East meets West - Bill Burke & WRTC....

Wild Rose

Wild Rose

Joined
Aug 23, 2002
Messages
1,398
A beautiful east meets west knife by ABS mastersmith Bill Burke gets an east meets west sheath by yours truly......

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The lower section carving was inspired by the carving on an original Japanses sword - the upper section is a rayskin overlay wrapped with black silk cord ala a Katana. The belt loop has a rayskin inlay.......

Anyone note the "surprise".......
 
Love the sheath, love the knife, but don't really see how the knife qualifies for an "East-meets-West" theme. The only thing that recommends that idea, as far as I can see, is the copper collar (whose Japanese name I forget) at the ricasso.
 
It is mostly a western style fighter, but the habaki does give it a bit an east meets west flavour.

The knife and sheath are both mine. Thanks for doing such a great job, Chuck.
 
Cool stuff guys! Looks like you scored Keith! That knife looks like it'd be as much a pleasure to hold as it is to look at.

Chuck, you've got me stumped. How did you stitch that sheath together? I see stitches in the back, but not the front??? Also, what's the elliptical white area with a solid white dot in its center in the ray skin and how did you do that? The design you tooled is kind of neat in that the rose like forms could pass as signature gestures for Wild Rose Trading Company.

Search me what the surprise is. Hope you let us in on the secret.

All the best, Phil
 
Phil - It's an old leather crafter's technique called hidden stitching. You VEWY VEWY CAREFULLY cut a 45° angled slot along the edge and separate the two pieces. They used to make a specialized knife to do do it with, but I just do it by hand and eye. Then using a curved awl and needle you sew it all up along the bottom of the slot. After it's sewn you glue things back together and voila! Much easier said than done though. In this case it's a variation on the original technique wherein BOTH sides of the thread are hidden - I developed this style and call it half hidden. When I used to do shows it would really get the folks to scratching their heads! Lots of double takes....

The "diamond eye" is a natural part of the ray skin.....

FWIW - this is one of, if not the most challenging sheaths I've ever made in my 45 years of leather crafting - the enclosed double guard really complicated things, a "standard" style sheath with a retention device would have messed up the lines I was after and the wrap was completely new to me. I thought about taking in the works pics but I just didn't have the time.

Wish I could get better pics, the camera didn't pic up a lot of the textures and color nuances - the leather section for instance is an oxblood wash over a black ground and the rayskin is burgundy.....
 
I really like the wrap and ray skin, that's neat! :)

I understand the leather carving was inspired by carving from an original sword, but what is it?
 
Both the knife and sheath are spectacular! This sheath really shows how diverse and creative that you are as a craftsman Chuck, and really gives the rest of us something to strive for in our own work.
 
Like I said in the custom thread Chuck that sheath makes even that clunker knife look good. thanks to the rest of of yahs too.
 
chuck....sheat is awesome as always....i am interested in the technique u used on the front to hide the stitches....i have to wonder what the side of the sheath looks like...can u see a seam or anything on the top edge?....hope my question makes sense....ryan
 
Outstanding work one just compliments the other. :thumbup::thumbup:
Great work on the sheath and choice of materials.So whats with the stitches or should I say the lack of stitches on the front of the sheath?
 
Bill is being WAY too modest - I've handled a whoola bunch of knives by some of the finest makers (and some of the worst :eek:) over the last 40+ years of making sheaths and this is top of the line - I really like the overall subtlety and the way it feels in the hand is perfection itself.....

regarding the stitching......
It's an old leather crafter's technique called hidden stitching. You very, very CAREFULLY cut a 45° angled slot along the edge and separate the two pieces. They used to make a specialized knife to do do it with, but I just do it by hand and eye. Then using a curved awl and needle you sew it all up along the bottom of the slot. After it's sewn you glue things back together and voila! Much easier said than done though. In this case it's a variation on the original technique wherein BOTH sides of the thread are hidden - I developed this variant style and call it half hidden. When I used to do shows it would really get the folks to scratching their heads! Lots of double takes....
For those who would like to see the original technique illustrated I HIGHLY recommend the book "Art of Handsewing Leather" by Al Stohlman. A must for anyone interested in leather craft....
 
Wild Rose said:
Bill is being WAY too modest - I've handled a whoola bunch of knives by some of the finest makers (and some of the worst :eek:) over the last 40+ years of making sheaths and this is top of the line - I really like the overall subtlety and the way it feels in the hand is perfection itself.......
Click to expand...

Thank you very much Chuck it means a lot.
 
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