Molded Knife Sheath Covered With Snake And Lizard Skin

[Sherkhan1962]

Hi all,

Here is a hunter knife I made nearly twenty years ago with a truck shock absorber leaf for the blade - heated and clamped on a flat surface until it cooled down to remove the curve, Cocobolo wood for the handle, and bronze from the local metal scrap dealer with some bits of stainless steel for the pommel and the guard. It is fully hand made but the use of an angle grinder at the beginning to roughly remove stock before using files. This was the first and only knife I ever made.

I made the sheath with leather that I molded the same way I used when working in the disability field in developing countries to make the sockets of the prosthesis (I worked as a technical trainer with NGO's). The leather is sunk in a bucket of water, and once it is totally soaked it is regularly twisted, bent, knead, trampled, tortured , etc. (the inflicted torments to soften the leather is only limited by your imagination - as long as they do not damage it! ), until it becomes elastic, therefore moldable. Usually this procedure is over a period of approximately 18 to 24 hours but it depends on the quality of leather.

The leather is then stretched over an exact wooden model of the knife blade and maintained in place with 2 to 3 cm wide rubber bands cut from inner tubes to let it dry. Once nearly dry the rubber bands are removed and the fiber of the leather, which must still be wet at this stage, is tightened back through rubbing it thoroughly with a smooth piece of wood (for instance the handle of a hammer). This rubbing operation removes also the remaining water. Once fully dry the leather that took the shape of the mold is hard and can be covered. If I have time I'll shot a video to be posted on YouTube one of these days.

I covered it with snake skin (yellowish and black) that I brought back from the Philippines - I didn't met its first owner, thus I don't know which brand of snake this was, lizard skin (light brown), and even a bit of fish skin (the disk on top of the front part sheath), luckily without the smell. The rest of the sheath is a piece of plastic (rigid while elastic) covered with white lizard, and blue lamb skin for the fringes and other smaller parts. Front and back parts are hand sewn together, but as you can imagine I had to drill holes on a drill press - no chance using an awl for such a thickness unless you are Hulk or Superman .

You can see more realizations on my website (www.crafts-design.com) but I'll soon post some of them - with explications about the making-of as a bonus when possible, at least those concerning leather work, on this forum. And I will also post soon an introduction about stitching clamps I make I intend to market - I have first to translate it from French.

Fred

[bluesman1951]

Well this is BAD TO THE BONE !!!!!!!! Any Austrailin bush man would be proud to have this in his gear . This is a real life Dundee knife built to go the distance. My compliments .

Edited January 25, 2013 by bluesman1951

[benlilly1]

Knife and Sheath...Beautiful!!

[Sherkhan1962]

Thanks Bluesman and Benlilly for your compliments.

Bluesman, I am also a fond of blues music, playing guitar myself (but finger picking country style like Doc Watson) and planning to buy a bluegrass banjo. But what is Zydeco music? Never heard of it on this side of the Atlantic Ocean.

Benlilly, you make nice bike seats - I just had a look at your website. I have definitely to try carving.

[electrathon]

Every time I thnik I know what I am doing someone posts something like this and I am reminded I am just starting to learn.

Very impressive work! I like the work on the knife too. Cool that is was hand work.

Aaron

[trekster]

Very nice work. Many years ago I made a knife out of piece of truck spring. It is functional but not nearly as nice as yours. At that length, couldn't it almost qualify as a sword.

[Sherkhan1962]

Thanks Trekster. You are right, it is closer to a Roman sword than to a knife in size. But I am tall enough (6'4") to carry it!