Medieval Knife Sheaths (and knives)

[AlexOstacchini]

Hello everyone

I have so far only posted Sheridan style things but my main interest really is in European Medieval history. The scabbards are very much secondary objects in this case but there is leather involved and any history nerds out there might find it interesting, so here are a couple of medieval eating knives. These are both in the style of 14th/15th century examples- not exact copies of any originals in particular but borrowing design elements from the many knives and scabbards in the museum of London. 

The general standard of leatherwork in my reference was not the best, and some was down right terrible, and obviously I was much more limited than usual in what tools I could use, but I am quite pleased with the end results. These were both done freehand and you can tell- nothing has been measured and really it's all comparatively crude, but that is what the real ones look like and that was the aim here. Masterpieces of leather crafting they are not, but the original sheaths rarely were either it seems. Obviously I didn't want them to look rubbish but it's nice not worrying about neatness for a change!

Technical specs- Both of these are 2mm veg tan, wet formed around the knife and then tooled. Occasionally they were double layered but these are not. The aim seems to have been just to overwhelm the eye with stuff, so if there is space, fill it with crosshatching or dots or anything to make it more interesting. The larger sheath has gothic lettering as it was for my brother's birthday, no prizes for guessing his name. They both have a back central seam stitched with waxed linen, and a couple of hanging thongs rather than modern belt loops.  

For anyone interested the knives themselves are both hand forged from 1080 carbon steel, with olive handle scales and brass pins and bolsters. 

I hope you like them!

cheers

Alex

[robs456]

Both cool, but from the authenticity perspective I like the second one, the design is quite spot on.
Looks like you cut it though, and I hear they rarely did that...if you didn't please let me know what tool you used.
Knives are nice too.

[battlemunky]

I know crap all about what it used to look like but I think both of these look great.

[YinTx]

Those are really cool!  What about the backs?

YinTx

[toxo]

Good job. Love those handles.

[AlexOstacchini]

Cheers all

1 hour ago, robs456 said:

Both cool, but from the authenticity perspective I like the second one, the design is quite spot on.
Looks like you cut it though, and I hear they rarely did that...if you didn't please let me know what tool you used.

Many thanks, and I believe you are right, I was actually in two minds about this myself. Going off Janet Russell's 'English Medieval Leatherwork' article, apparently cut decoration was very common for the later medieval period and there are a few sheaths where this is the case, but in 'knives and scabbards' from the museum of London they basically all seem to just have pressed decoration, including the example that I used as my main reference for the second sheath. In the end this was just a personal choice as I felt it would give a better impression and I am more familiar with it, but I think really I should have used a blunter tool to be more historically correct! I shall do some experimenting before the next one... :p 

 

39 minutes ago, YinTx said:

Those are really cool!  What about the backs?

whoops, here they are! Not very pretty I'm afraid

[YinTx]

Those are pretty unique.  I don't see how you could make them any "prettier."  I rather like the look.

YinTx

[Sofaspud]

Those are really cool.  Maybe the decorations are not absolutley historically accurate (couldn't prove it by me), but they capture the flavor of the era very well. Back in my SCA days I would have killed for a knife and sheath like those.  Much better than what I made.

[chrisash]

Realistically just like today, every leather worker would have done there own thing with design. no doubt that with relatively little movement of the population outside of their birthplace, fashion would change county to county, and the main cities would see a small selection of the designs, whilst the capital cities would no doubt have a fashion to follow for the richer customers

[robs456]

14 hours ago, AlexOstacchini said:

Going off Janet Russell's 'English Medieval Leatherwork' article

 Ah OK, I just read "Leather and Leatherworking in Anglo-Scandinavian and Medieval York" looking for some hints on when they really started 'cutting in' with intent. Even the French used the push technique until late and I guess, please correct me if I'm wrong, the Spanish started stamping as we know it in the 1400s. Edit: Came from the Moors I've heard somewhere.

And at this time, did the leatherworkers decorate or was it done by the users themselves? Evidence point to the latter, but for me it makes more sense if it was a selling point....

Edited October 14, 2019 by robs456