Hi folks,

I thought I’d share some pictures of my latest project. The sword is made by Pavel Moc, of the Czech Republic, who I must say was great to deal with. Scabbard is softwood core with veg tanned leather stitched up the back. I thought I’d try it without glue and it seems to be holding fine so far. Chape and belt fittings are steel. I redyed the grip to match the belt and although it’s not quite the same colour, I’m satisfied that with use it will darken and look “right”.

I’d be interested in peoples thoughts as to whether this style of hilt would suit a rain guard/chappe. I know it would be period appropriate but am not 100% decided on the issue for this particular sword. I’ll most probably do a “D” shaped leather flap.

Darren.

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Beautiful work Darren! Did you make the belt fittings yourself or did you buy them?

Hi Brian,

Thanks for the comment. I did make the belt fittings. They are cut and filed from larger stock with face plates soldered on to the pockets into which the leather fits. Thanks to Aaron Schnatterly for suggesting this method. It is a lot of work but definitely worth it.

Darren.

Well that's truly impressive work Darren.

I'm in the process of making one for a Crecy and I (very humbly) hope to end up with something looking like that :) (I don't plan on making suspensions though, just the basic sheath).

There is a central ridge in the middle. Did you use a raiser (leather or maybe cord) to do this or is that the shape of the woodcore? Same question for the scabbard mouth, from the picture there seems to be a riser too just below the guard. Could you post pictures of the Chape and scabbard mouth (and possibly the stitching if that's not too much to ask? :) ), I d'be especially curious to see where you stopped the leather at the mouth, does it goes slighlty inside the scabbard or did you cut the leather just at the entry?

Thanks and congrats.

J

Impressive work! There's a scabbard in my future as well, so I'm very interested in construction details.

As for a chappe, you might have seen this image in the thread on my Dürer project. The pommel type is similar to yours, so I'd guess that a D-shaped chappe is a reasonable addition.

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A quick note-I have had problems in the past with PVA type glues causing corrosion to blades inside the scabbard, even a year or more after the scabbard was glued together. I have solved the problem on my scabbards by pouring tung oil into them and then hanging the scabbard upside down so the excess drips out. Once dried the tung oil seals the glue in and stops the corrosion, but I no longer use PVA glues for scabbards.

Hi Darren,

Thanks for posting those, it's all very helpfull. What kind of thread did you use for the sewing at the back btw?

Cheers,

J

Julien, generally a waxed linen of size 18/3 thickness is what you're after. A saddlery or leather supplier will sell it. I found one that is spun quite unevenly and in my opinion, adds to the "authentic" look. It even comes in 15m lengths. See the bottom of this page:

http://www.bowstock.co.uk/acatalog/Line.html#aLTRP318BL

Justin, I made sure the PVA wouldn't form globules or run inside the scabbard by applying it sparsely and to only the outer half of the join so hopefully I'll get away with it. You're right though. I think I'll be using hide glue from now on.

Darren.