An east meets west Sheath for a Tai Goo E-nep

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Aug 23, 2002
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Here's the sheath for an extraordinary E-Nep by Tai Goo.....after several false starts and a delay due to an injury it is finished.....
As always it is much better in person since you also get to enjoy those tactile sensations of feel and smell - which NO photo offers. In hand you get to enjoy that special touch of fine leather and in keeping with the Neo-Tribal tradition, I used a top coat that is a homemade mix of pine resin, beeswax, and mink oil - so it smells good too.... :D
The metal inlay on the front and the two cone danglers are reticulated silver to match the ferrule on the knife. The dark hair in the dangles is Tai's and the silver gray is mine - I've been going gray since I was a teen. The inlays are buffalo (American bison) hide. There is a core of bark tan and the dark leather cover is also bark tan. The single line stamping was inspired by deer tracks going across my yard one early morning. All seams and edges are beaded - making this an east meets west style of sheath.
Also when making a sheath for one of Tai's knives there is a real challenge to match not only his superb quality, but even more challenging his inimitable "style". This one took several new (to me at least) and/or adapted techniques to build - and more than a bit of cussing too :foot:
I got my final "Brilliant!" moment (shades of those Guiness commercials ;) ) moment at 10:00 clock last night (8/31) - that "moment" gave me the last spark of inspiration needed to finish it the way I felt it NEEDED to be finished and I finally got it done at 2:30AM on 9/1 - sometimes being "artistically" inclined can be a real pain in the butt!

Anyway enough blather - here are the pics fo Wild Goo 13........
The front........
wildgoo-13-002.jpg


The back - an almost mirror image.......
wildgoo-13-003.jpg


With the knife exposed.......my photo does NOT do this blade justice...there is just so much "activity" going on with the quench lines that is not seen here - it would be even harder to describe....
wildgoo-13-001.jpg
 
Beautiful work, and yes I can see the quench line. There are alot of hours put into that work of art.
 
As usual both you and Tai Goo never cease to amaze. :)

Its amazing how Tai Goo's work goes from pure function to amazing works of art like this knife.
 
That is outstanding:thumbup::thumbup:
Thanks for sharing.
Mitch
 
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