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Dave Hannon
Location: USA Joined: 20 May 2010
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 Posted: Thu 20 May, 2010 5:10 am Post subject: Sword scabbard basics |
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I am new to the forums here, and so far I have not been able to find information in previous postings on sword scabbards. I am looking for details on the correct way to make them, whether they all were wood core or not, hilt mountings and chapes, types and weights of leather used, colors, etc.
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Chad Arnow
myArmoury Team
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Dave Hannon
Location: USA Joined: 20 May 2010
Posts: 3
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| Posted: Fri 21 May, 2010 6:25 am Post subject: |
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I did do a search but came up with too many scattered listings. I am looking for tutorials on basic scabbard making. I am also looking to know the historical accuracy of wood cores VS plain leather, mostly for average European High Middle Ages swords 1000-1400AD, and different mounting/frog ideas. I have experience in leathercrafting though I cannot make anything like what some of these specialists can make.
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Chad Arnow
myArmoury Team
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| Posted: Fri 21 May, 2010 6:42 am Post subject: |
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| Dave Hannon wrote: | | I did do a search but came up with too many scattered listings. I am looking for tutorials on basic scabbard making. I am also looking to know the historical accuracy of wood cores VS plain leather, mostly for average European High Middle Ages swords 1000-1400AD, and different mounting/frog ideas. I have experience in leathercrafting though I cannot make anything like what some of these specialists can make. |
Sometimes you have to hunt through a variety of threads to find what you need.  The threads I gave you have tutorials; sometimes you have to follow links in the thread. Here a link that comes up often: http://yeoldegaffers.com/project_scabbard.asp .
To answer your question about wood cores. The evidence we have is not as definitive as we'd like. We do have some surviving scabbards from that era and wooden cores seem to dominate. But the sample set of data isn't that big. There are a (small) handful of sword scabbards that have no wooden core and would seem to have been of all-leather construction. The all-leather ones would have been layers of leather, not just a single layer. Knife sheaths were typically all-leather; ditto a number of dagger sheaths.
The frogs you see sold by vendors are typically wildly inaccurate. Nothing like them survives for this era in art or in surviving specimens. For the era you're talking about, the scabbard and its belt would most often be integrated. Early in the era, the belt would be interwoven into the scabbard's leather cover. Earlier in the era, the only metal fittings would be at the scabbard's tip. Later on, metal bands at the throat and sometimes mid-point are used as attachments points for straps attached to the belt.
There are plenty of examples of scabbard suspensions posted around here. You'll have to do some hunting. Also, look at websites like http://gothiceye.com/ . They have drawings and pictures of funeral monuments. You can see a lot of scabbards there.
ChadA
http://chadarnow.com/
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Dave Hannon
Location: USA Joined: 20 May 2010
Posts: 3
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| Posted: Fri 21 May, 2010 5:19 pm Post subject: |
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Thank you very much, I am getting a better idea of scabbard construction. I bought a very cheap sword (VERY) at a faire recently to use as a base mould to practice scabbard making. As it turns out despite it's cheap-ness it is an interesting piece, Chinese made but with excellent lines and quite handsome in my opinion. I'd like to post photos of it to get an idea from members how authentic it looks and dates but it is a bit embarrassing compared to the other magnificent swords here.
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Zac Evans
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| Posted: Sat 22 May, 2010 3:26 am Post subject: |
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| Dave Hannon wrote: | | Thank you very much, I am getting a better idea of scabbard construction. I bought a very cheap sword (VERY) at a faire recently to use as a base mould to practice scabbard making. As it turns out despite it's cheap-ness it is an interesting piece, Chinese made but with excellent lines and quite handsome in my opinion. I'd like to post photos of it to get an idea from members how authentic it looks and dates but it is a bit embarrassing compared to the other magnificent swords here. |
The best threads on forums, are the ones that start small, and then get more and more impressive with each project. Seeing a thread of just awe inspiring work from start to finish is great, but it rarely inspires me to sit down and do any work myself. Seeing that people start small and get better over time makes me think that actually I can do that kind of stuff as well.
Which is a long winded way of saying "post away".
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This is a standard topic