Let's see your handmade axe covers!

[olybears57]

I just finished this one.

 

[ultrahesh]

Beautiful cover

 

[cityofthesouth]

THAT is awesome. This, less so. Quick and dirty.

cshawk_plumb_mk1 by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr

 

[rjdankert]

I just finished this one. . .

That's a heck of a sheath. I really like the look of the leather. Is that natural patina?

Mine are much simpler and reflect my leather working skill level.

This one is on a 1.5 pound Hults Bruk with a homemade Osage Orange handle.

This one is on a full size Vaughn head that I restored and put on a hardware store handle for one of my grandsons.

My daughter was given a hatchet. I restored it and made this sheath at her request.

Bob

 

[JonathanCharles]

I just finished this one.



That is beautiful! What does the centerline slit in the sheath do?

 

[olybears57]

THAT is awesome. This, less so. Quick and dirty.

cshawk_plumb_mk1 by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr

I still think that is one of the nicest Jersey's I've seen bud.

 

[olybears57]

That's a heck of a sheath. I really like the look of the leather. Is that natural patina?

Mine are much simpler and reflect my leather working skill level.

This one is on a 1.5 pound Hults Bruk with a homemade Osage Orange handle.

This one is on a full size Vaughn head that I restored and put on a hardware store handle for one of my grandsons.

My daughter was given a hatchet. I restored it and made this sheath at her request.

Bob

Hey Bob, looking good! Here's where I was 9 months ago.



It just takes trial and error and practice!

 

[olybears57]

That is beautiful! What does the centerline slit in the sheath do?

It's so that you don't need to pull the handle all the way through the sheath. Take the head out, and then just pull the handle through the slit.

 

[Operator1975]

Damn fine work on those covers. I am jealous. Perhaps will have to get some specialized sheaths for some of the beauties.

 

[olybears57]

Damn fine work on those covers. I am jealous. Perhaps will have to get some specialized sheaths for some of the beauties.

High praise from the axe king!!

Thank you very much sir. 🙌

 

[Square_peg]

You're doing awesome work, Oly!

 

[tanglediver]

Here is a recent one of them.

 

[Agent_H]

I'm impressed with the level of craftsmanship in this forum. That is some great leather work and an obvious personal investment in time and energy in each one of those.

Most of the time we see "Look what I got!" threads in forums dedicated to gear of any sort - which are great and I enjoy immensely and even try to add to. These "Look what I made!" threads are my favorites.

The member posts sharing woodwork ranging from structures to finished handles, skilled tool making/repair, blacksmithing, and leatherwork are set apart in my mind. Thanks for sharing.

Olybears that is a piece of work -what kind of riveting did you do on it?

 

[olybears57]

Here is a recent one of them.

Nice! Where do you get your snaps?

 

[olybears57]

Thanks Pegs!

Agent H, thank you very much! I just use plain old solid copper rivet and burrs. I peen them by hand, cause I'm to cheap to buy a rivet set.

 

[MBAIGENT]

I'm assuming the centre line split is so you can take the head out and pull the handle through the split which is a great design instead of having to pull the whole handle through! Where do you get all the leather and rivets (not sure if that is the correct terminology) from?

 

[olybears57]

I'm assuming the centre line split is so you can take the head out and pull the handle through the split which is a great design instead of having to pull the whole handle through! Where do you get all the leather and rivets (not sure if that is the correct terminology) from?

Exactly!! The leather and dye i used are from tandy leather. The rivets are from hillman fasteners

 

[cityofthesouth]

Thanks Pegs!

Agent H, thank you very much! I just use plain old solid copper rivet and burrs. I peen them by hand, cause I'm to cheap to buy a rivet set.

I think they are awesome though. I got a batch from a local hardware store here recently and the rivet wouldn't fit through the "washer" they came with. THAT was annoying, but they have a distinct traditional look that makes your sheath really look complete.

 

[rjdankert]

. . . the rivet wouldn't fit through the "washer" they came with. . . .

The "washers" or burrs aren't supposed slide down the rivet.

I use the scrap of thick walled tubing in the above photo to pound the burr down tight. Then if needed, trim the rivet off with a side cutter. This will leave enough to peen the rivet over the burr. I peen them down to where none of the edges of the rivet is above the burr. If it's not smooth it could catch on something like clothing or fingers. And IMHO it looks better.

Bob

 

[Square_peg]

When I forge a rivet I like to put a faceted head on it. Sometimes called a 'rose', it gives a nice traditional look to a piece. To make one place your 5 final blows at 90° to each other with the last blow on top center.

Here's one sitting in a monkey tool held in my vise. Forged square nails also get this traditional faceted finish. I've never tried it on a copper rivet but I think it would look good. You might have to use a pin punch to place the blows on a smaller rivet head.