Home made sheath and file knife

K

Kevin the grey

Joined
Aug 26, 2005
Messages
4,106
This is a Birch bark sheath I made for an Old hickory knife. The sheath has a tie down on it so it can be used with one hand. Its mostly for camp kitchen duty where one hand might be busy .

There is also a file knife a buddy made for me. Sharp as you can make it. I think it will make a good flint striker.

http://forum.ramanon.com/showthread.php?t=42408
 
Kevin the grey said:
This is a Birch bark sheath I made for an Old hickory knife. The sheath has a tie down on it so it can be used with one hand. Its mostly for camp kitchen duty where one hand might be busy .

There is also a file knife a buddy made for me. Sharp as you can make it. I think it will make a good flint striker.

http://forum.ramanon.com/showthread.php?t=42408
Click to expand...

Interesting looking file knife. One of these days, I'm going to try my hand at knifemaking. It's always been an interest, but there's only so many hours in a day.............

The sheath is interesting too - made in a tube instead of flat -quick, easy, also the spiral wrap to hold everything together is novel.

Doc
 
Doc Thanks, that spiral wrap is there just to hide the seam. This thing is pretty tough considering its only bark. I Wanted the white outer bark on the outside . I put it in warm water to make it more limber. It curled right up inside out. I figured to make the best of it.
 
Kevin the grey said:
Doc Thanks, that spiral wrap is there just to hide the seam. This thing is pretty tough considering its only bark. I Wanted the white outer bark on the outside . I put it in warm water to make it more limber. It curled right up inside out. I figured to make the best of it.
Click to expand...
Most Birch bark containers (quivers, baskets, etc.) that I have seen have the inner bark on the outside. I'm not sure why that is. I've made a couple of quickee baskets with the inner bark on the outside and they are nice, but I am going to make a quiver with the outside, on the outside, for winter shooting. Of course, if I lay it down, I may not be able to find it again :( .

Doc
 
Thats the funnything I had good advice if a little sketchy. I was often told that if I steamed the bark or had it in warm water for a while that it would become pliable.

Is there a chance they were speaking of just the outer bark?

That inner bark with outer attached fought me every inch of the way. You could not have rerolled this to make the outer bark on the outside.

I wanted the outer bark for the look. I am glad of the inner bark for its durability. Its mostly to protect the edge on my camp knife. I still think the paper curls of the outer bark would be damaged.
 
Kevin, nice work on the sheath! I like the leg ties. I'll bet that stuff is a bear to work with. I have an old Dexter boning knife that looks almost like yours.
 
Sure thing. I took a piece of cardboard and drew out the nice shape to it.
I was originally making this look a bit like a holster shape to go with the tie downs.

A buddy of mine wanted me to draw him one so he could get an idea what I was talking about. This was easier.

I think I use scissors to trim the bark while it was reasonably pliable.
I was going to make holes along the edge and lock stitch a leather lace on.

Unfortunately all this did me no good at all. The bark rolled into a slightly oval cylinder. No coaxing would flatten it out at all,

I ended up making a collar/loop/inner sheath of leather to grip the knife handle. I used a strip of leather to hide the end of the bark . The strip also becomes the belt loop. The little leather sock was just sewn up over the end of the sheath to anchor the bottom of the strip and finish off the end.

The spiral strip helped secure the veritical strip on the way up and all is held in place by a couple of stitches in the inner loop.

The leather tie downs are a bit much. They would help in camp if you knew you were dressing game or cooking a big meal.

Its not the best. It is my first and all I did was done with hand tools.
 
Kevin the grey said:
Thats the funnything I had good advice if a little sketchy. I was often told that if I steamed the bark or had it in warm water for a while that it would become pliable.

Is there a chance they were speaking of just the outer bark?

That inner bark with outer attached fought me every inch of the way. You could not have rerolled this to make the outer bark on the outside.

I wanted the outer bark for the look. I am glad of the inner bark for its durability. Its mostly to protect the edge on my camp knife. I still think the paper curls of the outer bark would be damaged.
Click to expand...

Kevin, I think you problem is the thickness of the bark. The further north, I get, the thicker the bark and you are quite a bit more north than I. Sometimes you can get the bark to 'delaminate'. Try gathering your bark in May/June and see if that helps. I'll see if I can find anything on that delamination thing. Now, where did I see that..............

Doc
 
Kevin, that looks great, very "traditional" looking.
Does the file-knife have ridges on the spine?

I have an old nicholson file I may sacrifice to the knife gods, it has file slots on all sides, so, I was thinking if you leave the ones on the spine, it's a good thumb stop, as well , it would file off magnesium of a small consistancy and strike like a cobra on a fero-rod. :thumbup:
 
Doc go for it. I showed the sheath to my friends. It is even less evident in person how I accomplished it. One big flipping fluke.

I have access to good sized Birch a couple of times a year. They are a couple of hundred kilometres North of me. I may even be able to take the tree if I want. I may decide on an elm as they grow so straight.(Good bow wood) The Elm are huge. I would need help taking it down.
 
Yes there are some teeth on the spine near the middle of the handle. I may end up wrapping the handle in some rawhide as long as I can still strike flint with it. It is a brand new Nicholson file. I asked my buddy to make a few shorter bladed ones with a bit of a belly on them. Nice little skinners. He has stopped making knives for now.
 
Good stuff Kevin, that sheath is sweet, very mountainman looking (but in a good way).

I really like that file knife, I'm working up to a similar project as soon as I figure out backyard annealing and heat-treating.
 
hi guys have any of you used the Old Hickory filet knifes???? are they as thick as the regular knifes they sell or are they thinner??? The only thing i sometimes have a problem with is how thick the there knifes are.

Sasha
 
Kevin,

There used to be a company that made and sold knives that were made from files. It was called Anza knives. I hadn't heard about them for quite awhile so I didn't know if they still existed or not - Yup! They do. If you're interested: http://www.anzaknives.com/
Doc
 
shotgunner11 said:
Good stuff Kevin, that sheath is sweet, very mountainman looking (but in a good way).

I really like that file knife, I'm working up to a similar project as soon as I figure out backyard annealing and heat-treating.
Click to expand...

Thanks about the sheath.


For the file knife project? Apparently there is an easier way. I do not know enough about it. I communicated with a man who said keep the file hard. It will be a pain to work . It will also be easier to bring the metal hardness down to where you want it than bringing it back up from annealed.

He said all you needed was a big toaster oven and the knowledge of what color you want on your blade when you stop.

That is all I know about it. If its a first time project this may be an easy step to make between stock removal and forging.

I am sure someone in the makers forum could tell you if you asked the question right.
 
Oh my, I can't imagine trying to put the bevel on a hardened file, I hate doing it on annealed blades. I use all hand files so it takes me a long time.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top