Vampire Stake & Leather Sheath
For this Halloween video I decided to make a wooden stake & a leather sheath. The stake is 11 1/2 inches long and 1 1/2 inch round.
For the sheath, I used 8oz vegetable tanned cowhide leather which was dyed using a chocolate oil based dye.
I mark the center of the blank using my center finder.
I hog away most of the blank using a bowl gouge. I then switch over to my carbide tipped easy wood tools rougher.
In combination with my rougher, I mainly used my skew to get the taper looking good.
I cut grooves out for the leather strapping.
I sanded with 80, 120, 180 and 220 grit sand paper to get the stake smooth.
I used a hand saw to cut the stake from the blank. I show this in the video above. I then take it over to the bandsaw to cut the remaining stock off of the back.
Since I'm using a water based finish, I pre-raise the grain by wiping the stake down with water and letting it dry. Once it's dried, I hand sand with 220 grit sand paper to get it smooth again.
I used tape to block areas where the leather is going.
Using a foam brush, I applied 2 coast of the semi-gloss finish sanding between coats with 220 grit sand paper.
I begin the process of dying the 8oz cowhide using a chocolate oil based dye.
Once the dye dried, I finished the piece with a coat of carnauba creme wax.
I buffed the wax with a cotton cloth.
I cut the straps and used double sided tape to hold them in place.
I begin cutting the leather for the sheath. I'm using the same 8oz cowhide.
I start the wet forming of the top of the sheath. Dip the piece of leather in water for a couple of seconds and use a bone folder (a leatherworking tool) to form the piece around the stake. To hold it in place, I put staples all the way around the leather.
After rough cutting the sheath, I use a water based contact adhesive to glue the sheath top to the bottom.
Once dried, I take the sheath down to the final shape at the spindle sander. This isn't the best sander to use, but it's all I have.
I use my diamond chisels to make the holes for the waxed thread.
Got the stitching done finally. Took a couple of hours.
I sand the edges with 220 grit & 400 grit sand paper to make them smooth.
To make the edges blend, I applied some dye.
The final waxing and buffing.
After the buffing.
cool