#DOUBLE SIDED AXE SHEATH FULL#

Never twist side to side, as this may break your handle. If your axe blade becomes stuck in a log, rock it back and forth in line with the blade. Take care to avoid striking the handle against logs or other objects, which can happen in the event of a miss swing, and is the leading cause of damaged handles. When splitting, use a firm and stable chopping surface to reduce the risk of injury or damage to your tool. Keep the eye saturated with linseed oil to prevent the wood from drying out and shrinking, which can cause a head to loosen. Use 150 grit sandpaper to smooth out chips and restore a damaged finish, as necessary, while re-oiling afterwards. This will form a strong protective finish that will endure years of service. Doing this will help to ensure the handle stays healthy, flexible, and retains a proper moisture level. For a proper finish, this should be done in stages over a couple weeks, allowing each coat several days to fully dry. It is recommended, even with a new axe, to apply multiple coats of boiled linseed oil to heavily saturate your handle. Maintain and protect your axe handle with boiled linseed oil. Proper care will significantly prolong the handle’s life. When neglected, a handle is more likely to dry out, become brittle, and crack. It's not a pinch point where I thin the leather at so it's just a matter of not getting meat against the belt, just underneath the bottom platen wheel on the KMG but I still whacked my fingertips good enough I feel the need to give a warning.Common causes for broken handles, aside from blatant misuse, are hard overstrikes, lateral (side to side) twisting when lodged in wood, and drying out. I'm regrowing the fingerprints on the last two fingers of my left hand right now. Last week I had the little rectangular spacer surprisingly unbond, swivel slide almost completely off the sheath and grab ridiculously hard against a wide-open 40 grit belt. Make sure your leather cement is dry and set well when you do this.

#DOUBLE SIDED AXE SHEATH FULL#

I add a spacer the inside of my some of sheath backs right at the ricasso to allow the sheath less flex at the throat, I taper this spacer from full thickness down to 0 using a sharp 40-80 grit and the grinder running at least medium speed. One final thing, if you use the grinder to shape your sheaths like I do, be watchful. Your dye will dry slightly lighter than the wet finish and the color will then darken again if you apply any waterproofing over it. Only takes a few drops of black into a brown to darken it. I mix dyes on occasion and have had good results. I tried scissors and tin snips when I started too and that didn't work. Lots of control and pressure, two cuts and it's through even 10 ounce. 080 thick wharncliffe gets used in a pulling stroke, holding it in my fist blade down towards me. Flesh side down, I lay out my straps, strips, spacers or whatnot with pencil then that 2'. I do my leather cutting right on my well-used 3/4' plywood workbench. I still break the edges while wet with dye with the back of that knife but the material removed makes it a cleaner finish that doesn't bunch up as bad. Or, I'll use a sharp large handle small bladed very keen and buffed edge wharncliffe utility knife I made to skim the burr. It leaves a burr that I then flip over and lightly skim off the other way. I use my 2x72 grinder to bevel the edges, breaking them about 3/32 with a sharp 120 grit Blaze belt. My advice is nowhere as near as strong as a lot of it that you'll find here. I am self taught on the leatherworking end of things and have only ready one or two books on it. Without your input, I would be running in circles chasing my tail. Is it possible to get a color that would match the handle of this axe? Sort of a brown and black mix? How do you guys cut out your leather patterns? I used scissors and an exacto knife, now I have blisters from the scissors and almost stabbed myself with the exacto knife a million times. Is there a technique for beveling the edges around tight corners? I just kept digging into the leather and getting a ripple effect. Do they make ones with two good sides? After seeing your work, I would love to see your version of a double bit axe sheath. I really don't like the look of the rivets either. Colors are not my thing, so not even sure it would come out darker or just black. I am going to start on another one tonight and see if I can't mix some brown with a little bit of black to darken my brown up. One little slip and you scratch the surface, get too excited when setting a snap and the setter moves and leaves nasty marks around the head, beveling the edges around a corner and it digs in and ripples the leather, my list goes on and on.Įric, I am really not a big fan of black leather but with the handle being so dark, I thought it would match better.

Frank, you are so right about leather not being forgiving.

Double sided axe sheath