[Chris Goerner]

I have made several scabbards for swords over the years using vegetable tanned leather. I soak the leather with water to form it around the blade as part of the process. This helps mold the leather for a tighter fit, and also makes the leather stiffer after it dries.

However, there is one scabbard I've made that has a "soft spot" it in. About 1/3rd of the way down the scabbard, the leather is very flexible and causes the scabbard to flop around any time the sword is not in it. The scabbard has been that way from the day I made it about a year ago. I'm not sure if there was a flaw in the leather itself or what.

I have been considering soaking the leather again to see if that helps, but thought I would ask here first to see of there were any thoughts on another method that may produce better results. Any recommendations are welcome.

Thanks,
Chris

[Jared Smith]

You can use 75% isopropyl alcohol / 25% water cheap rubbing alcohol if you do it very lightly. This dries pretty fast compared to straight water. (You need to keep the cup covered or it will evaporate to around 30% full within minutes.) That is actually what I use while stitching. It accelerates the shrinking and hardening effect compared to straight water. A couple of minutes with a hair drier blower and it can be dyed and sealed very quickly afterward.

I don't know how your existing finish will respond. I would not want to do it without some leather dye very similar to what was used originally on hand. It's a little hard to explain, but I would just barely get a hint of some dye smeared lightly on a rag and try lightly touching up the color with some gentle buffing. It will look much darker at first than it is going to turn out. You would have to wait at least a day to judge if your color touch up is deep enough in tone as it will lighten as it dries, even if you used the alcohol moistener.

[Vilkas V.]

You can also try waxing the leather. Heat the leather to around 120F and brush on melted paraffin wax.