CaptainBeaky

Welcome! Whereabouts in Kent are you?

Hi All I've been lurking here for a bit, and was actually moved to post in a thread the other day, so thought I had better stick my head above the parapet in here I'm based in England's green and pleasant land, and have been playing with leather since the age of 8. Here's one I made earlier (and hence the topic title): A pair of caligae based on the ones found at Mainz, courtesy of the patterns posted by those kind folk at the Legio Tricessima website. 4mm cowhide throughout, except the 7mm soling bends. Hobnails are from LePrevo Leather, and are a reasonable facsimile of Roman hobnails, albeit truncated cones rather than fully conical. They took a little breaking in, but after lots of neatsfoot oil, they turned out comfortable enough to wear for reasonably long periods. These were made for a production of "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" last year. Thanks for looking

OK, a deeper pouch-type sheath - the pattern was made pretty much as described above by camano ridge: Big hint with wet-moulding around a knife - grease the blade with Vaseline or silicone grease, wrap in cling film, then tape over the cling film. Saves loads of rust spots! For your Green River style knife, I would suggest a modification of cr's method above: 1. Draw round the knife on a sheet of graph paper, extending your pattern up as far as you want the knife to sit into the sheath. 2. Expand your pattern laterally so that the width across each segment of the blade is twice the blade width, plus suitable seam allowance (I normally work on 1/4" per side). 3. The sheath will need to be wider around the handle - measure the circumference of the handle at a few heights, and add your seam allowance again - this will be the width of your pattern around the handle. 4. Fold in half and stitch the seam together. 5. Soak it! 6. Re-fold the sheath flat so that the seam is in the middle of the back surface, then push your wrapped knife into the sheath, making sure the seam stays straight. 7. Allow to partially dry, then hammer the back seam onto the knife with a light, CLEAN hammer. 8. Allow to dry completely, but remove the knife before completely dry. Finish the surface according to your preferred method. This type of sheath does require a frog, or if you make the back seam a little deeper at the top, you can use a D ring to make a dangler-type sheath. HTH

I'll post some more pictures later when I can get on my pc at home - I have done a few as you describe, although for single-edge blades. For ideas about knife and dagger sheaths/scabbards, you could do a lot worse than have a look at the Sheaths and Leatherwork section on the British Blades forum. You will find all sorts of ideas and designs on there, plus they tend to be very helpful (Ian Atkinson, who I believe is a member here, is also very active on there).

Here's one I made earlier... This is folded around with a single seam up the back, wet moulded then hammered flat against the blade. I have the pattern somewhere, if you're interested.