Recently, I lost the sheath for my beloved axe. At nearly the same time, my dog ate the sheath from my beloved hand made knife.
Both were originally leather.
What to do???
For sheaths, rawhide is actually much better than leather for a number of reasons.
SO, where do you get rawhide? Well, you could get a large piece of animal hide and remove the hair and have rawhide. That ain't for sissies. BTW, one of the most available tough hides is cat hide. Most of us don't have access to raw cattle or horse or buffalo hides, but how often are you driving along a country road and see a poor farm cat road kill? All the time, in these parts. BINGO. Skin the cat, and soak the hide in water until the hair starts to wipe off the hide easily. This will take between two to five days depending on the temperature. Yes, it can be stinky, so change the water every day to keep it pleasant. You should be able to easily wipe the hair off with a butter knife. If it is not easy, then put the hide back in the water. Don't let it soak too long. Just long enough to remove the hair.
The OTHER easier way is to buy a big rawhide dog treat. Cheap from the Dollar Tree is OK, but you want it made with wide strips of rawhide.
Soak the rawhide treat in water until it is soft and pliable.
Wrap the wet rawhide in a cloth and let it set until most of the moisture is out of the rawhide, but while it is still soft.
Fold the rawhide around your knife or axe head to form the sheath. Don't trim it yet. Pack cloths and heavy items around the knife and sheath so that the sheath forms closely around the knife/axe.
Let the sheath dry thoroughly. It should dry hard and form perfectly around the knife or axe like a perfect formed glove.
Use a drill to punch some holes along the open side of the sheath for stitching. Trim the sheath to fit the knife/axe.
You can then either stitch the sheath along the open edge with leather thong, rawhide, shoe lace, OR you can use rivits to close the open side of the sheath.
Varnish the rawhide sheath to make it waterproof.
There you have it.
Both were originally leather.
What to do???
For sheaths, rawhide is actually much better than leather for a number of reasons.
SO, where do you get rawhide? Well, you could get a large piece of animal hide and remove the hair and have rawhide. That ain't for sissies. BTW, one of the most available tough hides is cat hide. Most of us don't have access to raw cattle or horse or buffalo hides, but how often are you driving along a country road and see a poor farm cat road kill? All the time, in these parts. BINGO. Skin the cat, and soak the hide in water until the hair starts to wipe off the hide easily. This will take between two to five days depending on the temperature. Yes, it can be stinky, so change the water every day to keep it pleasant. You should be able to easily wipe the hair off with a butter knife. If it is not easy, then put the hide back in the water. Don't let it soak too long. Just long enough to remove the hair.
The OTHER easier way is to buy a big rawhide dog treat. Cheap from the Dollar Tree is OK, but you want it made with wide strips of rawhide.
Soak the rawhide treat in water until it is soft and pliable.
Wrap the wet rawhide in a cloth and let it set until most of the moisture is out of the rawhide, but while it is still soft.
Fold the rawhide around your knife or axe head to form the sheath. Don't trim it yet. Pack cloths and heavy items around the knife and sheath so that the sheath forms closely around the knife/axe.
Let the sheath dry thoroughly. It should dry hard and form perfectly around the knife or axe like a perfect formed glove.
Use a drill to punch some holes along the open side of the sheath for stitching. Trim the sheath to fit the knife/axe.
You can then either stitch the sheath along the open edge with leather thong, rawhide, shoe lace, OR you can use rivits to close the open side of the sheath.
Varnish the rawhide sheath to make it waterproof.
There you have it.
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