Sheath with fire-steel holder?

[climberslacker]

Hello all,

I was just wondering how you put a fire steel holder in a sheath. I am a complete newb to sheaths and am making my first knife soon. Actually any tips on the knife making (I will be following greenpete's tutorial) would be appreciated. Do you jsut attatch it to the welt but how do wou make is smooth with the rest of the sheath? Thanks muchly

jace

 

[bushwacker bob]

I personally wouldn't bother.Once you have used the firesteel a few times it wears thinner and can fall out unless you have tied it in somehow.Firesteel holders make you look the part but the practicality of it bemuses me.I should justify this by stating that my sheath for my main 'bushcrafter' does have one and I keep a new firesteel in it but it is purely ceremonial.I keep a firesteel that I use to light fires, in my pocket where I am less likely to loose it.
To answer your question,you generally 'skive' the leather( thin it down by half its thickness) and stop the weldt each side of the firesteel tube.Then just sew through all the way along the side.
All the info you will ever require is on here.http://www.britishblades.com/forums/index.php

 

[climberslacker]

Thanks, yes my fire piston is oddly shaped and I can see how that could be a problem... thanks for the link also

 

[shep]

The way I do it is to make it part of the welt.

I usually find a triple welt is needed at the handle, tapering to just a single welt for the blade part of the sheath.

This means that each end of your firesteel loop can slot in either side of the main welt and be stitched in place by the main line of stitching running down the sheath. You just need to chamfer it a little so that the progression from 3 welts to 1 is smooth with no gaps.

I also often make the belt loop with a bend so it can be stitched into the main vertical seam too. This means there are no stitches which can be worn out through use. If you do this, you can just make the extension a bit longer and loop it over to give a firesteel loop.

This design was featured in the sheath I made for Kimbo's knife. If he's obliging, he might post a pic of the loop itself to make the above more clear.

The back looks kind of like this (only better!), except the firesteel loop is looped inwards and tucked in to form part of the welt.

Hope that helps! Reading it back it's as clear as mud to me.

 

[g4ghb]

skiving (ie sliceing off a bit of the lather to make it thinner) is the way I get it to fit in

re the 'falling out with use' issue I did this - and it seems to work ok (you need to push home the steel past the shaped sheath)

there are plenty of ways to surmount the problem - have a think you may just hit on the holy grail

 

[John Fenna]

I put a loop of leather through a hole on the firesteel handle, making sure that it is only just long enough to loop over the end of the firesteel when it is pushed through the sheath mounted holder - secure carry!
Mind you I agree that carrying your fire steel on your knife sheath is all "show" and it is probably more reasonable to carry it in a pouch with your tinder etc - but show is fun!

Hmmm... not to clear a photo....sorry!

 

[climberslacker]

oh yeah one more thing, how does one get the plastic handle off of the steel for rehandling becasue I want one that will match the knife im making with a j-carta handle.

 

[g4ghb]

hacksaw mate - just go slow

 

[climberslacker]

but won;t that greatly reduce the size of the rod?? or am I thinking of it wrong?

 

[John Fenna]

Put the rod in a vice with the handle sticking out to one side and tap the handle smartly with a hammer, sliding the hammer along the rod - I have found it only takes a couple of hits and the handle falls off leaving the rod unhurt!

 

[g4ghb]

but won;t that greatly reduce the size of the rod?? or am I thinking of it wrong?

I think you are thinking wrong mate - with the hacksaw blade parralel to the steel cut down into the handle. you will probably need to cut a couple of slivers off to remove the handle completely.

just re read that and i'm not sure it is clear even now....... so if you think along the lines of holding the side of a knife touching the steel and the edge on the handle that may help to get the idea

 

[g4ghb]

you are cutting the plastic handle not the firesteel itself!

 

[climberslacker]

Yeah I get it now so parallel to the blade not with the teeth on the blade, thanks for clarifying