Thanks everyone! You are all great.

Back to the belt sander. I thinned out the entire core. Here's what I've got now. Looks much better, and is much lighter Thanks Patrick!

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Looks great. Once you get the leather cover on there I think you'll find it works much better. Great job on the grip too.

Here's a dry fit of what I've got so far. I changed my color scheme; I really liked the natural color of the belt in contrast to the brown scabbard cover, so I left the belt undyed. I'm gonna have to darken up the sword's grip.

The photo doesn't really show it, but the natural belt came out kinda marbled after I burnished and sealed it with Resolene. At first I was a bit disappointed because that didn't happen with my test strips. But it's grown on me and the marbling gives the belt a subtle "worn" or "antiqued" character.

The light color of the belt also matches the light color of the sword belts seen in the manuscripts of the 12th Century, so it's a good fit I think.

I chickened out out and bought a chape. I've been fooling around with some test leather, and I'm not confident that I can make the tip look good without covering it up with a chape.

I sanded the poplar core as thin as I was willing to go. It's not quite as thin as Julien's, but maybe next time I'll be braver and sand it down more. I have 5 more scabbards to build....

I still have to glue and sew the cover into place.

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That looks great. Your belt in particular is super clean work. The bordering lines you tooled in are key in my opinion. They really give the belt some dimension and texture. Great work!

Thanks Bryan, I'm trying the keep the whole project simple in keeping with the simple scabbards of the 12th C.

I plan to make a much more ornate scabbard for my Type VXII sword.

Fini

Thank you everyone for your assistance.

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That's a fine piece of work.

Great work on the belt lacing Harry! Very neat cutting job. I have yet to try one of these earlier types and I can only hope to manage it as well as you did.

What's the thickness of your leather? I always use 3.5mm veg tan straps for XV century knotted scabbard suspensions, but looking at such belt configurations including yours I have the feeling that the leather is thinner. 3.5 mm leather would not produce a very aesthetic result if inserted through the core leather wrap...however thinner leather would make a rather limp belt.

I still think you should have removed more wood from the core :)

Very nice nonetheless, so looking forward to see your next one!

Cheers,

J

This is a really eye catching work ! I love the colour contrast between the brown and the natural leather.

Julien : I don't see a problem using 3.5mm leather for scabbard lacing. You can always skive down the leather on the lacing area and keep the full thickness on the rest of the belt no ?

I agree, I should have thinned the core more aggressively.

Cover is 2-3 oz veg tan
Belt and lacing are 4-5 oz veg tan

4-5 oz seems too thick to be "period" but I made this one for heavy use.