Westmead Artificer - Leatherwork

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Artificer: [ART-IF-ISS-URR] : Noun: A craftsman who makes things

What I do...

I started making things in leather while at school, after finding a book in the local library about it. I made sheaths for some knives lurking at home, and a drover-style hat, which I later sold for the princely sum of £10. I also made various items of archery equipment as required (rather than pay out of my limited finances) - tabs, chest guards, pouches, belts etc.

When I acquired the MOD knife mentioned on the Knifemaking page, it didn't have a sheath, so an immediate priority was to make something for it to live in. As with other things, it sort of snowballed from there...

Stuff I have made:

Caligae ambulatum factum sunt!
A pair of caligae based on the ones found at Mainz, courtesy of the patterns posted by those kind folk at the Legio Tricessima website.
4mm cowhide throughout, except the 7mm soling bends. Hobnails are from LePrevo Leather, and are a reasonable facsimile of Roman hobnails, albeit truncated cones rather than fully conical. They are taking a little breaking in, but they will hopefully be comfortable enough to wear for reasonably long periods.

Ave Caesar! Morituri te salutat!

Sheath for a filleting knife, made at Tony's request, so the knife could live in his tackle bag without risk to his fingers!
After trying a few different liner materials, I used poplar as a core, with an outer in London-tan leather shrunk over it. The welt above the core, where it meets the handle, incorporates a notch to accommodate the handle profile, thereby giving a positive retention, like the snap-in to a Kydex sheath. The whole thing is about 16" long. (Thanks to Tony for the photos, as I forgot to take any before posting it off!)

Pouch sheath for Spyderco BCUK bushcraft knife.

This is actually version 2 - version 1 ended up being a little too tight, so was passed on to another owner. The handles on this knife seem to vary slightly in diameter from one to another, so as Axle's knife was one of the smaller ones, it fitted his perfectly.

Axle's photo...

Neck sheath for Spyderco UK Penknife: on a 30-inch ball chain - this is now on a leather thong with a tear strip as a safety break...

An assortment of axe masks:

One for my carving axe, after the edge went straight though the original mask...

A pair I made up for the local Scout group when I sharpened their hatchets:
Made up from scrap leather, these were some of the first items to have my maker's mark on them.

An upside-down neck sheath for the O1/ebony necker as shown on the Knifemaking page.

A side quiver based on an American design, inspired by the Lakota quivers. The photos aren't great but you get the general idea.

Made from 2 layers of bridle shoulder leather, originally in Pale London Tan. The outer layer was then prepared and treated with a dark red-brown dye, and finished with 4 coats of Carnauba wax.

Sheath for a 4" field knife by Mortons, with firesteel loop.

Sheath for the buffalo-horn whittler:

Sheath for the MOD knife.