- Registrado
- 17 de Abr, 2020
Hey it's me, Cats. For those who don't know already, I began learning how to do leatherworking and knife handles a couple of months ago. I originally posted some of the things I was working on in the General thread, "Random Pics and Gifs". I foolishly thought my project would be done quickly and require just a single update from beginning to end. This was not the case. It turned out to be far more work than I imagined, complete with lots of learning, mistakes, problems, waiting on deliveries, getting the wrong sizes of things, waiting some more. But it has also been lots of fun. So, it is time to stop sharing progress on this in that other thread and just make my own for this stuff already. To those of you who have already read some of this over there, sorry but I had to move it eventually.
I chose to post this here because the "Art" section seemed to be the most appropriate.
P.S. I am very interested in kiwi opinions, ideas, and thoughts on the things I am making and building. I would love to hear what YOU would like to see. So, please share your thoughts with me :]
Before we continue, just a little warning: it's kind of a long thread. I have been working on this little by little alongside this leather stuff for awhile now, the thread is about a month or two in the making and is likely full of typos or weirdly placed text so I will try and edit as I go. I'm gonna attempt to make it less "expansive" by spoilering certain blocks of related info. I hope it isn't too cumbersome. If you choose to read any of it, thank you so much for following along with me on my little crafting adventure. If not I still love you anyway kiwi
After all these projects are complete, I really really want to begin working with crocodile leather. I added a poll to see what you guys would like to see one made for (if anyone even ends up being interested in this at all) The croc goal may take awhile as I need to finish everything else first but that's what I see on the horizon for myself. After that it is going to be the following: Learning how to do intermediate leather tooling and eventually leather carving so I can make really pretty looking things, picking up some advanced leatherworking techniques that I currently don't have, and just getting all around better at doing this. Some day I would like to forge my own blades and make my own knives from scratch yknow
The major thing that I have developed throughout this experience is a great deal of respect for tradespeople, both leatherworkers and bladesmiths. These crafts are much more complex than you'd expect once you have gotten yourself into it...I'm still on "Level 1" and its fucking hard. Furthermore, the materials and tools required are extremely expensive. The entire craft has a very unforgiving atmosphere that is not conducive to mistakes and inexperience equals some pretty painful amounts of materials waste and frustration. In addition, the cost of these materials and the time required to make things that look good makes it so that profit margins for leather products are very thin. If you actually do this stuff for a living I admire the hell out of you.
I chose to post this here because the "Art" section seemed to be the most appropriate.
P.S. I am very interested in kiwi opinions, ideas, and thoughts on the things I am making and building. I would love to hear what YOU would like to see. So, please share your thoughts with me :]
Before we continue, just a little warning: it's kind of a long thread. I have been working on this little by little alongside this leather stuff for awhile now, the thread is about a month or two in the making and is likely full of typos or weirdly placed text so I will try and edit as I go. I'm gonna attempt to make it less "expansive" by spoilering certain blocks of related info. I hope it isn't too cumbersome. If you choose to read any of it, thank you so much for following along with me on my little crafting adventure. If not I still love you anyway kiwi
Let's just start all this over by listing out what I am working with here. I have a matching pair of 8" long (bladed), 12.5" long (overall) clip-point bowies made of what I think is D2 tool steel but I am not 100% sure. It could be J2. These have impala-jigged buffalo horn handles that I handmade some neat little rivets for out of brass snap tops. I wanted really big, 19th-century looking hardware on it so I just made my own. The blades were purchased already prepared for handles and after mounting the buffalo horn pieces I finished both handles off, as well as filled every last gap, with some melted darkened pine resin which I sanded and polished to a dim gloss. That pine resin concoction came in handy for the handles as well as the machete sheath and worked almost like an old-school epoxy (though it will never hold as tight as epoxy, I am not sure I will really need it to) and it turned out really nice on both. It was my first attempt at handles or grips of any kind and I was pleased with the results but the next ones will be a little better just by virtue of the fact that I am going to be using machined parts for everything.
I also have a handmade 12" long (bladed), 17" long (overall) custom machete that I consider my "main" knife because it is made of a really good carbon steel, is extremely tough and sturdy, and works almost better than my hatchet at chopping. It has a nice point on it unlike most machetes, a very simple axe grind and edge profile so it is easy to sharpen in the field, and it is moderately heavy with a longish handle that curves inward for a really good "hammer swing" type of chop. It is great fun to sling it around at things and I carry it everywhere with me whenever I camp, fish, hike in the woods etc. It's silly to say this but I almost feel more protected with it in my hands than I do when carrying a pistol because of how much fear this giant motherfucker is sure to evoke should I ever have to draw it on someone. I adore it.
bowie pair + my fav
In addition to those I also have a low-priced (but not cheaply made) 440c, let's call it an "inspired copy", of the LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEM II (LS2) machete designed and made by Jack Crain for the movie Predator. As a product, it is an absolute steal, because these knives were originally made to meet and be sold at the >$150 price range. They were sold as "Predator"-branded collectables. I don't know if you remember but these were the ones that were sold three years ago with Arnold Schwarzenegger's movie character's signature on the blade and "PREDATOR" engraved in the ricasso.
Anyway when the contract (and limited run) of the "collectable" version of the knife ran out, the Chinese company who made them for the studio actually continued producing the knives but now with no Predator branding they instead began selling them under the name "RAPTOR". Oh, yeah, and they cut the price down to around 54 dollars shipped. Nothing was even changed about the already decent build quality, it just lost the engravings that said "PREDATOR". So it really does still feel like a 100+ dollar competent knife because they had to meet that standard of manufacture. It's a rare case of the consumer profiting from corporate fuckery. It's funny, people actually still buy RAPTORs to this day and try and flip them as the "collectable" version at the much higher price, because hardly anyone knows you can get these for so cheap now or even what to look for on the non-licensed version. I even ran across one for sale that had a fucking PREDATOR sticker covering the new logo in the display images lmfao.
I can't recommend this knife enough to both Arnold fans or even just people who want a great machete to toss in their truck or garage. I am probably going to end up buying a few more of them just to have around as replacements, in the unlikely event that one is damaged. It's that good. Just google "Raptor Machete Predator" if you decide you wanna grab one of these. I think BudK has them. Just a warning: Since they are made of a large chunk of 440c, they are heavy.
brand new RAPTOR machete (with a hideous nylon sheath) - $54 bucks shipped!
here is the first sheath I made for this knife - a dangler with a four snap keeper. I wasn't happy at all with the fit and finish so I disassembled it to use its panels for something else. This is also before I learned how to stitch.
Lastly, I have another handmade custom, this one based off of the same above-mentioned design. This thing is well crafted, well made, well finished, and the guy making it knew what he was doing so I really don't want to talk shit on him...but at the end of the day, the dimensions are way off, and I have decided to just use this piece as a framed wall-hanger. It looks too good to go swinging in the woods anyway.
Comparison from Left to Right: RAPTOR, handmade custom, and a real Jack Crain Movie Knife and sheath. The knives created in the 1980s for the film are pretty much priceless these days and I don't think there are very many left
Oh yeah. I almost forgot. I also have an extremely cheap, low-end bowie from BudK. I don't really remember buying it but I think I got it before the others so I could have something I wouldn't feel bad about abusing really hard or even breaking. If I remember, it was just $20 shipped and I was so disappointed with it that I tossed it in the closet and kinda forgot about it. It even has a few cracks from the factory. I feel like I could break this one relatively easily. I don't actually mind cheap knives at all, though, and I will probably still use this thing some day. Now that I have pulled it out of my closet this will probably be the one I use whenever I go on my next camping trip so I can put it through a proper "cheap knife test".
No sheath for this one at all, I threw the cardboard one that came with it in the trash. They called it leather but it was literal cardboard.
(pictured: the piece of junk...Hey, it'll still cut someone...)
I also have a handmade 12" long (bladed), 17" long (overall) custom machete that I consider my "main" knife because it is made of a really good carbon steel, is extremely tough and sturdy, and works almost better than my hatchet at chopping. It has a nice point on it unlike most machetes, a very simple axe grind and edge profile so it is easy to sharpen in the field, and it is moderately heavy with a longish handle that curves inward for a really good "hammer swing" type of chop. It is great fun to sling it around at things and I carry it everywhere with me whenever I camp, fish, hike in the woods etc. It's silly to say this but I almost feel more protected with it in my hands than I do when carrying a pistol because of how much fear this giant motherfucker is sure to evoke should I ever have to draw it on someone. I adore it.
bowie pair + my fav
In addition to those I also have a low-priced (but not cheaply made) 440c, let's call it an "inspired copy", of the LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEM II (LS2) machete designed and made by Jack Crain for the movie Predator. As a product, it is an absolute steal, because these knives were originally made to meet and be sold at the >$150 price range. They were sold as "Predator"-branded collectables. I don't know if you remember but these were the ones that were sold three years ago with Arnold Schwarzenegger's movie character's signature on the blade and "PREDATOR" engraved in the ricasso.
Anyway when the contract (and limited run) of the "collectable" version of the knife ran out, the Chinese company who made them for the studio actually continued producing the knives but now with no Predator branding they instead began selling them under the name "RAPTOR". Oh, yeah, and they cut the price down to around 54 dollars shipped. Nothing was even changed about the already decent build quality, it just lost the engravings that said "PREDATOR". So it really does still feel like a 100+ dollar competent knife because they had to meet that standard of manufacture. It's a rare case of the consumer profiting from corporate fuckery. It's funny, people actually still buy RAPTORs to this day and try and flip them as the "collectable" version at the much higher price, because hardly anyone knows you can get these for so cheap now or even what to look for on the non-licensed version. I even ran across one for sale that had a fucking PREDATOR sticker covering the new logo in the display images lmfao.
I can't recommend this knife enough to both Arnold fans or even just people who want a great machete to toss in their truck or garage. I am probably going to end up buying a few more of them just to have around as replacements, in the unlikely event that one is damaged. It's that good. Just google "Raptor Machete Predator" if you decide you wanna grab one of these. I think BudK has them. Just a warning: Since they are made of a large chunk of 440c, they are heavy.
brand new RAPTOR machete (with a hideous nylon sheath) - $54 bucks shipped!
here is the first sheath I made for this knife - a dangler with a four snap keeper. I wasn't happy at all with the fit and finish so I disassembled it to use its panels for something else. This is also before I learned how to stitch.
Lastly, I have another handmade custom, this one based off of the same above-mentioned design. This thing is well crafted, well made, well finished, and the guy making it knew what he was doing so I really don't want to talk shit on him...but at the end of the day, the dimensions are way off, and I have decided to just use this piece as a framed wall-hanger. It looks too good to go swinging in the woods anyway.
Comparison from Left to Right: RAPTOR, handmade custom, and a real Jack Crain Movie Knife and sheath. The knives created in the 1980s for the film are pretty much priceless these days and I don't think there are very many left
Oh yeah. I almost forgot. I also have an extremely cheap, low-end bowie from BudK. I don't really remember buying it but I think I got it before the others so I could have something I wouldn't feel bad about abusing really hard or even breaking. If I remember, it was just $20 shipped and I was so disappointed with it that I tossed it in the closet and kinda forgot about it. It even has a few cracks from the factory. I feel like I could break this one relatively easily. I don't actually mind cheap knives at all, though, and I will probably still use this thing some day. Now that I have pulled it out of my closet this will probably be the one I use whenever I go on my next camping trip so I can put it through a proper "cheap knife test".
No sheath for this one at all, I threw the cardboard one that came with it in the trash. They called it leather but it was literal cardboard.
(pictured: the piece of junk...Hey, it'll still cut someone...)
I began the leather work by making some easy things: a tan colored 2" wide belt, 4 belt keepers, a single four-snap D-ring/keeper, and shotgun shell/misc items pouch for the rear of the belt. For those who don't know, duty belts/gun belts are typically worn over a thinner belt which goes through your pants belt loops, and those things in the photo with the two or four snaps are called keepers and they wrap around both belts and snap together in order to hold your pistol, radio, heavy shit etc. in place.
This was, obvious to people who are not blind, my first ever project. I learned a bunch so it was ok. All of this was indeed cut out of a big panel so I atleast got some practice at belt-blank cutting...which is very difficult without a special tool. At the end of the day, this tan set of stuff still isn't complete yet, but will be finished some day. Wanting to do a revolver holster, clip on sheath for that big D-ring.
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Walnut Set:
This was designed to be a slightly modular set of gear centered around a shoulder harness system that attaches to the belt from behind and the side frontal area like suspenders, where the sheaths and everything can be removed from their backing panels and used in whatever configuration you please. They can be modified to be belt sheaths, danglers, shoulder holstered, everything. This set includes two modular sheaths for the bowie pair as well as a big, thick, wood-core and leather bound sheath for the machete because like I said these are intended to be kept together as a set
This set is Very Lightly tooled with a kind of "crackle" border throughout and two decorative Skull and Flower conchos on the two matching sheaths.
Here is the progress of the knife handles and walnut set you can see the point where the resin was added and polished:
The machete sheath has holes drilled in back to mount it to a traditional belt loop if desired, but the current direction of this project has this being attached to the belt with a unique "holster" type setup: the core is attached to the front of a long, wide belt loop "panel" by a strap with a hole in the center for a spike nubbin to go through and keep the sheath in place. Rivets will hold the strap to the belt loop panel. The retention strap for the core has been wet molded at a forward canted angle. This provides an ideal center of mass for this heavy ass blade to stop your belt from sagging too much. I am currently looking for smaller spikes to use as the strap rivets but having trouble finding ones that have screws long enough...here is the progress on that sheath:
(early in the project the thin leather on the original wood core sheath was peeled off - leather panels were then glued on with hide glue and my makeshift "epoxy" resin, also nailed into wood with the resin filling every gap on the edges)
(back+interior w/leather lining inside, the resin I made is visible, filling the gaps between everything at the top. It is the same all the way around and it worked much better than I anticipated
(I decided on a nickel spike over the brass "nubbin", no reason other than a style choice. It is small enough of a spike that it won't snag on anything or poke too hard.
All that is missing is for me to find 6 viable rivets
And finally all the walnut colored stuff together:
(front pic, back pic - including underarm straps and some miscellaneous straps + two brass rings)
(close up)
(pictured empty; as well as still missing the under-arm straps)
Last things to do on this set: measure those underarm straps I've detached and placed next to their sheaths in the photos, then cut them to size. Find 6 good rivets for the retention strap. Resize the belt 5-6 inches shorter. You want to leave duty belts a little long so they fit nicely over your underbelt, and I like my belt buckles to be fastened at the furthest in hole (last or second to last) so a bit more length sticks out, but the final sizing always comes last for me so it doesn't ruin any other component of the set. And finally, I need to find brass or gold Chicago Screws that have a matching engraved pattern like the belt buckle (need 1 for belt, a few elsewhere on this set.)
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Black:
Finally, I have a plain black Resolene'd pants belt and black waxed 2.25" wide duty belt. I usually prefer 2" wide belts as they can double as a pants belt Or gun belt depending on what you need. However, because the pistol being paired with this belt is a M92 on the right side and it will also have to support the weight of that heavy chunk of metal on the left side...this one is being made as hardcore as possible. Going to add some 2.25" wide panels of ultra-thick leather to the inside of the strap the future, or just an entire extra strap glued and stitched in.
I already mentioned how I was unsatisfied with the original black sheath I made and so the whole thing got taken apart to harvest panels for use on a smaller piece, which is actually on it's way in the mail to me right now. It is a replica (maybe another "inspired copy") of the hollow handle survival knife from Predator/Commando, so naturally I am going to pair it with its big brother because they just belong together:
(a remake of my pairing selection next to all the original Jack Crain designed pieces from Commando + Predator)
(the scrap panels from the original black 9oz thick sheath. I will probably toss all the scrap welts there on the left side of the picture, and re-do them in the new thick 12oz leather I show off below)
This was, obvious to people who are not blind, my first ever project. I learned a bunch so it was ok. All of this was indeed cut out of a big panel so I atleast got some practice at belt-blank cutting...which is very difficult without a special tool. At the end of the day, this tan set of stuff still isn't complete yet, but will be finished some day. Wanting to do a revolver holster, clip on sheath for that big D-ring.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Walnut Set:
This was designed to be a slightly modular set of gear centered around a shoulder harness system that attaches to the belt from behind and the side frontal area like suspenders, where the sheaths and everything can be removed from their backing panels and used in whatever configuration you please. They can be modified to be belt sheaths, danglers, shoulder holstered, everything. This set includes two modular sheaths for the bowie pair as well as a big, thick, wood-core and leather bound sheath for the machete because like I said these are intended to be kept together as a set
This set is Very Lightly tooled with a kind of "crackle" border throughout and two decorative Skull and Flower conchos on the two matching sheaths.
Here is the progress of the knife handles and walnut set you can see the point where the resin was added and polished:
The machete sheath has holes drilled in back to mount it to a traditional belt loop if desired, but the current direction of this project has this being attached to the belt with a unique "holster" type setup: the core is attached to the front of a long, wide belt loop "panel" by a strap with a hole in the center for a spike nubbin to go through and keep the sheath in place. Rivets will hold the strap to the belt loop panel. The retention strap for the core has been wet molded at a forward canted angle. This provides an ideal center of mass for this heavy ass blade to stop your belt from sagging too much. I am currently looking for smaller spikes to use as the strap rivets but having trouble finding ones that have screws long enough...here is the progress on that sheath:
(early in the project the thin leather on the original wood core sheath was peeled off - leather panels were then glued on with hide glue and my makeshift "epoxy" resin, also nailed into wood with the resin filling every gap on the edges)
(back+interior w/leather lining inside, the resin I made is visible, filling the gaps between everything at the top. It is the same all the way around and it worked much better than I anticipated
(I decided on a nickel spike over the brass "nubbin", no reason other than a style choice. It is small enough of a spike that it won't snag on anything or poke too hard.
All that is missing is for me to find 6 viable rivets
And finally all the walnut colored stuff together:
(front pic, back pic - including underarm straps and some miscellaneous straps + two brass rings)
(close up)
(pictured empty; as well as still missing the under-arm straps)
Last things to do on this set: measure those underarm straps I've detached and placed next to their sheaths in the photos, then cut them to size. Find 6 good rivets for the retention strap. Resize the belt 5-6 inches shorter. You want to leave duty belts a little long so they fit nicely over your underbelt, and I like my belt buckles to be fastened at the furthest in hole (last or second to last) so a bit more length sticks out, but the final sizing always comes last for me so it doesn't ruin any other component of the set. And finally, I need to find brass or gold Chicago Screws that have a matching engraved pattern like the belt buckle (need 1 for belt, a few elsewhere on this set.)
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Black:
Finally, I have a plain black Resolene'd pants belt and black waxed 2.25" wide duty belt. I usually prefer 2" wide belts as they can double as a pants belt Or gun belt depending on what you need. However, because the pistol being paired with this belt is a M92 on the right side and it will also have to support the weight of that heavy chunk of metal on the left side...this one is being made as hardcore as possible. Going to add some 2.25" wide panels of ultra-thick leather to the inside of the strap the future, or just an entire extra strap glued and stitched in.
I already mentioned how I was unsatisfied with the original black sheath I made and so the whole thing got taken apart to harvest panels for use on a smaller piece, which is actually on it's way in the mail to me right now. It is a replica (maybe another "inspired copy") of the hollow handle survival knife from Predator/Commando, so naturally I am going to pair it with its big brother because they just belong together:
(a remake of my pairing selection next to all the original Jack Crain designed pieces from Commando + Predator)
(the scrap panels from the original black 9oz thick sheath. I will probably toss all the scrap welts there on the left side of the picture, and re-do them in the new thick 12oz leather I show off below)
As of last week, I got my hands on some very thick leather....probably 12oz or more. I can't wait to move forward with this next sheath, which is a proper remake as well as being made to fit both, just in case (the blades are nearly identical so it's not much compromise to fit both). Currently I am waiting on a special 5-prong stitching hole punch because the pricking fork I have wont even get halfway thru before getting stuck and jammed in the fibers and refuse to budge anymore. A drill press would work good but I don't have one lmao
(Thickest leather I have ever seen)
(Thickest leather I have ever seen)
After all these projects are complete, I really really want to begin working with crocodile leather. I added a poll to see what you guys would like to see one made for (if anyone even ends up being interested in this at all) The croc goal may take awhile as I need to finish everything else first but that's what I see on the horizon for myself. After that it is going to be the following: Learning how to do intermediate leather tooling and eventually leather carving so I can make really pretty looking things, picking up some advanced leatherworking techniques that I currently don't have, and just getting all around better at doing this. Some day I would like to forge my own blades and make my own knives from scratch yknow
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The major thing that I have developed throughout this experience is a great deal of respect for tradespeople, both leatherworkers and bladesmiths. These crafts are much more complex than you'd expect once you have gotten yourself into it...I'm still on "Level 1" and its fucking hard. Furthermore, the materials and tools required are extremely expensive. The entire craft has a very unforgiving atmosphere that is not conducive to mistakes and inexperience equals some pretty painful amounts of materials waste and frustration. In addition, the cost of these materials and the time required to make things that look good makes it so that profit margins for leather products are very thin. If you actually do this stuff for a living I admire the hell out of you.
Última edición:
Hope all your upcoming crafting endeavours come out well!