Coyote Knife & Sheath

Wild Rose

Wild Rose

Joined
Aug 23, 2002
Messages
1,398
Just finished this one up for Dana Acker of www.ackerforge.com. He gripped it with a set of coyote jawbones wrapped with rawhide which are mounted to one of his handforged blades with a forge finish along the spine.

This sheath has some porky quill work along with the beadwork and other geegaws. It's braintan deer over a rawhide liner.

coyote-005-both.jpg


coyote-005-in.jpg
 
Really interesting pieces. I can see hours and hours of work there. Beautiful simply beautiful.
 
Thanks guys.
Hours? I quit counting those things years ago! :D (otherwise I get too depressed - but these are so much fun/challenging that I'm having a hard time getting jazzed up to do my "regular" leather stuff)

Joe the beadwork is Crow/Blackfoot influenced both in style/color and method which is the applique return stitch i.e. thread 3 beads go back through the leather, back through two of the beads, and then thread 3 more until done. Painstaking but worth it as it is the strongest beading stitch. The knife is based on the Blackfoot Bear Jawbone knives which were carried only by the bravest of the brave - it was their ONLY weapon.
 
Hey OF #1 & 2 get back to work! :rolleyes: Who said that? OF #3 :D

here's a closeup:
coyote-005-closeup.jpg


BTW this one's like Gib's recent small Bowie - forge finished spine and hollow ground. Look close and you can see the little forged pig tail on the end of the tang. Cuter than you know what. To paraphrase Michelangelo "it's all in the details."
 
:eek: :eek: :eek: you just don't see that every day do you:D
very nice work to the both of you...this forum always amazes me:)
thanks guys.:)
 
OF#4 says "Dang, Chuck, those sheathes are marvelous works of art" Beautiful work, and wonderfully complimentary to a cool Dana knife. What a great package.
 
Man, that must have taken alot of time and patience. The talent was definately there. Nice work.
 
The beadwork part does take time, but it is fun and for me it's relaxing. I do it late in the evening while kicked back in my easy chair. The patience part kicks in when I finally get the beading finished (usually LATE at night) . Can turn into an all nighter at that point because I'm always eager to see the final product, but sometimes I'm just too rummy by that point and have to wait until I get some rest. Gotta be sharp or I tend to wind up hammering on the beadwork and that ain't good. Those little glass babies can actually handle a lot of wear and tear but they just aren't up to getting smacked with a hammer.
 
Ray it's a pair and the tang is shaped to fit the full length. I am assuming that he glued and pinned the whole sheabng together underneath the rawhide wrap which was put on wet, sewn, dried hard and then sealed to make it waterproof. But I can't say for sure. Dana is supposed to post this over in the Outpost so when he does you can ask him to make sure. If he doesn't post soon I'll bug him about it(hey post over there that you want to know how - that ought to get him moving)

The other pair of jawbones in the picture got sent off to Dana along with a sketch for a blade so he can make another one.
 
I just got the following how to from Dana re: mounting the jawbones as a grip.
"I pin the jawbones on, then wrap them with wet rawhide. The internal surfaces of the jaws are not flat, and therefore do not fit exactly flush to the tang. Gluing is impractical as there are several points touching and several points not touching. I drill two holes and counter sink them a little, then peen two brass or bronze pins one at each end, until tight. They won't come off unless broken off. Won't even wiggle. Then wet the rawhide and sew it on. When it shrinks and draws up tight, it helps hold the handle. In olden times it was probably the rawhide alone that held the handles in place."

Just in case anybody was interested.
 
J - you're welcome. I figured inquiring minds wanted to know.:D

BTW - How are Moma and the new baby doing? I can vaguely remember those days (26 years ago for me) so I know Dad's pretty tired, but all smiles.
 
We're all doing great, tired but, great. I'm trying to teach Danny how to stick his tounge out at Tess now.:D I don't know who's going to act more grown up down the road, me or the kid.
 
We're all doing great, tired but, great.
Click to expand...
Seems to me it took about eighteen years before I got any rest. :rolleyes:

As for being grownup just wait until he hits adulthood and you realize your kid acts more grownup/responsible then you do!:D
 
Hey wild Rose...


It's Ok,,,,, but...


It would look much better in a concealex sheath as far as I'm concerned....


LOL

Just play'N with you...

Looks frigging Awesome.. Great work by both of you...

:)

ttyle

Eric...
 
Well it is sort of frontier camo! :D And in the way it works rawhide is a lot like kydex/concealex. Just have to wet it before forming and heating.
 
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