wood sheath construction and fittings?

[T. J.]

Here's a topic for discussion. I'm interested in starting to make wooden
sheaths out of material to match the slabs on knives, and wanting to use
sheath fittings to match the bolster/guards on some of my knives. Other
than swords I don't remember seeing anything like this except for a small
picture of one in David Boye's book. Any information on construction of
these type of sheaths would be appreciated. I have made a couple of wood
sheaths just by making three slabs and cutting the middle one to fit the
blade, gluing leather to the inside of the other two and pinning the three
together and shaping the outside, but didn't attempt any fittings. Any
hints/info on this would be much appreciated.

 

[cwknifeman]

First things first you will need to mark the wood to split then add the total thickness of the blade to it, Split it on this line, then you will need to cut out from the thicker side the actual area that the blade will sit in. The fittings will be the hard part as most of it will need to be done by hand and files to have a good fit. then it's a matter of assebly. Good luck and take your time. I've seen a few of these type sheaths and they are very nice. This is the way that Japanese Sword Sheaths are made. The reason for off setting the sheath is that it will take punishment as if it were to be used as an actual weapon just as the knife itself. The offset split protects the wood and keeps the woods seam from being vurnable to splitting with any use.

 

[P.K.Hansen]

I'm not sure if this is what you have in mind, but I'll send you some pics of the work of a danish maker.

 

[Crayola]

Hello! Try going to knives.com; I think I remember seeing info there on how to do it.
It's under a link called Shira Saya (or some similar spelling!, as this is the Japanese name for them.
Good Luck!
P.S. MY FIRST POST!!!!!!

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