Saya Material

J. Hoffman

J. Hoffman

Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Jan 1, 2011
Messages
1,776
I made a kitchen knife for a friend, and I need some type of box or cover for it. I was thinking of trying to make a saya, but I'm wondering where I find thin wood like that. I tried searching this forum and, and "the bay" and didn't come up with anything. What kind of wood can be used? Any help would be appreciated. It's a western style knife, so if someone comes up with another "case" idea besides a saya I would be happy to hear that as well.

Thanks in advance.
Jess
 
Lowes has some thin stock that works pretty good. Atleast of you want poplar. Its a pretty soft wood that works well.
 
go to an rc airplane hobby store and buy bass wood. or you can go to woodcrafters and get poplar.
 
Poplar is going to be one of the easiest to work with especially if you are going to use a chisel to carve out the cavity for the blade.
You should be able to get thin pieces inexpensively at any Woodcrafters store. You can usually also find thin pieces of wood at many art supply stores.
Thickness for saya wood can range from 5/16" to 3/8 if you are going to carve out the cavity, or about 1/4" or thinner if you are going to make the saya by sandwiching 3 pieces of wood together.

If you want to use fancier woods some of the guitar building suppliers will have thin cut woods cut thin for laminated guitar tops. But they can get pretty spendy.
Gilmer Wood in Portland Oregon is a good source for thin cut exotic woods. ($100 minimum order)

I have made sayas for my personal kitchen knives and prefer to use thinner wood than normal.
Mine are made using 3 pieces of wood. The outer layers about 3/16" and the inner around 1/8" (thinned to give a snug, friction fit).
 
Thanks everyone. I knew you use to have saya material Mark, but I didn't see it on your website anymore. I was thinking I would need a hardwood, but now that I think about it Bass would be just fine I think.
 
+1 for bass. Easy to carve, easy to burn and it's really pretty to me.

A little swing top box I made for my hook knife. Burned with a steel skewer bent to shape. Poplar pin.

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Strig - That's a pretty darn cool idea! I'm gonna' steal it..... don't care what you say.:D

-Peter
 
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