What type of wood for a sword sheath?

[Silas]

I tried the search function but it wasn't working. I've decided to make a sheath for a Busse AK-47 sword. I want to make it with wood and wrapped in leather. What type of wood would you recommend? Should I coat it with polyurathane(spl?) and let it dry before I wrap it in leather?

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Poplar is cheap,readily available (home depot),and easy to work.It makes fine sword sheaths.I seal it with lacquer sanding sealer.

 

[Daniel Koster]

make sure to seal the inside too.

Any straight-grained hardwood will do. The lighter, the better - of course. Don't do oak, mahogany, cherry, etc. And don't use pine.

You can get some pretty good deals on boards on ebay, btw.

 

[brash]

Poplar is pretty similar to Ho wood, which is a fairly traditional wood for Japanese sword sheaths and knife handles. (Don't know how far back the tradition goes, though.) So that would be my recommendation as well.

 

[Silas]

Thanks for the answers. I now feel like I'm pointed in the right direction. I'll take pictures of each step. :thumbup: