I was tired of beeswaxing all my thin leather and was sick of my knives punching through the sheaths, so i went down to tandy leather this weekend and bought a belly piece and some stamps. Went back home and promptly finished my hugely procrastinated sheath commission for a friend.



Then, not a day later, my mum and sister came back from alaska, and they brought me back an Ulu, so its first use was used to cut the leather for this:

nice leatherwork Bibble.i do a little myself,more before i started blacksmithing.i guess if i make a few knives ill have to do more.always had good luck dealing with Tandy.

Very nice, love leather sheaths, over the kydex
Nitro

Speaking of leather, somebody posted something, maybe here, not long ago re: "cowboy Fiberglass," in which a dog chewy is unrolled to its natural state, a sizeable sheet of rawhide. This can then be formed into a tough sheath, or shell, or whatever. I want to make some protective toe caps to keep my handsome and costly new boots from getting nasty and daily scratches and scuffs that will destroy the waterproofing, and don't want to pay the c. $20 Redwing et al want for theirs. Question: what's the best way to soften the chewy without destroying the integrity of the rawhide? I fear boiling it would just make chewy soup. Many thanks!!

I neglected to say that indeed is an admirably handsome sheath!!

To redydrate rawhide just soak it in water.

hi Philip.i dont think using rawhide for toe caps would be suitable mostly because of how soft it gets when wet.you would be better off using the leather from old boots.with the boots being waterproof the glue might not stick to the finish.todays footwear is getting harder and harder to work on,at least 70% is made not to be fixed.keeping the boots polished or greased up will help protect them.you can always PM with any questions,steve(instant shoe repair).

philip, steveh-- Many thanks! I have made caps out of old boots, worked fine, but I don't have any now that I want to cannibalize. Think I'll make some out of rawhide, waterproof the xxxx out of them, and try to stay in the shop and out of the rain.