Leather sheath carving

Discussion in 'DIY (Do It Yourself)' started by Grog, Oct 10, 2016.

  1. Grog

    Grog Member

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    Making a sheath for a Survive! 4.7. Just covering the prettying up part of it. A friend of mine with much more artsy sense than I do drew this up.

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    The pattern on manilla.

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    Drew my own interpretation of the drawing, considering it has to go on leather. You do not have to be an artist to do this stuff, obviously.

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    Make a photocopy.

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    Sheath blank.

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    Set the adjustable stitch groover for about 1/2" and mark a border.

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    Rejoice in your orderliness.

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    DON'T cut past the halfway mark.

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    Cut the middle line.

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    Photocopy that thing.

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    Don't cut tight to the pattern, you need room to mark the outside.

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    Wet that leather, go have a drink, smoke, or both.

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    Lay it out, prep your trusty red pen.

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    Trace over your pattern carefully.

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    Somewhat tree like, win!

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    Cut your lines in with the swivel knife.

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    Cutting away.

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    Time to start beveling. Using a smooth bevel stamp.

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    In progress.

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  2. Grog

    Grog Member

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    Your beveler won't get into all the tiny little buttcracks, you'll have to use your molding tool a lot.

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    Like so...

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    Exteriors beveled.

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    Breaking out the pebbled background stamp.

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    Yes, these guys suck to use as much as you'd think they do from looking at them.

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    Interior done'ish.

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    Moar done'ish.

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    Veined pear shader and a lot of tiny little swivel knife cuts.

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    Go go pebbled backgrounder! Love it.

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    Wet and ready, oo baby.

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    Antique gel, sheepskin type stuff for spreading it, and a paper towel wrapped around a ruler to smooth the top out.

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    Me = Over the moon!

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    Dressed up.

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    Acrylic finish, it will seal whatever you drop it on, be careful!

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    Acrylic'ed up.

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    Time to see if that stuff works, dark brown dye.

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    Yeeeessssssssssssssss....

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    Dropping the acrylic resist in the wrong place can ruin your piece. Contrary to sensibility, it's best to use a good brush (I bought some paint brushes from Hobby Lobby) and load it down, it seems to leak more when you don't put much on there.
     
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  3. Grog

    Grog Member

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    I let it sit in between gluing up the belt loop and then the welt, got it sewn up and my first coat of Montana Pitch Blend on it tonight. Gonna need a couple more coats, maybe another dye first though.

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    Increased saturation and contrast on my phone pic.

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  4. Bushman5

    Bushman5 Member

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    WOW!! That looks great!
     
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  5. Grog

    Grog Member

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    Did another S!K 4.7 sheath. I was raised to be a modest person but I clapped like a dolt when I finished this one until I got a hold of myself and my dogs looked at me like I was a dumbass. Making things that don't suck too bad make a person feel pretty satisfied. It's important to keep the medium being used in mind when coming up with a design. Pretty much all of your definition will come from the differences in coloring from higher and lower areas. There was a lot of negative space in the design up there ^ which isn't a bad thing necessarily but thickening out lines made this one come out a lot better.

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    At the end of this double shoulder so I used a flubbed piece for the welt, hate that it showed through.

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    With the last one.

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  6. Schmittie

    Schmittie Member

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    Leather carving and stamping are just plain impressive to me. I can't wrap my mind around it.

    Great work!
     
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  7. KnOeFz

    KnOeFz Member

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    Great work!
    Thanks for the walkthrough of the process, very inspiring.
     
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  8. karlkortemeier

    karlkortemeier Member

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    Wow! That is really cool. I've made a few sheaths, but I not the carving part. This is very inspiring. I plan on giving it a shot on my next project. Thanks.
     
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  9. Grog

    Grog Member

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    The biggest difference I can see in my earlier carved stuff and what I'm doing now is the depth of the beveling and backgrounding. A missed stroke is a bummer but don't be tentative with your maul/mallet/whatever.

    What you pick for a design has a big difference but mostly just don't leave too much negative space to fill in. Of the two up there the tree inside the leaf is a much more inreresting, detailed, and time finding design but the dragon one is just flat out better. Dragons are cool but cheesy, and it's still better.

    Thanks a lot for the nice words. Definitely don't start on a nice sheath cutout or anything if it's something you'd like to try. Just grab a piece of scrap leather, find a design that'll fit on it, and go to town.
     
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  10. Grog

    Grog Member

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    Time finding? I was going to edit, but that's just stupid, I couldn't let that go. Time consuming.
     

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