SOLD! But I can always make more. This Leather Wrist Brace was made for a customer that pretty much beats his pharmaceutical braces to death. As I understand it he goes through one of the fabric braces monthly. Whether just beating it up or “setting it on fire” as he says while welding his custom drag cars, they just don’t last nor support his damaged wrist properly. Apparently other leathersmiths he has contacted to create this stated “it can’t be done”. We’ll, yes it can…see? “Bruzer”, as he is called. contacted me a while back with this request and was kind enough to mail me an old brace that I could use both as a pattern and for internal parts for the new one. This leather wrist brace is made out of 5-6oz. oil tanned leather with a 1/8″ piece of foam sandwiched between the oil tanned outer shell and the suede lining. I can as well make this item out of Horween leather however the price will increase based on the cost of Horween leather at that time. The buckles are nickel plated while the straps are all riveted with nickel rivets for both strength and panache. This item is a prototype as I needed to construct it and get it to the customer for testing and suggestions for giving him a better fit. Think about it, if you have to wear something like this all day you definitely want to make sure that it fits perfectly. The final brace will be in the $250.00 – $300.00 range and note that larger braces for larger wrists will require more leather as well as increased cost for the use of Horween leather if you prefer. I’ve tried this on (my arm in the pic) and I assure you that your wrist will not move with this baby on.  Next step is to create a “dress brace” for those times when he’s out and about on the town… hmmm, where could I go with that?!  DH

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Bear Scare sheath for Large Blade… Say what?!!! This was a very unique project. The client in Alaska required a custom sheath capable of a quick draw if necessary and the full protection of a sheepskin lined/Kydex protected housing. The knife, a Zombie Tools Felon, is almost 20″ inches long and a very nice piece. If you can imagine carrying this, it can be quite difficult to get it out of the sheath if you are carrying it in the “Outback” of Alaska. The manufacturer does offer some nice, low rider, sheaths but they are impractical for bush work as a low rider tends to snag on just about everything. If I may digress just a little bit… This sheath is designed to carry high on your belt but does come with an interesting twist… (hint, look at the pictures carefully). The leather sheath shell and sheepskin lined kydex insert are only stitched together at the bottom third of the sheath, this allows the knife to be partially drawn vertically before rotating it down and out of the sheath. The advantage to this is that the knife remains protected in the sheath, remains tight to the body to reduce brush snags and yet remains easy to remove in case of trouble. In addition, the top two thirds of the blade are held in place via “friction”. For more information on the Dragonthorn Sheepskin lined Kydex/Leather sheath construction please visit the page located here and here.

The way I described it to the customer is this:

Everything is predicated on this premise; “Worst case scenario, big bear, moving fast, rifles empty, pistols empty, need knife NOW!”

In a nutshell: Unsnap, rotate 15 degrees, pull out, kill bear.

More detail:

1)      Starting up at the top of the knife you have four full inches of knife handle to get your hand around

2)      Snap at Choil wraps around from the back of the sheath, through choil and fastens with a “pull the dot” one-way ½” snap (only opens one-way and not by accident).

3)      The blade from the snap down to about 3.5” from the tip is held securely by the tight fitting leather shell, kydex and sheepskin. The final 3.5” is securely stitched leather/kydex/sheepskin as one unit.

4)      The blade is totally secured when in the sheath by the one-way snap, the clamshell action of the kydex and the 3.5” of stitched leather at the tip.

5)      To get to the knife:

1. a) unfasten one-way snap with a flick of your thumb
2. b) rotate 15 – 20 degrees
3. c) pull out knife
4. d) Your total draw length should be no more than 3-4” total

6)      To replace knife simply slide in from top as most knives in sheaths do. As you have already killed the bear you have plenty of time. If you did not           kill the Bear then it really doesn’t matter does it?

7)      A thigh lanyard placed in the bottom two grommets is required to use this action

8)      If you prefer to not use the bottom grommets you can unsnap and pull the knife out vertically about 11.5”

9)      You will note 3 sets of grommets for chest carry, backpack strap carry or backpack shell carry.

10)   The quick release action will work in any position.

I was assisted on this project by my good friend “Buck” Early in Lewisville, NC. Buck has more knives than you can count and is always full of interesting ideas. The knife is made with 8 oz. vegetable tanned leather and is dyed black with Fiebings professional oil dye. The lining is short hair sheepskin which is surrounded by a molded 2.5mm piece of kydex. Stitching is 330 bonded nylon. All metal fittings are solid brass for durability. This baby can be had for between $300-$450 depending on options and good sheepskin availability.  DH

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Not sure what to call this except “Twins”. In this PCS Twins set, the client wished to have the same (or close) PCS for his high end William Henry Knives, flashlight, lighter, pen and Swiss Army knives. One PCS will be “Office Carry” and one for “Weekend carry”. He will shift out the pen with the lighter depending upon the circumstances. In addition he wished to have a flap covering the Swiss Arny knife as he will be interchanging two different Swiss Army knives depending upon his personal preference for the day (one is thinner than the other). I also carved a “Lannister Lion” on the flap covering the Swiss Army knives. As with all PCS’s, this is made with vegetable tanned leather as it is the easiest to mold with, dyed black and embellished with blue thread. Price for the set? $280.00  DH

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A Pocket Watch Case is a definite requirement for those that prefer to carry a pocket watch over a wrist watch. We were commissioned by an executive in the mid-west to create a custom leather pocket watch case with attached leather braided cord for one of his latest antique finds. Interestingly, we have recently been commissioned to make many leather items without having the actual piece that will be placed in it. We do this with exact dimensions, a lot of research and hand made hardwood molds. This watch case was no exception. As the watch is very valuable, the customer didn’t trust the transportation system to deliver this watch safely for a custom fit. (I have a small article here that explain how we do it for knife sheaths but I should probably update it to better explain custom hardwood molds for other items).  This watch case is 1 3/4″ in diameter and 3/8″ thick so the work is rather detailed. In addition he wished to have the Notre Dame logo carved into the front of the case (turned out pretty well I think). The case is lined with a tobacco colored pigskin for protection of the watch finish and is supplied with a Italian braided cord with a sterling sliver clasp that is further attached to the braided cord with a very very fine piece of nylon string (fishing line). The base cost for this pocket watch case is $165.00 and includes the Italian braided leather cord and sterling silver clasp.  DH

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