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Post by ggower on Jul 19, 2023 23:20:11 GMT
I've picked up a few scabbards this year and I live in a very dry desert climate, so I wanted to ask if anyone has any suggestion for scabbards that might be a tad loose.
I was considering putting the sword in the scabbard and then putting it in a closet with a humidifier overnight. It doesn't seem like it could harm anything but I wanted to put out the question to see if anyone might have any advice for me.
Thanks! ggower
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Post by larason2 on Jul 20, 2023 0:55:24 GMT
High humidity and swords is not a good idea. If the scabbard is loose, it may be that it is not made for the sword. Sometimes you can modify the scabbard (say, line it with felt) to help improve the fit, but others may have more experience regarding that.
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Post by eastman on Jul 20, 2023 1:25:45 GMT
My place tends to be very dry (helps with my allergies) and I find scabbards are likely to shrink and become too tight in low humidity.
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Post by mrstabby on Jul 20, 2023 9:22:14 GMT
Don't humidify the sheath. Firstly, like larason2 said a sword won't take the humidity of a humidifier well. Secondly if you put the wood through too many dry-wet cycles you risk cracks in the wood. I would shim the sbabbard. Just glue in two thin pieces of wood inside the mougth of the scabbard on each side (I have not had to do it, look for low tannine woods - aspen, maple, birch - since tannins can rust blades quickly). Let any glue dry thoroughly dry before inserting a blade. You could also use leather, but the wrong leather can be quite agressive to steel as well. Residue from the tanning process can even ruin stainless steel blades in my experience.
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pgandy
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Post by pgandy on Jul 20, 2023 14:35:46 GMT
First, I would put the scabbards in an atmosphere I intended to store the swords for a period of time, at least a week if not longer. At the end of that time, I’d take what actions seemed necessary. In the case of still being a loose fit shimming will be necessary. The material and how much depends. I’ve used things from cellophane tape to tongue depressor, all depending. On a katana, after much use, cellophane tape wrapped around the habaki sufficient. On the other extreme end, I had a kukri scabbard much oversize. It was for a ¼” thick kukri and I could drop my 9 mm antique in it with room to spare. In that case, I started with a tongue depressor at the throat and built from there using several layers of copy paper. While that corrected the throat the blade rattled like heck so I used an old Japanese trick they used on katanas and inserted horse hair. That worked great. I’ve used wood veneer, tapes of various sorts, and paper. So, in short there is no single way to shim. I hope that you prepped the swords for humid conditions when placed in a humid environment.
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Greg E
Member
little bit of this... and a whole lot of that
Posts: 1,293
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Post by Greg E on Jul 22, 2023 2:53:10 GMT
I have used thin poplar shims in the scabbard throat to make a bit more snug fit on scabbards I made or on production pieces that have wood cores.
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