Wood knife sheaths?

[GunnyGene]

Anybody make wooden sheaths? Pros and cons of wood vs. leather?

 

[BillinOregon]

Gunny, I have been tempted by the sheaths in Bo Bergman's book, "Knifemaking." The designs are stunning and traditional -- if you are a Lapp/Sammi or a Finn.
I think a wood sheath wrapped in wet rawhide and allowed to dry would be darned near bulletproof. How often this construction method appears in the historical record, I have no clue.
Maybe LaBonte or Wick would know.

 

[GunnyGene]

I've seen a lot of different designs on the net, from many different cultures. Was wondering primarily about whether wood might have some effect on the steel - positive or negative - and durability, recommended species, etc. Not so much interested in historical correctness. I bought a couple knife kits from Woodcraft (on sale till 31 May for $10ea) to fool around with.

 

[LRB]

LaBonte would know more than I, but some of the NDNs used birch bark as a liner for brain tan sheaths. I doubt many common folk would bother to go to the trouble of making a RH covered wood sheath. It may have happened, but not on a measurable scale. There would be a problem of keeping the blade in the sheath in a secure manner. It would need to be tied in, then it would not be as handy to retrieve as one held in by pressure from a belt or sash. There is not a lot of info on 18th c. sheaths, other than in art work, and a few back sewn center seam types for butchers and scalpers. light and simple seems to have been the norm.

 

[LRB]

I just finished one recently for a Scot Scean Du? Not sure of the spelling, but I had to exactly copy the original sheath to fit the sterling silver mounts. I had to use 1/16" cherry veneer, cover with a thin tight weave cotton cloth, then 8 or 9 coats of black laquer. The original had gotten wet in storage and rotted. This was not an antique, but a custom, probably from the sixties or seventies, although unmarked.

 

[BillinOregon]

Wick, it would be worth it to buy a kilt just for the honor of wearing that sgian dubh.

 

[GunnyGene]

That's beautiful job! Very impressive. :applause:

Unfortunately, what I'm going to be working on is likely going to be far simpler. The kits I bought are a modern rendition of a small tanto, and a spear point. I probably won't use rivets on the grips, just epoxy. I do plan to emulate 'traditional' (if there is such a thing) grips and sheath on the tanto. Like many blades of other cultures, there were many variations of Japanese blades and sheaths/scabbards going back centuries.

I hope nobody gets too upset over this flagrant violation of 'traditional' craftsmanship :wink: . Just wanted to get some advice as I mentioned above.

These 2.

 

[rafterob]

Wood can break, leather bends. I used to work with Phillipino Chefs and they would carve wood sheathes/scabbards for their chef knives out of crate slats from produce crates.

 

[BillinOregon]

Ghetto, that is a really cool piece of intel. Thanks. Folks in the Philippines know their edged weapons ...

 

[crockett]

Ghettogun brings up a good point. The only thing I ever used was leather but I wanted to make some rawhide sheaths and also a wood style that is leather covered (Big Bowies)and has a metal throat and tip. When I finally got around to doing these type sheaths I was a little disappointed. These hard materials are not pliable and resiliant like leather so the fit of the knife in the sheath is a little different. Personally, I think heavy leather is the ultimate sheath material.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Scean Du? Not sure of the spelling

Don't sweat it. There are numerous spellings to the words. And, there are many variations on the knife style, size, origin, etc.
It is Scotland's own unsettled knife issue, not unlike our Bowie knife. Oops! Did I just :stir: ?
:wink:

 

[bpd303]

This knife is made from a cut down bayonet with wood sheath for my kit...

This is hand forged as a Filipino bolo, the wood sheath is tucked inside the belt or sash..

 

[hoochiepapa]

gunny, i made a wooden sheath out of aspen for my Western Cutlery bowie, wrapped it with dark brown tanned elk hide. the difficulty i encountered was getting the sheath whittled down to a reasonable thickness-too thin, it breaks, too thick and it looks like you're wearing a 2 by 4. it came out reasonably well, but i don't have a pic available.

 

[GunnyGene]

Well, I'm goin' fer it. :wink: Got the blades this morning, and picked out some nice figured big leaf maple for the tanto, and some figured walnut for the spear point. I'll post a couple pics when they're done. Thanks for the advice, y'all.

 

[crockett]

Mike- I was at a collectibles show a few years back and they had a 1830 Sheffield Bowie for $30,000. (I passsed on that one- not it my budget ) but...the sheath wood was very thin- almost like a dried out corn husk. I have often wondered if a laquered paper machee (sic?) might have been used. If you wrapped a waxed blade in plastic wrap and then built up the paper around the blade and then the leather- I wonder if that's how they did it. On the wood sheath I made, same thing- in order to get it to look like an original the wood is paper thin. Easy to break.

 

[LRB]

I don't know about 1830's English, but later sheaths they exported at least in the fifties and sixties, were cardboard. Probably laquer coated.

 

[blackdog of vt]

All my sheaths I make this way, wooden in leather in the Finn tradition, absolutely durable.

 

[Many Klatch]

I have several knives with wooden sheaths that I have made. They are a bit noisier when they get bumped but they seem to last quite well. The biggest one I made was for a 12" long butcher knife. I cut a sheath shaped piece of pine in half, hollowed out both sides and then put it together. Once the knife slid in and out easily I glued it together. For a covering I sewed up a canvas cover that barely slid on. I coated the wood in Marine Varnish and slid the canvas on while the varnish was still wet. Then after everything dried and the canvas shrunk up a bit I painted it with a brick red paint. I have been using that knife for about 25 years. Reckon I ought to go take a picture of it to post.

Many Klatch

 

[Many Klatch]

BTW, I measured the knifeblade, it is only 9" long.

 

[M. De Land]

I would think one made of bamboo would be thin, light and super strong. My guess is that it would need to be split and the sections formed around the blade, glued and then wrapped radially with bamboo fibers or sinew. Mike D.