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I need to know what weight of leather is best for making knife sheaths. I have a few knives that need good stout sheaths. But I need to know what is the best type of leather to use.
I'm no pro, just do hobby projects, but I've made knife sheaths, holsters, belts, etc. for myself.
I've used veg tan tooling leather. It can be wet formed and tools well, hence the name. I have used 5-6 oz and 7-8 oz. 7-8 oz is pretty heavy and won't wet form very well if that's what you want to do. 5-6 oz is a good middle ground, not too light, but forms well. I think I recall reading that you can estimate thickness by assuming 1/64" per 1 oz, so 5-6 oz leather is a little under .100" thick. 7-8 oz should be around .125" (1/8").
I bought a whole tool leather side from Tandy Leather in both thicknesses. That's a lot of material, way more than you would need for a couple knife sheaths. Watch for sales! Tons of info out there regarding wet forming and tooling.
Ben
I wont be tooling much...I lack the stuff to do it. I can tool and such just dont have them. (knives, shaders, etc...) I will have to invest in a mallet and a tool to make the holes for sewing. Thank for the advice!!!
I haven't used a stitching punch, just an awl for everything I've done, but the punches look nice and would seem to go faster.
Forgot to mention the tool leather can be dyed easily. Just putting pure neatsfoot oil on makes for a nice golden brown color.
Have fun!
I thought about building holsters a few years ago, I looked at this site quite a bit http://leatherworker.net/forum/
One of my customers did the entire enterior of his 33 Ford, and he also was familiar with the site.
Dan