AmericanLongRifles Forums
General discussion => Contemporary Accoutrements => Topic started by: thecapgunkid on October 21, 2025, 11:18:10 PM
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It isn’t often that I get more than one leather worker stop by my shoe bench when on site. Last year at Jacobsburg I got two (I’ll be there Saturday the 25th of October). One Gent had a blade go through the welt in his sheath and another showed me a seam on his sheath where he did not stitch evenly and the uneven holes forced the thread on the edge of the sheath.
So, guess what
We’ll make a sheath that is really secure and I will work a couple of mistakes into it so we can get a look at how to correct them. Sort of a keep or toss situation. Let’s don’t kid ourselves that every product was made in presentation fashion back in the day.
A good sharp knife is capable of going through any sheath seam; even welted ones if pushed hard enough and the knife has no guard. The only partial solution I have ever seen to this is the back seam, sort of like this;
(https://i.ibb.co/Jw54LdpQ/backseam.jpg) (https://ibb.co/7d25czp4)
The best in the business, though, is the Puukko wooden lined sheath that is covered with leather. Them Scandanavian and Nordic Fellers have that down pat. I suppose You can justify samples in Pennsylvania where they mostly came through the colonies but Documentation is pretty scarce,
(https://i.ibb.co/HLkmtyBK/puukko-sheath.jpg) (https://ibb.co/WNYSkXGH)
I can’t find any pictures showing them in 1750 or so and that loop thingy makes it hard to carry. I’m sure they made it over here packed away in somebody’s baggage. Here we will defer to the traditional/conventional side seam sheath rather than the back seam to bury the wooden scabbard.
I made the below bad boy because I like the heft and short blade. The Puukko style handle has its own charm. If you want to try to make one, there is no shortage of components and YouTube alone has more Puukko making videos than America needs….Making a Puukko, making a puukko out of spring steel, Making a Puukko out of a kitchen knife, making a Puukko out of a truck, making a Puukko out of a bag of Oreo Cookies…
(https://i.ibb.co/NgMTfCKG/myknife.jpg) (https://ibb.co/LD3NBR1s)
Start with the wood for a scabbard; cut a pattern wider than the blade and about ¾ inch longer. Common Pine is fine. Trace the blade , leaving space of the sheath about 3/8th of an inch around the blade tracing. Then cut the wood along the edge, splitting it into two halves
(https://i.ibb.co/pjrXRVGc/spinal-cut.jpg) (https://ibb.co/Mk5NGwWr)
inlet in the tracing of the blade on one half
(https://i.ibb.co/0yPpntg3/gouged.jpg) (https://ibb.co/whDZds91)
Finish by gluing the two halves together where you make the sheath-like inlet to hold the knife.
(https://i.ibb.co/sJHp502K/scabbard-glued.jpg) (https://ibb.co/S7rDQhPt)
There’s a ton of YouTube where this is done. Now we’re going to cover this scabbard with leather. 4-5 ounce veg cow is pretty good. Go after the wood with your belt sander with a tapered, rounded and delicate shape that tapers from the spine to the blade edge. The leather that we are going to use to cover this scabbard will cover up the heresy of using it in the first place, but you’ve already corrected the blade problem…
You really have to abuse this sheath to make the blade show through. The hilt, guard or front edge of the handle will seat on the top of the wood scabbard, so it is very difficult to mistakenly shove it in hard enough to slice through the seam.
For our purposes here, we will look at wet molding, a hack with adhesives and some helpful aids.
When you make the leather pattern ( I use a Manila Folder ) leave enough of it on the edge and top of the wooden scabbard sort of like that shown in the picture. Use a critical eye here. Lay the fold along the spine of the wooden scabbard keep the wood in place and roll it until it lays flat. Now trace around it where it lays on the pattern itself. Cut the shape of the scabbard out.
(https://i.ibb.co/prrvJhdb/pattern.jpg) (https://ibb.co/QjjFrDMp)
On the left is the pattern itself with the tracing of the wood removed. When traced onto the leather, draw the cut out on the pattern for a point of reference. In the middle is the leather with the cut-out inside of the tracing just made and the wooden scabbard itself. On the right is the leather strip to be used as a belt loop.
I like to wear my belt knife in a sort of crossdraw, so the strap is angled as shown.
(https://i.ibb.co/D0wsgLd/back.jpg) (https://ibb.co/nxQZ8Rp)
The bottom edge of the strap is going to get sewn into the edge of the sheath. By the way…that’s where this post will show another mistake and how to deal with it.
This is also where there is an adhesive hack a shoe repair man taught me back in the 70’s. Put a coat on the inside of the sheath as shown below;
(https://i.ibb.co/rKSK2063/glueing.jpg) (https://ibb.co/wZXZhgW7)
Make sure you stop the glue line at the top of where the wood is. Let it dry. When you’re ready to adhere to the wood scabbard, wet the leather. Don’t soak it so it takes forever to dry, but get it wet enough to become pliable.
Now coat the wood scabbard with the contact cement and coat the inside of the sheath a SECOND TIME. When you’re ready to bond, put the scabbard inside the drawing of it you made on the leather.
CAREFULLY pull and tug the leather snugly around the wood scabbard, but don’t yet mate the edges of the leather together. Leave that as a lip. Be careful where the leather will touch the wood. For some reason I don’t understand, the twice coated leather bonds faster and more unforgiving.
(https://i.ibb.co/6R76fFJn/lips.jpg) (https://ibb.co/0jRPdrVD)
This is a tactile thing where moistening the leather helps , but take your time stretching and placing so you get a nice smooth bond.
A bone folder and the edge of your bench will prove handy
(https://i.ibb.co/Tsbzv6K/bonefolder.jpg) (https://ibb.co/FF0Gx2s)
Another wicked awesome aid is a set of clamps you can scrounge off Amazon at a good price
(https://i.ibb.co/S4zyFxkY/clamps.jpg) (https://ibb.co/kstBNyLb)
I started using these in place of butterfly clips because the red rubber won’t stain the leather.
OOPS! We seem to have made a boo boo boys and girls. We either made the pattern too tight or trimmed the seam too closely and exposed some of the stitches. This is usually a product of poor awl control so the back side of the flat seam is not as even as the front side of the flat seam OR your hook knife or scissors or Bowie knife had other ideas and sliced too deep on the back side of the seam when you trimmed it.
That’s really ugly and will spoil the project if left untended.
(https://i.ibb.co/8LdhgqNp/goofed-edge.jpg) (https://ibb.co/TxbCM6YS)
With them there li’l fuzzies sticking out you have to make a decision as to whether or not you’re even going to keep the project. In this case it will be hard to shave the scabbard because the leather ain’t coming off willingly.
Now, touch the fuzzies with an ordinary lighter. Don’t burn the house down, but get the ends to shrivel away. There are a host of edging products out there, but the ones I use as shown in the pic seem to work best for me .
(https://i.ibb.co/9989mBZD/edgers.jpg) (https://ibb.co/ccgcKRYB)
The sequence for burnishing and finishing an edge is mostly for cowhide.
Using maybe 180 or 200 grit sandpaper, get the edge as even and smooth as you can
Moisten the edge.
With a glove, denim or bone folder, briskly rub the edge. The folder will click and snap.
The glove or denim has to run with the grain. You can tell that when it looks a little glossy.
Dye the edge, and get a finisher on it. Rub it some more.
Get more edge finish on the edge and rub it some more.
With enough rubbing you will get the edge almost glassy.
(https://i.ibb.co/JwC6ZHnJ/shine.jpg) (https://ibb.co/Mx9wd7n0)
Now comes the heresy…get some liquid (not gel) Cyanoacrylate and go over the back side of the seam where the thread comes through. If you do it well and sparingly the shine will blend in and the threads will not come undone.
(https://i.ibb.co/yB4phxc3/finis.jpg) (https://ibb.co/rfd3bXRW)
Now set the piece down for a day or two before you decide to keep it with the correction or toss it because of the correction. Plenty of apprentices in the 18th Century got the strap because they made this kind of mistake. Sometimes I wish an antique cobblers bench could talk…
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I like your instructions and visual aid pictures. With this type of sheath does the knife feel lose and/or fall out? Where's the retention of the handle to prevent the loss of the knife?
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The knife can even be sometimes a little tight depending on how carefully the wood is inlet. The collar coming up around the grip helps retain the kniofe. That little irregularity up at the top of where the scabbard is inlet is really a sort of choke during the wet mold and gluing process. Sorry....didn't think to print that...