First Attempt: Danish Style Sheath & Pauting Technique

[Spinner]

Here is my first attempt at a Scandinavian style knife sheath (my first knife sheath ever actually) and my first attempt at the European technique called "pauting". This style of sheath is a bit different than 'western style' sheaths in a couple of areas. First, the leather used is a special type called rautang (spelled slightly different with special characters) which is a type of half-tanned leather made in Sweden, Spain and Germany. Second, the seam isn't highlighted or prominent like ours as it is very small and hidden down the back side of the project. Lastly, and this has part to do with the construction technique, the sheath is wetformed around the entire body of the knife to to point that during the construction it can become difficult to initially release the knife from the drying sheath.

Pauting is a centuries old technique of working the leather (specifically half-tanned) after the sheath if formed. The special leather allows the worker to move the mass around using molding tools & modelers to create ridges and from those ridges, the details are fleshed out (pardon the pun). No cutting and no mauls/hammers or stamps are used even in the very nice sheaths.

Long explanation to show my simple first attempt. I had to relearn a few things as the techniques are slightly different from what we do here in the US but hopefully with more practice it will start to work out better as I really like the technique.

I made this for my Dad for his neck knife he uses for blackpowder patch cutting, etc.:

Edited July 6, 2010 by Spinner

[Spinner]

Here's a good picture of the sheath style I am trying to learn (I also purchased a blade to make one of the knifes) and a link to the article I used:

Knife & Sheath by Jens Rahbek

Jens Rahbek Sheath Making Article

Edited July 6, 2010 by Spinner

[amuckart]

Where did you find your information on the Scandinavian sheaths? I'm familiar with sheaths of this type from medieval reenactment since this is how the vast majority of medieval knife sheaths were made, often with two layers of leather flesh-side to flesh-side or with a wooden core for bigger knives (and swords).

If you're interested in seeing examples, there is a book Knives and Scabbards published by Boydell Press (originally by the Museum of London) and available from David Brown Book Company that has details of many examples of medieval knife sheaths constructed like this.

[Spinner]

Where did you find your information on the Scandinavian sheaths? I'm familiar with sheaths of this type from medieval reenactment since this is how the vast majority of medieval knife sheaths were made, often with two layers of leather flesh-side to flesh-side or with a wooden core for bigger knives (and swords).

If you're interested in seeing examples, there is a book Knives and Scabbards published by Boydell Press (originally by the Museum of London) and available from David Brown Book Company that has details of many examples of medieval knife sheaths constructed like this.

There are a number of websites about Puuko knives and the sheaths for them, the problem is that most of them are in Danish & Swedish and have to be translated. A google search for Scandinavian knives brought up the first bit of info and then I started to find suppliers and professional blade makers websites that led me to the more specific articles like the one I referenced above.

Thanks for the info on the book, I'll have to check it out.

[DaveJohnson]

Hi Guys

I haen't had a chance to try one yet, but found this somewhere and saved it - seems like a good tutorial

http://www.mamut.net/gjknives/subdet1.htm

Cheers

Dave

[Spinner]

Hi Guys

I haen't had a chance to try one yet, but found this somewhere and saved it - seems like a good tutorial

http://www.mamut.net...ves/subdet1.htm

Cheers

Dave

Hey Dave,

Yeah that is a good tutorial as well. I think I posted that link in a previous thread when I was researching the techniques to see if anyone had experience with these. I really like that the author shows both methods so we can see the differences in the two styles.

by the way, the loop method they use on the Scandi sheath is pretty cool, it doesn't look like much but it holds really well when done correctly.

Chris

[bex DK]

I might be able to help with some Danish translation. I don't want to translate six tons of stuff, but if you have a particular issue you need help with, I can give it a shot.

Haven't seen much of this stuff, but I don't go to the local knife show either. The local leather shop that is closing used to sell a lot of stuff for making knives as well as the leather stuff.

[Spinner]

Thanks for the offer Bex DK. I actually used to be a regular on a German woodturning forum so I picked up a good web based universal translator. Google Chrome also has integrated their translation service into their new browser so it's becoming even easier. They aren't perfect but everything is understandable enough to read. Some of the word-to-word translations can bring a chuckle to the 10 year old in me though.