[Nathan Gilleland]

I've been really inspired by some of the projects that people here have done and decided to try my hand at something. My wife bought me a Yeoman from Albion last Christmas, and I decided that it needs a scabbard. I went to my local store and bought a poplar board, using my router to carve out the space for the blade. It's not a tight or snug fit, but I'm okay with it. Next I used a small hand planer and shaved it down to give it a nice profile. Now it needed to be covered. I looked for some leather, but I just couldn't afford spending the money to get a large piece of quality leather. Then I read about people using chamois on sword grips. I bought some and played with it by revamping a Windlass that I had on hand. After understanding how it works, I bought some Rit fabric dye, dyed the chamois and glued it on the scabbard after applying some cord risers. After the glue dried, I used mink oil to treat and seal the leather, giving it an aged, campaign look that I'm happy with. Finally, I used the chape from the revamped Windlass on the tip, which fits much better than on the Windlass.

The moral of this story is, even people like me can make something somewhat attractive, if not historically accurate.

Comments are welcome!

[Hadrian Coffin]

Looks nice for a first try. One way to ease the leather problem is to not use it. There are many examples of cloth covered scabbards. In my opinion chamois looks cheap, cloth (linnen or thin wool) looks as good as premium veg-tanned leather.
Best,
Hadrian

[JE Sarge]

Excellent first attempt! I like it!

As for leather being expensive, for my scabbards, I purchase bulk plain upholstry leather on eBay, which I typically get 30-40sf (about the size of a twin size bed sheet) for $40-50. Then I have enough to do a ton of projects. The last piece I bought covered about 10 scabbards, did 12-15 grips, lined a few helmets, made about a hundred feet of usable 1/4" latigo, and still have enough left to work on a few other small projects.

Keep up the good work!

[Jean Thibodeau]

[Hadrian Coffin]

Yes, I guess I worded that poorly.

[Julien M]

Hi Nathan,

Congrats on your scabbard, this is very nice work especially for a first attempt.

You can always improve the fit by glueing leather strips inside the mouth of the scabbard I suppose (never done it but it should work fine). The texture of your leather is intriguing me, it looks a bit like suede on the pictures which makes me wonder which side of the leather you glued on the wooden core (either way it looks fine).

One tiny detail: I would have dyed the belt strap the same color as the grip itself since the core is of lighter color. It would "unify" the all package somehow. hard to say from the picture, but the windlass shape appears to have a different finish (mirror finish) while the yeoman has a satin finish like all albions. Maybe a touch of fine grit paper on the shape followed by steel wool would be nice to even out with the sword hilt components (details details )

Cheers,

J

[Nathan Gilleland]

Thanks Julien!

The Chamois that I bought was a bit like suede on both sides . I glued the rougher side to the scabbard and used mink oil to finish the visible side. It looks a little more like suede in the pictures, due to their low resolution. In person, it looks more like aged and worn leather. I think it looks more like suede when you don't wrap it (like on a sword regrip) but simply glue and sew it on.

I agree that the belt fitting would look best if it was the same color, but it's a reign strap that I bought from the local horse tack supplier. As for the Windlass chape, i agree completely! "Fortunately" for me, it's developed a light case of rust, so I'm going to sand it lightly to get rid of the rust and while I'm at it even out the finish to match the Yeoman a little more.

[Scott S.]

I certainly hope my first scabbard turns out so nice!

Hey, I like the "I'm coming to show you my scabbard" photo sequence! I just happened to scroll down the page at a medium clip and it was like three frames from a movie; "Dude, seriously.... smell this scabbard."

Just trying to be humorous, great job and great pics both!

And like Julian said, match the belt with that grip! Since the belt is lighter colored, you could definitely do it. It's absolutely part of my own scabbard aspirations. Real cool about the RIT dye too, I'll have to experiment with that. Looks like you achieved a pretty consistent color with it.

Cheers!

[Nathan Gilleland]

Haha! I hadn't noticed that I do that! I get closer to the camera with every shot. Hmmmm...

Anyway, the thing about the Rit fabric dye is that you dye the leather before you put it on. and you don't brush it on either. Nope, you just fill a plastic tub with really hot water and the dye and toss the chamois in! Then you have to stir it for about half an hour to an hour. Then rinse it for a while until the color stops bleeding and then wash it in the washing machine. But I think that that might be why it doesn't bleed or "sweat" onto my hands even after prolonged handling.

I'll be taking a look at touching up the color on the belt, but I think that I'll replace it soon anyway. The belt that it's attached to doesn't fit around the Merc Tailor breast and backplate that I just got. Time for a more historical belt anyway .

Thanks for the positive comments! I'll try to post pictures of the Windlass revamp I did as well. Maybe on this topic?