Marlinspike with sheath

[Mulesaw]

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.

 

 

[gregintenn]

That’s pretty cool!

[Hags]

I like that a lot. I really enjoy the "making" of things. I worked for a very large northwest lumber company's wood chip export yard and did most of the cqble and rope splicing we needed done. Small stuff mainly, but needed a marline spike of my own. Made it out of a ash sledgehammer handle. Still have it.

[MikeRock]

Nice workmanship.  Also fits right in with the thread on Blackjacks.  Now we can tell the cops it's a fid!! 

If anyone needs one I have a cast bronze cable vise used in splicing.  Have two steel fids for it as well.  Limit around 1/2" wire rope.  Came out of a SE coast shipyard. 

[Mulesaw]

9 hours ago, gregintenn said:

That’s pretty cool!

Thanks :-) I think it came out OK as well.

Brgds

Jonas

[Mulesaw]

8 hours ago, Hags said:

I like that a lot. I really enjoy the "making" of things. I worked for a very large northwest lumber company's wood chip export yard and did most of the cqble and rope splicing we needed done. Small stuff mainly, but needed a marline spike of my own. Made it out of a ash sledgehammer handle. Still have it.

Thanks, 

It is so satisfying to make something that you can use for a special task. 
I haven't spliced in many years, at least not in cable, but I still remember how to do it. I probably just isn't very fast at it :-)

Brgds

Jonas

[Mulesaw]

7 hours ago, MikeRock said:

Nice workmanship.  Also fits right in with the thread on Blackjacks.  Now we can tell the cops it's a fid!! 

If anyone needs one I have a cast bronze cable vise used in splicing.  Have two steel fids for it as well.  Limit around 1/2" wire rope.  Came out of a SE coast shipyard. 

Thanks, I doubt that the cops in Denmark would be impressed if you walked along with either a Blackjack or a marlinspike/fid like this one :-)

That cable vise sounds sweet! Our bosun has been looking for one of those in ages, but for some reason there aren't many around. 
We have a large splicing vise that will work best for cables of 1" to 1.75" (as far as I remember) 

Brgds

Jonas

 

[chuck123wapati]

17 hours ago, Mulesaw said:

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.

 

 

Both are awesome. 

[Mulesaw]

@chuck123wapati Thanks for the kind words :-)

Brgds

Jonas