LOL! Oh, I meant to type COPPER. Silly me, ha! Yeah, they are great. And "marine grade snaps"? I am gonna have to look into getting some of those. I use the blackened snaps, really rugged and look great. Will have to check those out!
Bear's leather... Awesome! Thanks buddy. My old Wetterling gets new clothes. As does my trail hawk. Was gonna put the sheathe on the trail hawk for the piccie, but the hawk wasn't where I thought it was. Gotta go find it now. Sheesh...when you get old...
@Hanzo Don't for get your Wetterlings is shaving sharp now... yet more hair/dna lost off a Bears leg :0) Hope you find your tomahawk.... glad you like it... Thanks, Bear PS... waterproof finish courtesy of @Brokor 's (Bear Wax) Fix n Wax :0)
Yup. I always try to be careful around sharps. And now that I gave some Bear DNA on the Wetterlings, who wants to bid on a Bear clone. Bids starting at one meeeeiiiillllliiioooonnnn dddooooooollllllllaaaarrrrsss.
I just finished a custom sheath for a knife I had made by CMR, it's a small skinning blade just the way I like it. The knife is 5 3/4" oal with a 2 1/4" bellied cutting edge. It weighs 3.2 oz. and fits my hand nicely. The steel is Bohler D2 and the handle material is black G10 with solid brass pins. The steel has been cryo treated with a final HRC of 59-61. I did a bit of tool work, and my stamping isn't the greatest, but I think it came out decent enough. I especially like the button closure, it really suits the knife. I wanted a closed sheath since it's such a small blade, even though the sheath is friction fit and wet molded. I didn't expect to have taken a full 7 hours to make this sheath, but it was worth it. I decided to make the design handy, streamlined and simple. The belt attachment loop is sewn on (top and bottom), and used the integral portion of the leather for the flap closure, keeping the smooth, finished leather exposed to show off the tooling. The dye is mostly brown, but I also highlighted the edges with black to give it some depth. I went with a 9 oz. veg tanned leather, which is a bit on the heavy side, but I utilized most of the thinner portion of the shoulder, so it could possibly be around 8 oz. --As always I use Fiebing's leather dye, acrylic resoline, tan kote, and mink oil. Let me know what you guys think!
@Brokor is that like a Sam Browne stud?... I like the stud closures as they are less likely to fail like I've seen on a lot of cheap snaps that either freeze up or get corroded... making sheaths is my least favorite thing to do... been working on finishing up a bunch of them... had to hand skive all the pieces because the leather was a bit thick... no fun... spent about 7 hours skiving the leather for 9 sheaths... (sure wish I had a Landis hand crank leather splitter)... so yeah... 7 hours is a lot of time... I give you a lot of credit... very nice work and creativity... and dying is a PITA so great job!
haha! Thanks, Bear. I am still learning, and some of my success is accidental I think. Yeah, I think they are called Sam Brown studs. Not positive, but they should be. I also like them because they are silent. =) I hate skyving, too. I use a skyve tool, but always end up using a small Mora #2 (or whatever the smallest one is) and it cuts like a champ. Bit the fingers quite a bit though, ha! I have the video uploading now, almost done.
Yup... have to agree on how silent they are... that's a great point... I have a few I wanted to play with... Looking forward to that video... finished up 9 sheaths today... basic no dye riveted veg tanned... :0)
The stamp job looks great Brokor- nice work!! It has been years since I did my last leather work but it sure is fun when you get onto a project. I might have to get back to that one of these days. You guys are inspiring with your show and tell.
MAKE YOUR OWN CROSSBREED HOLSTER ™ For this project, I decided to make my own hybrid (Kydex--leather) holster. I looked online for some of the best designs, and quickly arrived at Crossbreed designs. (Crossbreed) As you can see, this design seems very effective. But, being who I am, I figured I can make one even better. I started with the very best, top quality leather. This stuff is absolutely magnificent. I cut the design loosely based on what I have seen with the Crossbreed holsters, and set to work. Since this is an IWB holster (inside the waist band), I needed to ensure that I had a proper fit. It took me a total of three hours to finish this holster, and compared to the $70-$100 price tag plus shipping for a pre-made Crossbreed, I am winning hands down. I ordered all the hardware from Tandy Leather Supply, and it arrived on the second day with ground shipping. My Kydex work could be better, but it sits great, and the small play it has due to the form not being perfect is tightened to perfection by my belt. Who knew? My custom version. List of materials: 9 oz. high grade leather (vegetable tanned tooling sides) Kydex sheet 12"x12" (.06" thickness) Two belt clips, black Hybrid attachment screws with post (2) Black rivets (I used 7 of them) Fiebing's Professional dye (optional) Tools used: Razor knife Toaster oven (for Kydex) Foam pads, boards (for Kydex) Edge beveller Screwdriver Rivet set/punch Leather punch set Burnishing tool Stamp Tools Rubber Mallet And here is the final result of my work...as you can see, I dyed it chocolate brown and finished the edges properly with Edge Kote by Fiebing's. I also used some acrylic resolene to seal the leather on the front and Tan Kote on the back. It came out perfect. The fit is excellent, and I am very happy. It makes a very low print, and sits comfortably, even while sitting. Of course, the Makarov is a heavy little gun...
Here is Bear's fantastic sheath and monkey blade machete I won. I dyed the sheath and applied a couple treatments of mink oil. The sheath wetformed easily, too...I did it while dyeing, like I usually do. This is a wonderful blade, and the sheath leather is actually very nice, too. Enjoy the pics!
