Finally, you are ready to get started with making the sheath! The first thing you want to do is get everything laid out in a logical sequence. The place this is really important is for the molding step. Begin by preparing the knife. Some people recommend taping the blade so that there is some room in the end between the blade and sheath. This is to minimize scratching and to make sure the blade isn't held too tightly by the sheath. I rarely do this step as I HATE a sheath with a rattling blade! The other thing you need to look at is whether the handle needs to be protected. You can melt Kraton and some other soft handle materials. The best way around this (kudos to Sean Perkins for the tip) is to wrap the handle in a few layers of aluminum foil with the SHINY SIDE FACING OUT. This reflects most of the heat from the handle materials and protects them nicely. It works like a charm! Make sure the foil is pressed in and fits the contours of the handle nicely. If you aren't sure whether you will need to wrap the handle or not, then go ahead and do it. Trust me when I say it's better to be safe than sorry, especially if you are messing with expensive knives or ones that belong to other people.
Once the knife is prepped, you need to set up your workspace. It is important to have your pressing mold equipment close to your heat source so the stuff isn't cold by the time you get it there! Also have it straight in your mind which way the knife needs to be put on the material. For fold-over sheaths,
