Hello all, I'm in the process of making a scabbard for my custom longsword and was wondering if anyone could tell me how to make a throat and chape for it. My metal-working skills are very basic, but my leather-working skills are good, so help with either metal or leather fittings is appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Alan

I thought I would give this a bump since I am also curious. A step by step for metal forging, supplier links, or metal casting how to's are what I am most interested in.

Scabbard fittings have been discussed before, numerous times if I rememeber correctly. If you try searching with different keyword combinations you should turn up some useful threads- here are a couple I found
http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t...ape+locket
http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t...ape+locket

Thanks for the bump Nathan, I had forgotten about this!

Thanks Justin, but my original intention was to make a locket and chape. I know of a number of suppliers where one can get them, but I had already made the core for the scabbard and did not want to risk getting a chape that was too small or too large especially.

In the end I made the fittings out of some elk hide that I had laying around. However, I would still be curious to know of any how to's for making scabbard fittings from metal.

Thanks,
Alan

I believe there have been a couple of threads on making scabbard fittings but could be cross-remembering something from another forum.
I don't know how common casting was for these types of fittings, historically speaking. I suspect many were/are made by forming sheet material to the correct shape and then soldering, brazing or welding the seam(s) as necessary.

Here is what I do in a nut shell.

I take some paper roughly the same thickness as the metal I am going to use and make a template. The throat should be one piece with one seam. The chape will most likely need to be two pieces. After I get the paper looking the way I want I then unfold them and trace them on to the metal with a scribe.

Cut out the metal pieces, file the edges, and begin to shape them. I like using a 1/4" brass rod to bend them around using my hands, a small ball pein hammer, and planishing hammers. The goal is to get it mostly into the shape you want and most importantly to get a tight joint where the two sides meet, you may need to do some filing so that to get a good joint. Clamp the piece so that the joint is tight and silver solder it together. Clean it up and you are done

The chape will need two pieces. One that goes around the scabbard and another that caps the bottom of the scabbard. You will need to use two different heat temperature solders for this. If you try to use the same solder it will melt the first joint when trying to do the second.

My advice would be to make a few very simple ones just to get the hang of it. I know this is a very simplified quick explanation but hopefully it will be helpful in getting you started.

Thanks Allen, that's pretty much what I was looking for. I remember one of the scabbard makers here showing a chape that was two pieces soldered together, but he didn't say how he made the two pieces.

Alan