Question for leather gurus - what weight leather?

[Doug Shepard]

I want to make some scabbard type cases for my good straight edges. The plan is to use a bowl/tray type router bit to dish out 2 halves of the scabbard then glue leather into the halves and finally glue the wood halves together. I know leather is spec'ed by the ounce but what weight leather should I get? I'd like to go as thick as I can while still getting something that will conform well to the radii left by the bowl bit at the sides. I think most of the bowl bits have a 1/4" or 3/8" radius. Any thoughts?

[David DeCristoforo]

4 oz "oak tanned" leather or "tooling hide" is what I would use. If you wet the leather, you can easily form it to the shape of the "bowl". If you make a two part mold you can press the leather into the shape you want (wet leather is very "stretchy") but that might be more work than you want to do for a single piece.

[Andy Pratt]

Dough,

Not a leather guru by any means but I have some basic knowledge as it relates to making sheaths/scabbards. Scabbard makers recommend using vegetable tanned leather as opposed to the standard tanning method (chrome?). I belive the way to tell is wheter or not the leather has a white strip on the interior of the edges, that's the kind you don't want (don't quote me on this part). Apparently the vegetable tanned doesn't cause steel to rust nearly as much when it's in contact with it.

When fitting a scabbard around a wooden sword liner, I believer the standard weight is 3-5 oz., so right in line with what david said. I would imagine you would want to be on the higher end if you're not having a wood interior to the scabbard. I would say 7 is too high, anything lower is worth a shot. If you use 11 oz, it would be almost as ridgid as a plastic version (you couldn't mold this weight hardly at all though) if that's any reference.

Hope this was helpful,
Andy

[Doug Shepard]

Thanks guys. I'll start looking for some 4 oz - maybe Tandy or somewhere. I'm not too sure, but is there also an oil-tanned variety? Or is that the same as chrome-tanned? I'm sort of thinking that over time the leather will pick up whatever I keep the straight edges spritzed with and actually help keep the SE's rust free in addition to just sealing them off from air.

[David Keller NC]

"Scabbard makers recommend using vegetable tanned leather as opposed to the standard tanning method (chrome?). I belive the way to tell is wheter or not the leather has a white strip on the interior of the edges, that's the kind you don't want (don't quote me on this part). Apparently the vegetable tanned doesn't cause steel to rust nearly as much when it's in contact with it."

Comment about this - the selection of the leather for a scabbard is important. Chrome-tanned leathers have enough chlorides present in the leather to very rapidly corrode steel. For the most part, chrome tanning is pretty much used for all leathers unless you specifically purchase "veg-tanned" leather. Also, all leather is oil-treated, unless you're purchasing rawhide. The process for making leather requires it - otherwise, the removal of the natural fats and oils during the initial cooking stages would result in leather that you could easily crack with your hands.

Another note is that most leather is acidic, whether chrome-tanned or veg-tanned. The veg-tanned leather is made using the traditional tannic-acid process, and while it doesn't contain the salts that chrome-tanned leather does, it's still acidic.

This pretty much means that iron or steel parts that come in contact with it will corrode quickly unless kept very well oiled.

[Randy Tullis]

Leather is measured in ounces. An ounce of leather is about 1/32" thick. So a 4 ounce piece of leather will be about 1/8" thick.

See ya
Randy

[Dave Bender]

You might consider wrapping your straight edge(s) in Ferro-Pak paper before placing in the scabard.

[Doug Shepard]

After David Keller's post I actually started wondering if there was something like Ferro-Pak paper but in a cloth form. Something with a bit of thickness/cushion to it. ??? Does something like that exist?

[Doug Shepard]

Would lining these with wool felt be better than leather? McMaster-Carr has some 1/8" or 1/4" adhesive-backed strips of wool felt for a decent price.

[David Keller NC]

"After David Keller's post I actually started wondering if there was something like Ferro-Pak paper but in a cloth form. Something with a bit of thickness/cushion to it. ??? Does something like that exist?"

I'm not sure about that, I've never seen any for sale. However, there are some products out there that are sprays and solutions that claim to have an active rust-preventer in them, as opposed to a passive rust-preventer like an oil. I'd imagine that you could use such a product and treat your own cloth, felt, or maybe even leather.

[Doug Shepard]

Well I ended up ordering the felt this morning from McMaster-Carr instead of leather. Think I'm just going to spritz it lightly with Ballistol before gluing the halves together. I think I'll have to cover the sides with clear packing tape and route through that, then peel the remaining tape after applying the felt and spraying - just so I dont get any where glue needs to go. Then after glue-up I'll cut the cap off and drill a couple holes on the ends for steel pins and rare earth mags that will hold the cap on. I'll post some pics once I get these done. Thanks for everybody's input.