steveb leatherworks: the blather

Summer is well underway. I like Summer, the weather is nice, the bikes beckon, we BBQ, we go to the beach, we eat, drink and be merry, we go to the pool, whatever,  and the shop is hot.

For me, a hot shop is tougher to work in than a cold shop. I can always warm up, not so when it comes to cooling down. Once I’ve reached nuclear operating temperatures, it takes me some time before temperatures return to the “land of the living” zone. So I spend less time in the shop, unless I have a custom order, or need to work on one of my machines.

I’ve not adapted my brief bag concept to a Women’s shoulder bag, that was on the agenda, I’ve not done a few things – Summer is not a good time for me to focus. Honestly, I’d rather just hang out. But that lazy bones way ‘o life is done with, at least for the short term – I have some work to do.

Las year, I invested in some quality, custom maker, bench knives. I got the pieces from Terry Knipschield and was really happy with them. These precious pieces are the kind of blades you don’t have to sharpen, simply strop. I’d been looking for a bladesmith to collaborate with with a project I had in mind, but it turned out to be a pain in the butt , depending on other people, and so I went to Terry and told him what I wanted to do.

I thought my ask was pretty simple – I wanted a very small 5″ long , very high quality, totally usable, everyday carry, subtle,  scaled down fixed blade, with some interesting natural scales. Terry thought for a minute and then came back with a “yes, I can do that as a matter of fact”, and shared he already had blanks he could use. Luckily for me, a person had come to him some time back wanting a run of  small blades. Terry started the run, cut a few blades – but the person had disappeared, and so the blanks sat in a drawer…

I’ve learned that shop knives need scales of man made material that simply wont shrink or react. Not so with sheath knives, and so I asked Terry what he had in stock. He had an idea and the material to make these extra special, he had some small pieces of Stag horn that was decades old that would do it. He made one up, a prototype, shipped it to me and I loved it.  I showed it to a few people and wound up selling it off of my belt; this was in January. I called Terry and asked for the rest of the 5 blanks to be made into the knife/sheath combo,  I was calling the “Knipper”.

6 months later the 5, 5″ long blades are done (no one should ever complain about my turnaround times), and they look great, just as good as the prototype. Already, without trying to sell them,  3 of the 5 are spoken for, so If you are up for one of these limited edition sets: Sheath, Blade and Bead, let me know!

The sheath is made from some very thick 10-12oz veg tan, it’s tooled, wet formed, sewn, glued; and I use a piece of Latigo to tidy up and strengthen the belt loop. This sewn in belt loop holds the blade TIGHT to your body. It’s an heirloom kind of setup, made to last and to wear.

And that’s right, in special circumstances like these, I am making my own beads (copper & brass) to go on a leather thong (no paracord), so you can get to this unit, as I make the sheath deep.

Thanks Terry, and thanks to my great customers!

The Knipper