Meridian_Mike wrote:Excellent... excellent job Dale!
Great job on the sheath. Your work looks like a pro leather worker!
One question I am sure you have considered. It looks like the leather is still untreated. In a case like this
is it wise to treat the leather with Mink Oil or something like that?
I am wondering if a leather treatment will effect the knife.
Once again.... the whole project is a work of art!
Thank you Mike and Tony, I appreciate your input!
Sorry I didn't get back to you yesterday Mike, I have to go to the doctor on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays for the next month or so to have the surgical site monitored and the packing in it changed. Sometimes I'm pretty well done for the rest of the day, it can be pretty painful.
As a matter of fact, I did treat the leather. My customer wanted the natural look of the leather and wanted me to leave it untreated. I advised against that and said I would look for something that would keep it as close to its natural colors possible. He thought that was a good idea so I went to my local Tandy Leather affiliate, basically a shoe and the leather repair shop with a fairly decent inventory of leatherworking products.
I explained that I wanted something that would change the color of the leather much but would help to seal it and protect it. One of the owners of the shop recommended Fiebing's Leather Balm, which is what I used on it.
Thanks to Tony for the link to Fiebing's, here is the product they used:
https://www.fiebing.com/catalogue/top-f ... roduct=196
On the subject of storing knives in leather –
I am reluctant to separate the knife from the correct sheath (for fear of not getting the right sheath with the knife) but I don't want them to become corroded either. I haven't found a completely satisfactory solution for fixed blades but for the folders I use a small Ziploc bag, 3 x 6" is plenty large enough for a Schrade LB7. I put the knife in the Ziploc and squeeze out as much air as possible then seal the bag and put the knife back in the sheath. That way I don't have the sheath separated from the knife to which it belongs.
If you have purchased any of the late issue Camillus knives they did something similar except they did not use Ziploc bags. They used a heavier, probably 4 mil plastic pouch with a fold-over top. The folders with sheaths that I purchased in the Gran'pa series had the knives wrapped in blue plastic and put inside the sheaths.
Thanks Scott, and please give my best Mildred!