Sheath for shorty butaniku

C

Crouchingrooster

Joined
Oct 11, 2005
Messages
612
Hi guys, was wondering...while I'm waiting on my shorty butaniku, who can make a custom wood scabbard/sheath more like a traditional Japanese one for my soon to be shorty?
 
A couple of years ago, I was looking for the very same thing. I wanted it for my Busse AK 47. The only place that I found anything akin to that was at Tritonworks. I wrote to them but never got an answer. It was not a traditional scabbard, the "shell" looks to be plastic. It's the closest that I found, though.

It looked close to the traditional Japanese sheath/ scabbard....not like the Kydex sheaths one finds on Bladeforums.... Nothing wrong with them....I've got a couple.:D

I'll be following this thread. Would you be kind enough to let us know how your search turns out?

Cheers!
 
The Traditional sheath is called a "Saya" and they can be quite ornate depending on Sword Makers customers request. Here is a link to a site that may or may not be still making them.

http://www.japanese-swords.com/pages/saya.htm

Best of luck in your search....:thumbup:
 
Busto said:
The Traditional sheath is called a "Saya" and they can be quite ornate depending on Sword Makers customers request. Here is a link to a site that may or may not be still making them.

http://www.japanese-swords.com/pages/saya.htm

Best of luck in your search....:thumbup:
Click to expand...

Nicely done Busto..... I'm too ignorant of Japanese weaponry. That's as good a place as our friend will ever find:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

Let us know, Crouch..... Pics if you get!:D
 
Noxious Fumes said:
Nicely done Busto..... I'm too ignorant of Japanese weaponry. That's as good a place as our friend will ever find:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

Let us know, Crouch..... Pics if you get!:D
Click to expand...

Hope it works out.....I've made a few for some Japanese kitchen knives that I've made...I did some research before undertaking the process to make them. Never made one of this size.
 
Just a bit of note when looking for a saya, traditionalists still use a type of glue called 'sokui' which is made of pulped boiled rice. Which was the ideal thing to use centuries ago but it won't be as strong as the glues available now. You may want to ask them if they are willing to use modern glue for yours if you prefer them to be durable. Also sayas are usually made by more than one smiths. For example one smith will make the base sheath and then they will send it to a lacquersmith where the sheath will be coated with a lacquer called 'urushi' which will then be sanded, recoated and repeated. Therefore it may be a good idea to ask a martial art shop in Japan if you could ask them to arrange a saya for you so they can muster the right people. Martial arts shop usually deals with iaito (sword cutting martial art swords) items so I think its a good place to start. Lastly it depends entirely on the lengths but katanas can have different styles of sheaths. If the katana is very long its usually mounted on a 'tachi' style sheath and if its a normal katana length its probably best to go with the conventional sheath that we usually imagine when we think of katanas. Tachi sheath will have the blade facing down and the conventional katana sheath has the blade facing up when carrying.



Good luck in finding a nice sheath and I hope this helps :) (Please note I am a kendo player with interest in katanas not an iai player so if anything is incorrect please correct me!)
 
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