I recently bought a DT5146 sword the Marquardo Von and since the Del Tin swords don't come with a scabbard I wanted to have one made. I was talking to Patrick de Marchi who is the director of my WMA longsword group if he knew of any local or Canadian scabbard makers because sending a sword back and forth across the U.S. border to have a scabbard made is a pain for various reasons: Waiting times and having one's sword at the maker for an indeterminate amount of turn around time as well as having to pay taxes on the sword maybe more than once if customs wants taxes on it when it's shipped back and if something doesn't work having to send everything back for repair/modification etc ....

Anyway, a Canada based maker is a better option if the sword has to be sent for the making of the scabbard and having a scabbard made without the sword is a risk that things might not fit even if the sword is a standard product.

Well Patrick offered to try making me a scabbard and it worked out great since no shipping was involved and the results are very good. This is his first scabbard and although he isn't in the business of making scabbards he would be willing to make some for Canadian collector as a hobby if there is a demand for it.

Patrick is a member here although he doesn't post often and anyone interested in discussing having a scabbard made by him should either P.M. him or send an e-mail www.lesduellistes.com or phone at (514) 728-3071

Since Patrick isn't on the Makers and industry professional Forum he can't do any business through this site following this post by me, so you should contact him if you have any questions.

I will be using the " Quote feature " to highlight a short text he wrote to go along with the pics.

Oh, I also blued the blade and hilt furniture.

Quote:

15 days ago, Jean Thibodeau, one of my long sword students at les Duellistes in Montréa,l asked me if I could realize a scabbard for his Del Tin’s Spada di stocco del Patriarca di Aquileia. I agreed. I had a lot of fun creating this scabbard. Not only because it’s a beautiful object, but also for the challenge of making it from two pieces of pinewood with simple hand tools like a carving knife, plane, chisel and saw. I’m very proud to say that I did it without the modern conveniences, such as electric power tools. This is a personal choice and a good one, if you ask me, because I have found that hand tools can greatly surpass electric ones in shaping wood precisely the way you want it. I’ll be happy to help other canadian blade lovers like Jean. To nourish your curiosity, here is how I did it: the work in progress and the tools I used. I firstly shaped the inside faces of the pine boards to the exact blade’s measurements, mostly using a carving knife and then the outside shape, with a plane. Note that the center ridge on the top board was not added afterwards, but is actually a part of the board.

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Continued over a number of posts:

Quote:

Here is how it looks; the final shape is there, wood naked, waiting for the leather cover.

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I think that Patrick did an excellent job and the shape of the scabbard reflect the shape of the mid ridge of the blade.

The top side has a prominent ridge like the one on the blade and the rear is diamond shaped.

The fit is very good if a little tight but this might loosen up in time a bit as most scabbards seem to do but is not too tight.

There are some very minor flaws in the gluing of the leather cover i.e. a few small wrinkles, the cover is also just glued on and not stitched but this seems fine to me.

The pics don't really do justice to the overall nice aesthetics of the shape of the scabbard.

I'm sure that if Patrick continues making scabbards he will be able to add more decorative features and leather work: Patrick is also a jeweller by training so I'm assuming that he has more than enough skills or acquire the skills needed to make or modify chapes or other scabbard furniture.

I'm going to have him make me a scabbard for my A&A Rondel next and one for my DT5133 Maciejowski Bible chopper which should a " challenge " as far as design is concerned ! First priority something practical for the chopper as I intend to sharpen it and secondly figure out an aesthetic way to do it since the blade shape causes obvious difficulties.

NOTE: The inside of the scabbard was varnished to protect the inside ot the scabbard from any humidity penetrating into the wood should some water get in the scabbard and also if the wood itself might be corrosive to the steel. ( Don't know if this is a problem with pine but with the wood sealed it shouldn't be an issue ).