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This time on board I decided to make a marlinspike for myself. And a sheath for it as well. The marlinspike is turned on the lathe from an old steel bolt for fastening the cylinder head to the main engine. It is just shy of 12". The ball end is 1.25" in diameter, and the body tapers from 19/32" to 1/4" right at the tip. In addition to being conical, the body gradually becomes oval nearing the tip of the marlinspike. A D-ring of bronze was silver soldered in place in the shaft, and I made a similar D-ring that could be mounted on the sheath so that the safety lanyard can attach directly to the sheath. There are different rules on different ship regarding the safety lanyard. Some ships require the lanyard to end around your belt only, but others will allow you to fasten it to such a D-ring. The sheath is made with a flat back. A wedge shaped piece of leather was sewn on it for two reasons. First it would move the marlinspike a bit outwards, which in my thinking will cause it to clear the hip of the wearer just a bit. Second - it would give a backing rabbet for the round outer part to register to. The outer part was cut wedge shaped, so that the sheath tapers in thickness as well as in width all the way. I sewed it on using diagonal through stitches (or whatever they are called). Entry on the side and out through the back. After sewing the sheath, I wanted to trim the little bit of surplus leather along the sides, but due to crappy weather and bad illumination of the workplace, one side messed up a bit. I had to redo a couple of stitches, and it doesn't look quite as nice as I had imagined. But with a bit of wear and tear it will look all right I think.

A few holsters that I made. Still new at this, but happy with the overall

A few holsters that I made. Still pretty new at this, but pretty happy overall