[Jimi Edmonds]

Yes there's lots of scabbard threads.

I'd like to try my hand at making a scabbard (for a late 14th early 15th C. longsword) in the similar way to the first couple of pics in this link http://www.yeoldegaffers.com/project_scabbard.asp where it has the thin slats of wood glued around the blade.

I have gone the chisel out the core etc. but would like to try this other way, now I don't know to much about scabbards and I presume they were still being produced at this time (15th C) in both ways.

In the thread it has shown the use of poplar wood, now it's not that easy to attain in these here parts, so I was wondering could you get away with using something like 2ply plywood? would it have any leeching effect on the blade etc.?
What other sort of wood would do the same trick, even if it was taken down to quite thin for soaking bending?

Also say if I were to use ply and gave it a light soaking and put it around the blade (glued, tied etc like in the link) how long would one have to leave the blade within the core? until it dries outright?

Cheers.

[Leo Todeschini]

The problem with a 2 ply wood is that half the grain will be fighting you, thats the point of thin wooden slats, that the grain runs down the length of the blade.

You could try dampening the ply and effectively forming it.

Tod

[Jimi Edmonds]

Thanks, yea I had thought that I may be fighting an up hill battle with ply.

[Mike O'Hara]

Hi Jimi

You can get poplar in NZ : check out TradeMe and places like that for poplar sarking. I got a few linear metres a few years ago. If you can access a bandsaw or thicknesser , you can cut it to thickness

cheers
mike

[Jared Smith]

I checked a timber reference and saw that Beech is commonly grown there for lumber. I would actually rather have beech than popular as it is tougher (was often used for bodies of wood working planes) and nicer to work. If you can buy slats of beech, it is only mildly acidic (is actually pretty random depending upon soil, but was used for mixed wood and metal tools after all), and should be a good choice.

[Jimi Edmonds]

Cheers I'll look into that.

[Mike O'Hara]

I'd be very careful about the acidity; i made the mistake of using ordinary wood glue previously and even though i thought I'd sealed it away from the blade by wax coating the interior of the slats it still gave me corrosion issues.

I've since found a neutral pH glue but i was surprised by the level of impact

cheers
mike

[Eduardo Fontenla]

I use wood Kiri (Paulownia tomentosa) http://www.nzwood.co.nz/learning-centre/paulownia/
The wood is free of knots, it is easy to work, resists cracking and kinks and weighs three times less than conventional wood. And it does not resins that can attack the blade
Regards

[Sean Flynt]

Heed Mike's warning about glue. I used original Titebond wood glue (red label) for years without trouble, then switched to the blue label because I couldn't find the original. Spent a lot of time on a nice scabbard core only to discover that it was corroding the blade. If I hadn't stored the blade in the core during a delay in production I would have completed the project before realizing that it was a complete loss. Side by side tests of these glues on a piece of scrap steel confirmed the problem. Overnight, the blue label dot of glue turned the blade very dark gray. The red label dot of glue had very little effect (but some). That was an extreme test--nobody applies wet glue to bare steel and expects good results--but it made clear that the red label Titebond is a good choice.

The good news is that we can dispense with salt/vinegar solutions, etc. to achieve an aged effect on steel. Just coat it with blue label Titebond overnight and peel it off the next day to reveal the new finish.

[Mike O'Hara]

Thanks Eduardo. Good to know about other options.

I like Sean's idea about the ageing . I'll now have to see what the green label (Titebond III) does out of curiosity

regards
mike

[Tomek Kowmal Ciupinski]

Hello.
This is the old way, but good.
I use alder. Good wood to work.
The blade will not rust.
Incised drawing the blade. I work an old chisel grandfather.
Sandpaper and ready for the project.
How to someone useful, I'll be happy.
Regards












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[Jimi Edmonds]

Handy tools Tomek! I do keep an eye out on building sites for certain woods.

[Eduardo Fontenla]

It seems a very good tool Tomek!

[Tomek Kowmal Ciupinski]

Thanks guys.
Primitive tools they learn patience.

[Jean Thibodeau]

[Mike O'Hara]

Hi Jean

I tried pine but it caused tarnishing, it can be acidic.

I have used shellac to seal the inside of a scabbard. A word of caution, let it dry REALLY well first. I let it dry once but the odor was still there and it caused rusting. It needs a good week.

Now I just use beeswax as an interior sealant, works really well if you work several layers into the wood.

cheers
mike

[Tomek Kowmal Ciupinski]

I'm sorry for the mistakes, I write with tlanslator.

Wood freshly felled trees European species has a pH in the range pH 3,3-6,5.
On the reaction of trees is affected by many factors, eg. Species, habitat, soil pH, the amount of downloadable sample from a tree, tree age, season, etc.

Genre - pH value

hard oak tree - 3.94
ordinary pine tree - 4.15
white oak tree - 4.96
birch tree - 5.07
alder tree - 5.13
beech tree - 5.45
elm tree - 6.74
Poplar Tree - 7.36

Information from the - uzytkowanielasu.pl

Old recipe perform sword scabbards says 6 - 10 layers of beeswax.
Mike has a very good method.

Regards Tomek
My work - http://www.facebook.com/tomek.kowmal

[Mike O'Hara]

Many thanks for Tomek for looking up those pH values, his answers give you a really good reason people have used polar for cores. It is slightly alkaline. Elm looks promising as well.

I found this link with a quick search

http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/journals/conserv...with-wood/

The beeswax method certainly seems to work, I've not had any significant corrosion issues since using it

regards
mike

[Jimi Edmonds]

Thanks for the tips and info guys.