Axe sheath/ cover help

[DaveP]

Here's what I came up with handle is held in with a wedge. The rust color on the axe head is original coating from the factory. It's how almost all the Norlunds came. Not hardly any corrosion at all.  I just want to protect the edge once sharpened. This is the Canadiene model...1973-1986. They stopped production in 1986, closed permanently. Thanks for the ideas for a cover. 

[DaveP]

Here's what I came up with.  Not perfect but this is my 1st. It'll need tweaked a little.  Rivets I smashed too much, which in turn made it really tight and pushes the top up. Thoughts for 1st attempt?

 

[DaveP]

Couple more pics. 

[chuck123wapati]

i think it will last for years! The blade isn't sticking out to cut you and it wont fall off so your good to go IMO. your front piece took all the form and the thickness of the head so that's what made it pull down in the back. a bit. No one will ever notice. 

[DrmCa]

1 hour ago, DaveP said:

Here's what I came up with. 

I like it. It follows the KISS principle.

[DaveP]

32 minutes ago, chuck123wapati said:

i think it will last for years! The blade isn't sticking out to cut you and it wont fall off so your good to go IMO. your front piece took all the form and the thickness of the head so that's what made it pull down in the back. a bit. No one will ever notice. 

Not sure what you mean? There's 2 layers of welt on the bottom. Figured that would fit really well. The rivet is too tight and smashed the extra welt. 

[chuck123wapati]

1 hour ago, DaveP said:

Not sure what you mean? There's 2 layers of welt on the bottom. Figured that would fit really well. The rivet is too tight and smashed the extra welt. 

You can see the leather is formed around the head right at the base of the handle past your welt, at least that's what the photo looks like Smashing the welt there probably helped also. Your welt works until the head gets wider, then the leather forms around the head, that's what pulled your top down in the back.

[gregintenn]

Works for me!

[Northmount]

@DaveP  Looks great.  Protects the blade and anyone that picks it up that know nothing about axes.

 

[MtlBiker]

On 2/12/2022 at 3:52 PM, DaveP said:

Couple more pics. 

Dave, that's really nice looking! 

I'm learning how to hand-stitch leather and I thought a good project would be to make a sheath (similar to yours) for an old axe I have.  I saw a Weaver Leather video on YouTube which made it look fairly simple and straight forward.  So following the instructions in the video, I traced around the axe blade, added 3/8" for the welt and stitch line and started cutting out my leather from some 9oz veg tan I had.  I cut a strip for the welt and wet formed it to follow the contour.  When dry, I glued it onto the back piece (the back has the flap).  Then I laid my axe on it to see how it fit and I was very pleased.  Then...

I placed the top piece on top and found there was no way I'd be able to fit the axe in it if I finished the sheath.  The video didn't run into this problem or even address it, but the axe blade is really thin at the sharp end (of course) but quite a bit thicker nearer to the handle.  So if I'd stitch the top piece onto the back with the welt, it wouldn't allow the thickness of the axe blade to fit.  Duh.  My only excuse is I'm a novice and didn't think of that (and the video didn't either).  If I understand right, you used a double welt on yours.  With 9oz leather in my case, I think a double welt still wouldn't give me enough height for the thickness of the axe there (nearer to the handle), nor would I as a novice be able to punch the holes and stitch it up.  My axe is at home but I think it was about 3/4" thick at that point, maybe even a bit more.

So I'm back to the drawing board on this one, and I'm looking for a different and easier project to practice my stitching with.  SIGH  But I think you did really well with yours.