hard to believe there isn't a source for this sort of stamp, have been on internet search for several weeks. think you're right, will have to figure out how to make a stamp of some sort myself. appreciate your reply

[reddawg]

just tried an experiment. took a small piece of junk leather, dampened it with water spray. after drying a short time, took it outside, found a live tree with bark pattern I liked. held it on the tree, lightly tapped it several times with a rubber hammer, pattern not too bad. needs lots of work, experimentation, tweaking, but put black dye in some of the grooves with end of a toothpic, finished with brown dye over the whole piece, not a bad finish. not exactly what i'm searching for, but not too bad for experiment. takes a little bit of clean up , but just a little brushing with old toothbrush initially, not a bad look

[M&J]

Excellent experiment!

The creative side of these processes are fascinating and those challenges make the knife making process fun. I may try one as well.

[reddawg]

if you get around to it, post a pic, if you don't mind ! tried to myself, just can't seem to get it done for some reason, me and computers have that love/hate relationship

[M&J]

Picture attachment for new members is off until X number of posts. Outside image links if you have an image hosting site can be used instead.

I see if there is a large enough scrap piece to experiment with.

[Crex]

Reddawg's approach is similar to what I use. I found a patch of bark I liked in the firewood pile, slabbed it out and sealed it to stabilize. Dampen the leather sheath just as you would for tooling/carving and lay down on the slab. Use a small wooden roller to press into the slab, works quite well. Branched out from there and made a few other patterns on hardwood planking for different effects.
If you want the pattern to "shadow", just use Fiebings High Lighter after staining and before final finishing coat.

[reddawg]

thanks for the replies guys, lets me know i'm not too awful far off base. only been making knives a couple of years, not that great at it yet, though some do like the product. hit me one day, hard to give a knife without a sheath. early efforts not too bad, can safely tote a knife in them, just want to get better as i go.
y'all been very helpful, and do appreciate all the input on this site. hope to meet some of you at some of the gatherings, i always want to go, don't always find a roundtuit to help me get there

[M&J]

Thanks for confirming that Carl! I'll give this a shot as well. I'm making up two sheaths presently so may try it to see what effect I can get.

[Crex]

My mentor Dad (Sandy M), always said "It's just leather. lot of it walking around out there. Don't be afraid of trying something new and different. Never know what you can accomplish."
Besides just like knives, leather work has been around a very long time and this has probably been done numerous times throughout the centuries. Nothing new under the sun.

[Crex]

RedDawg, can't believe I just now realized you are in Dublin, GA. Wish I had earlier. We just had a GA Guild meeting down at Lee Dykes shop in Cochran last weekend. You would have been more than welcome to attend. We will probably have another winter meeting there next year about this time. We try to scatter them around the state as much as possible. Very few members in that area are bladesmiths, most are stock removalist.
Lee has mentioned to me that he'd like to have a smithing demo at the next one so I will probably be doing it. If you are still having issues with getting true flat tangs, I'm sure Lee would be glad to show you how he does it on his grinding equipment.

I do hold a Hammer-in in Blairsville, GA twice a year at Trackrock Campgrounds. Be quite a drive, but if you have a camper or like tenting you can make a weekend of it and join in the fun. The next one is March 22 & 23. If you'd like more info let me know.

[reddawg]

Hey Carl , hate I missed that too ! Been at it about 2-3 years now, but the more I learn, the more I realize how much there is to learn. Realizing there' s so much I'd like to learn, but started a bit late, to the point I need to put more thought into what I'd really like to learn, do . Would love to make the Hammer-in in March, will try to keep up, try to schedule that. Appreciate hearing from you, will try to get to know Lee Dykes. Nurse at our surgery center here in Dublin is from Cochran, will see if she has heard of him . If not, will look him up. Thanks again for hollering, hope to meet up one of these days, need all the adult supervision I can get, and good instruction.