Old Sword, New Scabbard
Jan 22, 2024 20:19:50 GMT
Post by Alan Schiff on Jan 22, 2024 20:19:50 GMT
Hey everyone! It's been a while since I posted anything to this section. My job, life, and weather haven't left me as much time to work on sword stuff as I'd like, but I've been slowly working on personal projects. Here is one I recently finished: a new scabbard for my Atrim type XIIa. I've shown the sword before with a different scabbard, but I decided to try to up my scabbard game, and this is the result. Previously, I'd done simple wraps, sometimes with risers, glued and butted seams, and just a few chapes. This time I tried my hand at a stitched seam, tooled wrap, and lockets as well.
The scabbard core is 2 pieces of poplar with the blade channel routed out. The wrap is 3oz veg-tanned leather, tooled and dyed black. I had used 2oz for some previous scabbards, but it didn't take tooling very well, so I opted for a bit thicker on this one. The seam is closed with a simple whip stitch, which appears to have been the most common stitching type for scabbards in period.
The overall design of the scabbard is based on a few effigies from 14th century England; specifically those of John de Creke (1325), John of Eltham, Earl of Cornwall (1334), and Robert Fitz Elys (1346). I also took some inspiration from some of Tod's scabbards, to adapt the design for a longsword. The tooling is a mix of personal design (the Coat of Arms and scrolls) and a design adapted from a scabbard in the Leiden scabbard finds, one for a type XIIa sword. The silver areas on the tooling are silver leaf.
The lockets and chape are made from 20 gauge mild steel. The lockets are 1 piece, closed at the back (top one brazed, bottom one soldered), while the chape is 2 pieces brazed on the sides. This was my first time brazing anything, and I like it better than soldering. The rings on the lockets were a real pain to solder; difficult to attach at all and I kept getting weak joins. If I do that type of locket again I'm going to use strips of steel instead of rings, so there is more surface area to attach.
The straps are chrome-tanned white leather, with plates made from 20 gauge mild steel which I tinned. The buckles, slider, and hooks are brass which I tinned.
Overall I'm pretty happy with how it came out, although some of the tooling is a little meh.
Now for the pics!
Here's the whole scabbard front with the sword:
Close-up of the lockets and some of the tooling:
Close up of the Leiden-style tooling:
And here is the seam:
You can see more of the sword and stats here: paladinforge.com/swords.html
Thanks for looking!