Brett has been making some of my projects. One of which is an actual backyard forge! Now he is making knives!! Woot! He told me about a knife sheath he made and he was good enough to send us the template and information about how it is made.

My thanks go to him for sharing this great info with us!

Here is his sheath pattern you can download right here

Will has a youtube channel with over 700 videos on projects you can make. Check it out right here

* Note that this pattern is for a left-handed knife sheath design for use on the left hip. Flip the pattern over to make a right handed design.*

This pattern won't be useable quality for tracing or anything, but it will give you the idea of what I did. Fold on the green line, rivet or stitch around the red dots. If your leather is long enough on top you could make a loop up top or on the back depending on the size of your knife, instead of cutting slots for the belt to loop through. The rivets are "speed" or "quick" or "rapid" rivets like these:

https://www.tandyleatherfactory.com/en-usd/home/department/1271-047.aspx

You just punch a hole, stick the two parts together and hit it with the rivet setter tool and hammer against an anvil. The setter tool was about $4. It is waaaay faster than stitching would be and I think it looks cool too. Pro tip about the rapid rivets: the post doesn't need to protrude at all past the thickness of the material. If it does, it will bend the post and go all crooked when you hit it. There are many sheaths that have a strap go across the handle, but I didn't think it would work well with this knife and the leather I had.

I got the leather at the army surplus store for ridiculously cheap (a belly cost me $20), you can see the inner grain up where the belt loops are, but I reckon that will help protect the blade. It measures a hair over 1/16" thick so that's about 4 oz leather. I did a bit of reading about leather for sheaths yesterday and 4oz-6oz is recommended (I also read belly is the worst cut of leather, but hey, I'm on a budget). I just use a utility knife with replaceable razor to cut the leather. If you get nicer leather than I have here it will look really good.

Tandy Leathercraft Nickel Small Rapid Rivets 100 Pack 1271-12 (Amazon)

Here is the sheath for this knife:

Here is the knife that goes in this sheath. I really love the antler handle! It is O1 tool steel, stainless steel pins, and elk antler handle.

How to make a leather knife sheath - But we have a little fun with it and dye it. Great looking sheath. How to make a leather knife sheath

Brett also made this terrific knife sheath! It is made out of hair-on cowhide!

Do you like making projects and exploring a variety of hobbies?

Sign up for my free newsletter. I give you regular updates on hobbies and projects you can make. it is totally free and I don't share your email with anybody.