Hey guys. So, I know that this is nothing exciting for all of you out there, but I thought that I would chronicle my first attempt at making a scabbard for my Albion Allectus. I have three new Albions coming my way and, since I cannot justify having a scabbard made for each one by someone who actually knows what they are doing, I thought that I should learn how to make my own. I have gained all of the information that I needed to do this from the people here at this wonderful site, so thank you :).

So far I have only completed the core for my scabbard. I made it out of two slats of 1/4" poplar. I carved out the inside by hand with a chisel and hand plane. The hand plane did not work so well, so most of it was hand chiseled and sanded down. That took about four hours.

Next, I made sure that the fit was right (snug at the last couple of inches, but still easy to take out), and then I glued the pieces together with some Elmer's wood glue. I let that cure overnight (so difficult to wait for that) and sanded it down to shape when I got home from work. That took about five hours more. Now, the shape is not as perfect as I would like. When you look at the pictures, you will notice that one side is not as straight as the other. While this severely annoys me, I am somewhat comforted by the fact that it was made completely by hand, so perfection may not be reasonable. Not bad for a first try I think, here are some pics:







So now, I need to figure out where to go from here. My initial thought was to cover the core with leather and then find or make some fittings for it. However, I now think that a bare wood scabbard may look very nice if I am able to match the color of the guard and pommel. I have been attempting to accomplish this for a couple of days now with no real luck. The guard and pommel are walnut and I doubt they are stained (just highly buffed). I had another though of creating some inlays made of walnut and leaving the rest bare. Anyway, I'll update this thread when I get to the next step. Any advice from you guys is always appreciated.

On the surface so far, looks great. Your call of course, but I've been hoping someone would try something other than the normal red & "overdone with excess brass" roman scabbard. I eventually will, but takes me forever to decide & do anything, so happy to see someone with more energy doing something.

And glad to see your allectus pommel & guard look like mine (quite a lot lighter than alb site pics). Sorry I haven't tried it yet, but fwiw I am hopeful that linseed oil will darken more like site. Don't necessarily listen to me (I know little), just mentioned because you talked about matching them.

Also fwiw, if you might care about roman larp, I think generally advises to avoid stains.

Most of all, thanks very much for sharing & look forward to your updates.

Thanks for the reply Carl. I honestly am not a big fan of the way that gladius scabbards are normally done. I am going to take my time so that I don't make any hasty decisions (really don't feel like making another core).

Personally, I'd call that a practice blank (damn good one at that) and try to grab up some walnut for a pure wood core. An Albion deserves more than a stained scabbard :p

If you're going to stay with that, however, go for the leather cover with metal fittings. Sand it down a bit more so that the outward facing part of the leather lies flush with the guard for bonus points.

M.

Just as a by the by, someone a few years back made a core out of walnut and then had problems with the wood staining the blade. I don't recall all of the details, but that was the general gist of it. I remember being quite surprised at the time although perhaps I shouldn't have been. Take the anecdotal report for what it is worth. :)

Well, good to know guys, thanks. I checked out the local Tandy leather store and they seem to have a good / lb price...but you have to by 12-13 lbs :(. I suppose I will have to make more scabbards in the future...