I am looking to put together a messer, scabbard and knife set, and I have a question about the set. Recently, I bought the following bauernwehr and by-knife from Tod’s Stuff: http://www.todsstuff.co.uk/in-stock/img-ts-instock-13-large.jpg. What I wanted is more information about was the placement of them on the scabbard. Peter Johnsson has previously indicated that the by-knives and prickers tend to be placed side by side on the outside of the scabbard. In the case of the bauernwehr and by-knife I have purchased, I don’t think there’s enough width to place them side by side on the scabbard. But are there historical examples in art or surviving scabbards where one knife is stacked on top of the other knife when contained in the scabbard? Or, alternatively, are there examples where there is a knife on one side of the scabbard, and a by-knife on the opposite side of the scabbard? (This arrangement seems less than optimal, since it would prevent the scabbard from lying flat against your waist/leg).

From the image of the scabbard for Maximilian’s messer, it looks like one knife could be placed lower down on the scabbard than the other. My main concern about this is that, since the bauernwehr I have purchased is so large, there may not be room for both knives on the scabbard if they were placed in a manner similar to the Maximilian scabbard arrangement.

My other question is, are there historical examples of scabbards holding a large bauernwehr like the one I’ve purchased? Or should I only bother creating a single pouch on the scabbard to hold the smaller by-knife instead?

I would bet there are prickers down the spine of the scabbard, like a rigging knife, that leaves room for a by knife on the side. Speculation only, but it would look practical.

There are a lot of topics on this site showing many examples of sword scabards with by-knives and prickers. Have a look at this topic for example: Scabbards with Dagger Sleeves.

I can't imagine a reason to want to mount your bauernwehr onto a grossemesser or sword scabbard.

This is what I did.