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Here I’ll show how to make a split pouch clip on sheath. Sandy Morrissey, the Sultan of Moo, calls it a Butterfly sheath and he’s the one I copied it from so we’ll call it that. Sandy’s version uses a leather loop. Mine uses a metal boot clip. The leather is vegatable tanned 8/9oz. It’s important to make sure you do not use Chrome tanned leather as it will stain and etch the knife with black marks. I know this to be a fact. Pick out a piece that isn’t scarred up or that has soft or hard spots. If it is scarred, put the scars on the back side.
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Every knife starts with a pattern outline. I use manilla folders as it is just stiff enough to use when tracing and flexible enough to fold around the knife. All three profiles are traced onto the paper.
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A compass is used to further outline the knife to allow room for the welt. I just eyeball it from experience. I suppose it is around 1/2” extra around the outline.
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It’s cut out now, folded over and trimmed around to match all the way around. There is a lot of extra room and much of this will be trimmed off later. If you try and save a couple inches here, you will make the sheath too small and will have to start over. Make the edges a little large, especially at first.
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Here you see the pattern has been cut and folded open. A metal boot clip is what we will use for the ‘belt loop’. The 8/9oz leather has already been dyed using leather dye on both sides. It’s easier to dye a large piece then to do it a sheath at a time. The natural color leather under the pattern is 2 oz and fairly soft. I will use this to line the inside of the sheath on to keep the metal clip from rubbing against the boot clip. The boot clips are available at the major knife making supply shops. Note just under the main pattern is a welt pattern. A welt is an extra piece of leather the knife blade rests on when in the pouch. If you don’t use a welt, the knife blade will cut the thread. We’ll see where it goes later.
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