Hi all,
I'm a medieval reenactor near Boston MA. Reasonably experienced leatherworker, competent blacksmith, fair-to-middlin' bladesmith, and rotten woodworker.
I'm looking for some advice on a few specific questions i have regarding the construction of what I have heard referred to as a "nordic sheath", similar to what is pictured below, and described here: Ragweed Forge's Sheath How-To:
I was speaking with a bladesmith last weekend and got some conflicting, or at least confusing advice.
I have some roughly 2oz vegetable tanned tooling leather, a chunk of maple, and access to a fairly complete wood/metal shop, and all the usual leatherworker's tools. I understand that the thinness of the leather really does mean i want to do a wood core. The knife i'm making a sheath for is an antler-handled single edged knife, the blade is about 3.5" long.
Questions follow:
1. Is the method of construction for the wood core described in the linked article the usual way of doing things? He describes, as I understand it, routing out a bladeshape in a block of wood and then cutting away the excess until you have a three sided wooden form that protects one flat, the spine, and the blade.
2. I'm used to using a carnuba/beeswax mix to harden and waterproof leather, and will probably take that approach here. Am i correct in thinking that i'll have to glue the wood core into the finished but unhardened sheath *before* waxing it? I can't think how it would be another way. That said, how would you suggest preventing wax accumulation that would block the reinsertion of the knife?
3. The bladesmith i spoke to said the following ambiguous statement: "The sheath is easier to sew if you sew it up the spine side and then just twist the leather around so the seam is on the back like usual". I can't mentally picture how this would work, given the advice from ragweed on tracing the knife profile onto leather to cut the pattern shape out. Wouldn't the leather be shaped wrong? Experiments with wax paper patterns haven't been especially illuminating.
4. Are there better tutorials on making this kind of sheath?
Thanks all,
-h
I'm a medieval reenactor near Boston MA. Reasonably experienced leatherworker, competent blacksmith, fair-to-middlin' bladesmith, and rotten woodworker.
I'm looking for some advice on a few specific questions i have regarding the construction of what I have heard referred to as a "nordic sheath", similar to what is pictured below, and described here: Ragweed Forge's Sheath How-To:
I was speaking with a bladesmith last weekend and got some conflicting, or at least confusing advice.
I have some roughly 2oz vegetable tanned tooling leather, a chunk of maple, and access to a fairly complete wood/metal shop, and all the usual leatherworker's tools. I understand that the thinness of the leather really does mean i want to do a wood core. The knife i'm making a sheath for is an antler-handled single edged knife, the blade is about 3.5" long.
Questions follow:
1. Is the method of construction for the wood core described in the linked article the usual way of doing things? He describes, as I understand it, routing out a bladeshape in a block of wood and then cutting away the excess until you have a three sided wooden form that protects one flat, the spine, and the blade.
2. I'm used to using a carnuba/beeswax mix to harden and waterproof leather, and will probably take that approach here. Am i correct in thinking that i'll have to glue the wood core into the finished but unhardened sheath *before* waxing it? I can't think how it would be another way. That said, how would you suggest preventing wax accumulation that would block the reinsertion of the knife?
3. The bladesmith i spoke to said the following ambiguous statement: "The sheath is easier to sew if you sew it up the spine side and then just twist the leather around so the seam is on the back like usual". I can't mentally picture how this would work, given the advice from ragweed on tracing the knife profile onto leather to cut the pattern shape out. Wouldn't the leather be shaped wrong? Experiments with wax paper patterns haven't been especially illuminating.
4. Are there better tutorials on making this kind of sheath?
Thanks all,
-h
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