First attempt at Leatherwork

Well given as a result of this forums help and having a woodworking hobby i have learnt to sharpen an edge, i have for ages been concerned about hurting myself or others hurting themselves with one of my camping axes.

So i decided to have a go at making my own.

EAT your heart out Jimmy Diresta you not the only maker on the planet. LOL It was Jimmy Direstas You Tube videos that inspired me to get off my but and give it ago. lol So all credit to him.


Ok so first sheath was for a small axe and i made it about a month ago from leather i had on hand that was super thick. Bit over the top because when it came to punching holes for stitching oh boy i just gave up as you can see and relied on rivets.

NOTE this is not meant to be fine leatherworking how to. ITs just a make something to achieve the desired purpose.



Then i wanted to do one for my larger axe, note these are standard hardware store axes not fancy $200 plus LV axes.

Well it started with me protecting the already beaten neck from my son who needs to learn to swing an axe.



Then over the last week or so specifically yesterday i got the sheath all done. Its not DONE YET still some clean up work to be done but its good enough to show you guys. I think i will remake it now as Jimmy says in his videos "you go to school on the first one of whatever you make and then it becomes easier" well i would like to make a better version of this same sheath now that i have had a go at adding a buckle and straps developed a way to skive leather strips.

You will notice some punched holes on the handle side under the axe head and those are as a result of a big mistake. if i did what was originally there, stitching holes and stitched it then axe handle would not go through. So version two will correct that and some other improvements.

Oh i forgot to mention this took place after i purchased another side of way more manageable thinner leather. Dont ask the ounces, i aint into leather by the ounce. lol



enjoy, i certainly had fun making it and you dont need a lot of fancy tools to make something like this.

Nice, Rob. Have you checked Wranglerstar on the Youtube. He has a lot of axe related videos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6hHgTDMmGo

Well I'm going to say that handle guard is the best of the lot. Did you apply that one wet? Nice and tight on there anyway.

The sheaths look sturdy and functional anyway and that's what really counts! Stitching don't look half bad either. Getting good patterns is certainly a lot of the trick.

In case anyone wondering what the ounces thing is, they measure leather thickness on ounces for some bizarre reason. One ounce is 1/64" thickness, so 4oz is 4/64" thick and so on.

Good looking to me! I like the handle guard, too. Wish I had thought of that when teaching my son many years ago how to use an axe. He broke many an axe handle until he got it right.

For your first attempt at this I would say you did pretty well. They are functional and should last for quite some time.

Ted thanks but I am not a fan of that guy.

Ryan you being generous. Lol yeah i did wet the guard leather.

Pattern i made myself trial and error which is why i want to make it again.

Tom yeah first attempt and functional was where i was going. Still needs some finish work.

Nice work, Rob. I might have to try something similar. I've got a couple of axes that could use something better than the folded cardboard and plastic stretch wrap that's currently protecting their edges. (And ever since I've had a Tormek with the axe-sharpening jig, they are indeed sharp.)

Not bad for the first attempts. I had done some leather work back when I was younger in 4H, but not since. I need to pickup a tool for punching the stitch holes. I've tried a few times to make holsters, but finally just gave up and started buying them.

Very Cool Leather work. I have never done anything with leather and don't plan to. I love the look and feel.

Not a sales pitch, but just an offering. Though new to me, I believe I can make a leather punch, or press or whatever you call it. The thing used to emboss something into the leather - like a whaling ship or something like that.