Homemade leather sheath

[bbarer]

OK I know its not a gun but it is somewhat related....Being an old salt and a lifelong sailor I have a thing for always carrying a knife onboard (sorry guys for self preservation not self defense ). For most of my life I have carried standard folding rigging knives that have a blade, shackle key and marlin spike. I have always required all three in any knife I carried. As I get older I am feeling the need to keep one hand for myself on the boat which makes opening a folding knife a little tougher with only one hand available. If you have ever seen me stumbling across the rolling deck you would find it may be my weak or strong hand that is available....I recently found on Ebay what I thought was the ultimate fixed blade rigging knife, but it came with no sheath or Marlin spike. I decided to find a good spike and make my own sheath. Turned out to be pretty easy and I think it came out great. I made it for horizontal carry so it doesn't interfere with sitting (or falling..) and also tucks in pretty well to prevent getting snagged on something. Next up I have an old file I think I will try and make a knife from just so I can make another sheath!

 

[FrankNA]

Nice job - creative way to have both a blade and a spike! What do you do with the rope so it does not get caught on things?

 

[bbarer]

I stuff the lanyard in my pocket or pants usually. It is a good compromise getting caught or loosing the knife when you need it most. There are those that would argue having a long lanyard versus a short one, but if you have ever seen a knife dropped from aloft or ever lost one overboard when you needed it most, one quickly goes to the longer lanyard camp!

 

[Another_David]

Nice. The lanyard reminds me of when I used to work on high platforms--I took two adjustable wrenches and connected them with a short piece of light chain so I'd always have both (to hold the bolt head while tightening nuts) and you're less likely to lose one through the platform grating.

One thing that really annoys me is how bad the sheaths are with knives these days and to buy a generic sheath is hit or miss. I have had good results with wet forming sheaths to hold the knife more snugly. It's pretty easy to do with a just water and a spoon.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Leather-knife-sheath/step4/Wet-form-the-leather/

I did this with an old Navy knife and a reproduction sheath and it worked a little too well--the impression initially a little to strong for my taste. However after some use the outline is not nearly as noticeable but the knife always snaps into the same position when re sheathing, which is oddly satisfying. This is it before and immediately after:

 

[Fixxah]

A backup isn't a bad idea.

Do you have a side view of the sheath? The edge side to be exact.

 

[bbarer]

I don't have an edge view but I did sandwich another piece of leather between the top and bottom so that there was no chance of the knife cutting the stitching when going in and out. I also cut a groove along the stitch line so that the stitching sits below the leather face which goes a long way towards any wear on the stitches. In addition I used a harness stitch instead of a lock stitch which prevents the whole thing from "unzipping if a stitch breaks.

Also as you can probably tell from the pics I did water form the leather around the knife which does make for a very secure fit as well as add to the overall look I think..