These boots are made for...?

[Bruce W Sims]

Hi, Folks:

I had been looking around for a period-correct sheath for a sticking knife I recently purchased. During my
search I found pictures of what was presented as a 19th Century N-A knife sheath. The stiching looked
like it was done by hand, but what caught my eyer was how "polished" the weathered outside looked.
IMHO someone had taken a pair of black boots and salvaged the leather to make the sheath. It got
me thinking that this might be a decent way to find weathered leather for my belt knife. All the same
I thought I would ask if there is any reason not to pursue this course.  Theres a lot I don't know.  Thoughts?

Best Wishes,

Bruce

[Major 2]

I sure can't think of any, I've used salvage leather for many projects....

I found a cash'e of old stock never used leather drive belts .... some were 4" wide .... I made belts till the cows came home.
I also made reins , and some halters & leads
I even use some for saddle rigging....

I was given a side once , never used but was at least 20 years old , a bit dry and kinda aged stained...
after a coat of Skidmores, I still make holsters from it. This one for my 1911...

[Gabriel Law]

My old 'high browns' from the Mounted Police would have made great knife sheathes because the leather was quite hard and stiff.  Making a case for a razor sharp blade out of anything that is flexible or supple is a mistake.

[Biscuit Joe]

Reusing leather is a good way to get what you want if it needs to look used.

You can age new leather if need be.
I have thrown perfectly new items in the dirt and stepped on them.
Tossed them across the shop making sure to hit a few tool in the process.
Soaked them down in water and hanged in the hot sun.
Over oiled them.
Buffed them to a burnish with a buffing wheel.

There are a lot of ways to abuse leather to get the lived in look.
All this after working hard to make a project look perfectly beautiful.

[Bruce W Sims]

Thanks, Joe...and yer absolutely right. Think of how hard folks
work to get that finish just right.....then ya gotta beat it up to get it to
"look old". Go figure....

Best Wishes,

Bruce

[Horseapples]

But boots are often made of chrome tanned leather and whether it's the tanning salts or the sweat salts in the leather I dunno but I have had a very bad experience with reusing boots to make gun/knife leather causing quick and severe rusting.  Be careful.

[Bruce W Sims]

Thanks, Horse....... when I saw the Native American sheath (see: GOOGLE Images) I would have sworn that it was made out of the tops of some poor cavalryman's boots. The leather had a nice polished - if weathered - look and the stiching up the edges definitely looked like it had been done by hand. I'm thinking I'd like to do something along those lines....maybe with some leather from Tandy....
Best Wishes,

Bruce