Throat & Tip Sheath Question No 1

ddavelarsen

ddavelarsen

Joined
Dec 7, 2000
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I have a feeling I'll be asking a lot of questions on this so decided to start out numbering them from the beginning. :)

As I was laying out the acrylic body I realized if I use this stuff it's going to be fairly thick and want to see if the expected dimension is reasonable.

The knife is a big one, close to 18" overall with an 11 1/2" blade, using 3/16" stock. I have some 1/4" acrylic to cut the center "welt" out of and was planning on some 3/16" sides... So that would bring the total thickness of the body of the sheath to 5/8" before leather and brass.

I can work the thickness of the sides down or buy some 1/8 lexan or basswood to get the thickness down to half an inch.

What seems right? How thick are these traditionally?

Thanks for any help, and get ready to hold my hand for a couple weeks while I struggle with this! :D
 
dave go here then go to Bruce Evens how to.
http://www.knivesby.com/knifemaking.html
or click on our Knife Making Tutorials below...

I would make a medal inner linner then add the leather
throat,and tip. I'll be making one shotly for a 13 1/4"
blade bowie. may be Bruce will catch this somewhere on his trip.
 
I'd try and get the thickness down as much as possible preferably by using a different material but then I wouldn't be looking forward to trying to thin that acrylic down. The thinner lexan sounds good to me. But hey, what do I know, sheathmaking is something I put off until the absolute last possible minute.
 
Bruce had called when I was in the shop. Mainly said he made it home so I'm sure he'll be able to answer you question once the wheels stop turning.....Ray
 
Traditionally the bodies of leather covered wood sheaths use wood of about 1/8" thickness and the leather runs about 2/3oz.
I've made quite a few over the years and to help prevent breakage, especially woth long blades I like to use aircraft grade plywood - not cheap but it comes in 1/8" with I believe it is seven layers. It's virtually indestructible. As an alternative flooring stores sell 1/4" with 4 or 5 laminates and you can sand this down to the correct thickness.

Hope this helps.

Chuck
 
Dave this is a tough one to answer here but I will give you some pointers but it would be better if you called me or let me call you.

First your welt should be the same thickness as your blade plus half the thickness of the material you will be lining the sheath with (no lining is needed if it is a solid leather body)Then the sheath thickness overall should not be any wider than the guard you have on the knife.
If you will glue the welt on one side on the body material then grind it to fit the thickness you want (yes it is good to tapper the welt just like the knife blade)this will give a snug fit.You don't have to worry about making it cover all the way to the point as the tip will cover this so just leave enough length that the tip can be attached over the body securly.Now glue the other side on and start shaping the body to the thickness and shape you need.Then glue the book binding leather (or furnature covering leather,will work)over the body and make a straight seam in the back.Stitch this as close as possiable to the body.

The thing to remember about the original throat and tipped sheaths is that they had pasteboard (or paper machet) bodies and then covered with book binding leather,this is how they made them so thin,some were all leather and for these you will need a 7 ounce vegetable tanned leather that will form well.This is a whole different experience in itself though.

I am going to try a experiment on the body of a sheath this week and if it works I will let you know how to do it.
Like I said it might be better if you called so we can discuss this better.
Bruce
 
Thanks gents. Bruce, that sounds pretty clear but I will plan to call you this weekend. Thanks for the offer!

Dave
 
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