The sheath

Part two of my companion dagger is the scabbard. I had a tough time with the sheath, well, tougher than I thought I would. There is a saying that goes haste makes waste. I found that to be truth in this project. It all went pretty well. I started off cutting three like pieces of wood and tracing the blade onto one. I cut it out using a jig saw and then glued the other two boards onto either side. a week later i came back to finish the job.

After i cut out the rough shape i finished it with a hand file. 

after a shaping with the hand rasp i used some 120 sandpaper and hand sanded it smooth. Next in the steps was to wrap some leather around it so i sewed it up, and skinned it. next i bought a length of conduit 1.25 inch in diameter. i cut and hammered it out flat. then i used the power sander to shape it final. 

After this I needed to make a cap for the tip, and here I ran into my snag. I started out just like the collar, cutting it out of the conduit and welded it together. The thing is the repeated welding and sanding and polishing and re welding and polishing made the metal too thin and too easy to burn holes in. the more i messed it up the more impatient i got, witch caused more fail. a vicious cycle. 

after a while it got to the point where i had to call it. ten hours work down the drain.

a week later i started over. i cut two pieces of sheet metal and molded them to the tip of the sheath and using a wire fed welder stitched the seams. than the sanding and polishing and filing of holes. luckily i managed not to burn any holes into it and got it done. each time i work something i get a little better and learn a little more. i think i still have some work to do on the tip but its acceptable to me for now.

           

                                            

The companion dagger

So for a while I have been wanting a good broad dagger. More so I have been wanting to make a good companion dagger. A companion dagger for those of you asking is a dagger that while could still be used on its own as a weapon, is also designed to be used in conjunction with a longsword or if you've got the skill and strength a bastard sword also called a hand and a half sword. While at work an idea struck me. A cats paw pry bar is just about the right shape for a dagger blade. As soon as the idea planted i had to run with it.

So there it began, on the first day. first thing I did was to heat the crook part and pound it out flat. once there I cut the pattern of the blade out with my angle grinder and a metal cutting disk. From there shaping commenced with a couple sanding wheels. 

That took a couple hours to do. Once I had it all roughed out I started on the cross guard and pommel. I made each piece out of scrap steel I had kickin around the garage. The cutout and sanding wheel served me well in those acts and the process took a few more hours. the handle came last, I made a cut out into a piece of hickory hardwood floor and glued a second piece on top to make a cavity. and that took the rest of the first day.

 

a week later I picked it back up. The handle was my next project. The glue had had time to work and now it was time to make it a proper handle. I set to work with a  sander and a saw to get the shape and once i had it roughed out some finer sanding got it smother. I added to strips of leather to make the grip better using gorilla glue, witch in retrospect was a mistake as it took several hours to dry. epoxy works faster with the same result. 

Next I finished shaping the pommel and blade with my 7inch power sander and a 120 grit disk.it always amazes me how fast sandpaper will take down steel. and how hot it gets. I have two new burn scars from friction heat on this blade touching my arm and hand. After all that cut out a piece of black leather and wrapped it around the handle then stitched it up to make a nice wrap. 

It turned out decent. All that remained was to put it all together. A little JB weld helped patch some spots that didn't quite mesh. Next came the sheath i cut three pieces of cedar and traced the blade on one, then cut it out  and glued each of the three together. and that was all for that day. a week later came back and finished polishing the blade with sandpaper and files. Then came the sharpening with a combination of files and a four sided diamond stone. about 2 hours worth of work there. 

And so far thats as far as I am. I still have the sheath to finish and that will be the next post.

some archival footage

The first of many

I think at this point in my life its safe to say I have a hobby. I mean, for more than a decade I have been crafting things from wood, leather and metal that mostly have been sitting in various dusty storage places- basements, garages, closets, sheds...you get the idea. It seems the proper time to dedicate a virtual space to my creations so they might be appreciated instead of just collecting dust and rust. Also I would like to leave as much of an account of the processes involved in creating these items so that hopefully anyone reading this can gain a bit of respect for just how many hours of actual work is taken for granted in todays impatient society.