An easy way to get a straight edge on your leather using a strap cutter and the table’s edge.

www.oaksidesaddlery.co.uk

Watch “An easy way to get your first straight cut on a new leather hide” on YouTube

An easy way to get your first straight cut on a new leather hide

It’s not just leather belts and dog collars that I craft by hand. I also handcraft leather bags, wallets and phone cases.

These three are all handmade in Great Britain using @metropolitanleather.est1919 Lamport and Rutland leather.

Wallets and phone cases are available to order. Leather bags on the other hand I craft when I have a bit of time.

All hand stitched using Artisan Leather’s braided polyester thread.

Visit my website at www.oaksidesaddlery.co.uk for all of my handmade leather goods.

#oaksidesaddlery #handcrafted #handstitched #madebyhand #madetoorder #madeinengland #leathercraft #leatherbag #leatherphonecase #leatherwalet #

How to measure your knife for the perfect handmade leather sheath

ALT

So you have a great knife but the sheath has seen better days. How can you order a new sheath from Oakside Saddlery?

Field Sports

Whether your knife is a small hunting knife, a reasonable bushcraft knife, or you are about to fend off the zombie horde I can make a sheath that will fit it perfectly. I will need a few measurements from you though so go and find a piece of paper big enough to fit your whole knife on and a pen or pencil.

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Safety first either blunt up your knife edge or cover it up with some tape. Don’t go and cut yourself! There you have been warned!

Now lay your knife on the paper and draw around the entire thing. You need to be fairly accurate as I will use this to work out the overal size of your sheath.

You should have something that looks like this.

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The next thing that I will need is the blade.

This time you will need to lay your knife down so that the blade is flat on the paper. You can hang the handle over the edge of a table or board to make this easier. Push the guard up against the edge of the paper and carefully draw around the edge of the blade. The few millimetres gap between the blade and the line is perfect for a little bit of play that you will need.

If you have saw teeth or any other cut-outs you can just draw a straight line past them as II don’t need to allow for anything like that.

Hopefully you now have something like this.

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I will also need the thickness of our blade.

Lay your knife down with the thickest part on the paper. Now just simply draw a line either side.

The easiest one yet.

To be honest with the blade thickness. Unless it is really thick, over 4mm or so, then nothing really changes.

Handle

If you are wanting a retainer safety strap then I will need the measurement of the handle. This will be where you want the strap to be.

Simply measure around the handle. Don’t make it too tight. I can then make any overlap as required.

You can mark this measurement on the drawing or just write it down. Make a mark as well where you actually want the strap.

Design

This is where you can make your own personal touches.

I will need where you plan on carrying your knife. May be you are left-handed and carry your knife on your left hip with the blade facing backwards. May be you like the blade facing forwards. You choose.

You can also have your carry ideas;

• Belt loop
• Scout carry (left and right handed)
• Drop carry

If your sheath is big enough maybe you want some pouches fitted or a cut-out. It is up to you.

Once you have this all marked up you can send the order to me so that I can make a pattern

So go ahead and place your order

Field Sports

And if you have any questions feel free to ask.

Have a good day

Si

What do you need in a wallet?

This is something that many people ask. But if you think about it, what do you actually need your wallet for?

Firstly pick up your old wallet and empty it out completely. And I mean entirely! Now take a look at all of that stuff. Do you really need all of those store cards? What about the receipts? And what are those business cards for?

If you are anything like me you gradually accumulate a load of stuff and eventually your wallet gets so full that you empty it all out and throw it in the bin (recycling would be good!) And now your wallet is back to a realistic size.

So sort out all of your stuff and see what you actually need to carry. How many cards do you need? Do you carry cash? Receipts?

This then gives you an idea of just how big your wallet needs to be.

The next thing that you have to think about is where you carry your wallet. A small wallet will get lost in your bag. Whereas a large coat wallet will not fit in your jeans pocket. Do you need just a minimalist card wallet for a night out, or a large wallet to carry your driver’s licence, CPC card, tachocard, fuel cards, and receipts that won’t leave your truck cab unless it has to? Maybe you just carry your mobile phone and an emergency note or two or just a couple of cards?

A further consideration is what you need the wallet for. If it is a night out and you only need to carry one card and your ID (if you are fortunate enough to need to carry ID) for the beer then a minimalist card holder maybe all that you need. If you are going on a business trip then you may need something bigger for your business cards etc. On holiday and you may just need a cash pocket for the foreign currency.

So this then gives you an idea of what wallet you may actually need. I assume that you want a handmade leather one otherwise there wouldn’t be much point in checking out my store otherwise have a look at my wallets and see if there is a design that you like. And if there isn’t as I only make bespoke wallets then maybe consider designing your own.

With 20 different colours of Lamport leather and 11 different thread colours to choose from I am sure that you will be able to choose a wallet that fits with your distinctive style. And don’t forget that some wallets can have two or more different colours in their design! This gives you (thinking…..thinking….20x11 x20 ….😁 ) a lot of different combinations.

So, fancy a handmade, bespoke leather wallet that is entirely made in Great Britain? Then visit my website

Wallets

Bulldog clips. A saddler’s best friend!

I have a lot of bulldog clips in a variety of sizes. They are great for keeping pieces together whilst my hands are busy stitching.

They are also good for holding pieces together that are being glued and for keeping long ends out of the way.

Do you use them? And what other ways have you used them?

The item that I am working on is a rather large padded dog collar for a Cane Corso. Black JE Sedgwick’s Bridle Leather, neoprene padding and upcycled Range Rover (old) interior leather lining. Stitching is 1mm tiger thread in grey. Two handed saddle stitch at 4mm.

Visit my website at www.oaksidesaddlery.co.uk to order your dog their own handmade leather dog collar and lead.