Del Tin 5153 scabbard making
May 8, 2020 15:44:30 GMT
Post by StevenJ on May 8, 2020 15:44:30 GMT
A few weeks ago I posted about my first scabbard I made but realized I didn't show any details in the steps or process that I took. Besides wanting to be able to show others online, I also plan on submitting this project as an arts project for my re-enactment group when we can meet again after this COVD lockdown. Still waiting on Phase 2 reopening Florida! Okay well enough of that.
The sword in question is a used Del Tin 5153 a single handed type XIX, an early proto side sword. These type of swords were attributed to be used by Italians and the Spanish. It is fairly heavy at around 3 pounds with a forward point of balance around 5 inches, feels like a cavalry broadsword but can handle well especially since you can finger the ricasso easily with your index finger and he rings do offer some hand protection. I did redo the grip on this sword with 2 to 3 ounce cow skin over an artificial senu wrap. I did make the wrap 2 mm too short so I ended up cutting a thin spacer out of the same leather and super gluing it at the seam to hide the gap. It happens but I got to cut them wider than needed for the future.
Now for the photos. I will post some of the pictures from the iMGUR album here but the link below is for the entire album.::
Above you can see the first of the two poplar boards cut to shape using the Ryobi band saw shown in the gallery. It didn't need much trimming as this sword has almost zero profile taper, it's all distal tapering which is very good. I also drew an outline with permanent marker for where to hollow out the core.
I mentioned this before but I use a belt sander to hollow out the wood. Now it's not running in this photo but it is meant to give you the idea of how the process works. I allow the circular shape of the belt running over roller grind a cavity into the board to speed up the process. The more I grind the less I have to use hand chisels.
In this case I over ground it using the power sander. So I ended up super gluing several layers of computer paper dead center to thicken it up. It sounds silly but the paper once layered and glued does add a lot of rigidity.
I then used wood varnish to paint the paper to make it less obvious when someone was looking down the scabbard.
Sides are glued. Clamps I used are not ideal as the little ends to leave divots on the wood. I bought some clothes pins but the darn things didn't open wide enough and I had already glued it so yeah :(
Same belt sander was used to round off the edges of the scabbard. I gave it about two hours to dry. Once it was all rounded I put the sword in and out of the scabbard several times while expecting the sword to collect excess glue. I had denatured alcohol handy so I used that and rags to wipe the glue off the blade.
In the image above I cut out four sheets of computer paper and taped them together to create a rough outline for the leather. With this said I originally planned on using 5 to 6 ounce leather to cover the scabbard, however it ended up not being wide enough despite using the template from the paper. I used the same template on 2 to 3 ounce leather, same thickness as the grip, and the template was correct. I then marked all the ends using a magic marker on the reverse side so i predrilled the wholes on my drill press. Now you can use a leather punch and soak but I think using a press takes less time.
As silly as this might seem, years ago when I first started doing leather over cord grips I have glued the wrong side face down. Little notes like this on the reverse side that gets glued down can go a long way :).
Two tubes of expoy were used to glue this leather on and I am using artificial senu cord to sew it up. For the chape I actually cut the leather short as I could not figure out how to join it. It doesn't matter as you will see why in the next photo. Before putting the leather on I did presoak the leather in warm water for one to two minutes in my kitchen sink.
Out of the 5 to 6 ounce leather I have I used it to create a chape. This will hide the fact the leather doesn't go all the way to the end. The leather pieces were pre-drilled and soaked in water before application.
Chape was glued with expoy and sewn together.
Leather was dyed using oil based dye and covered in bees wax leather treatment.
Backside
I created a traditional 15th century suspension for it by using a strap cutter to cut a two to three feet long 1/2 inch strip of leather out of 5 to 6 ounce. What you can't see in this photo is I also created a throat for this scabbard. I cut out a 5 to 6 ounce leather and super glued it to the top to protect the wood core on the top.
And that's the backside. It took me about six to eight hours from start to finish of work time.