3rd Age Arming Sword Scabbard

A central place to talk about weapons and armour, as it relates to your kit. This is where you show it of or talk about making it. Discussing the relative merits of types of weapons goes in the WMA section.

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Greg
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3rd Age Arming Sword Scabbard

Post by Greg »

At long last, the entire project is complete...my big camp Seax, my arming sword, and my byknife all have permanent, wearable homes.

This was the most ambitious scabbard project I've attempted to date, by a long shot, and I'm thrilled with how it came together. I wrapped it in the same supple lambskin (same hide!) that my Seax's scabbard was wrapped in, oh, three some-odd years ago. The Byknife scabbard was carved to tilt outards, keeping the handle clear of the scabbard, and then sanded flush with the scabbard exterior before being glued on. It was then wrapped in the same one continuous piece of lambskin together with the arming sword scabbard, with no seams save up the back. The risers were made with leather lacing which was tapered at various points to blend into the byknife and other parts. Ernie from Yeshua's Sword made the chape when he hilted the sword blade our own Odigan had produced some five years ago, and Taurinor tooled the leather straps that were then walnut stained and stitched into the suspension system you see here. The straps physically buckle around a belt, so it has the easy-on-easy-off without being part of a dedicated belt that makes moving around camp so easy, but because the sword's so short, hanging nearly vertically like this feels very practical (and bonus points for being easily concealable under a cloak...book references for the win!) Unlike the suspension of the film Ithilien Ranger's swords, which it somewhat resembles in shape, there are no floating D-rings allowing swinging, so it bounces very little because of the straps which are stitched for stiffness as well as shape. Buckles are Valiant Armory/Christian Fletcher originals from the Bristol harness, which match those on my Seaxe scabbard and need-wallet (which means all five that I originally acquired but thought some were missing are now accounted for. Yay.)

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Thanks to everyone involved with all three pieces...what a relief to be done, and on to other things!
Now the sword shall come from under the cloak.
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Peter Remling
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Re: 3rd Age Arming Sword Scabbard

Post by Peter Remling »

Nice clean lines, excellent job !
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Re: 3rd Age Arming Sword Scabbard

Post by Udwin »

Welp, that's wayyyy more impressive here than the inprogress cellphone pics I've been seeing. Holy cats man, now that I can properly see what's involved, I don't even know how you did it. Smooth risers, wrinkle free leather...incredible. WELL DONE!
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Elleth
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Re: 3rd Age Arming Sword Scabbard

Post by Elleth »

Wow.... that's fantastic!
I like your thoughts on hanging it: it has a very workmanlike feel to it.

I'm curious about the knife: I'd have thought looking at it that it'd be a bit top-heavy in the scabbard: does tension from the leather suspension strap wedge it into place? Or am I just misjudging things based on photographs?

SO. VERY. COOL. :)
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Ursus
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Re: 3rd Age Arming Sword Scabbard

Post by Ursus »

Very nice work sir! Was it particularly difficult to get the leather cut and fit over both cores?
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Greg
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Re: 3rd Age Arming Sword Scabbard

Post by Greg »

Elleth wrote:I'm curious about the knife: I'd have thought looking at it that it'd be a bit top-heavy in the scabbard: does tension from the leather suspension strap wedge it into place? Or am I just misjudging things based on photographs?
I was insanely careful carving the byknife scabbard. It's a push-tight level of snug fit...if I just drop it in, there's about 1/8" of blade exposed. Has to be pushed in the rest of the way. I could swing the scabbard like a baseball bat and it wouldn't come out, but a quick flick of the wrist and it pops right out.
Ursus wrote:Very nice work sir! Was it particularly difficult to get the leather cut and fit over both cores?
YES. And, well, no. I didn't do any fancy cutting to get it to fit over both. I started on the byknife...I glued the center of my hide to the flat face of the byknife scabbard and then gradually added glue to work down the sides. Then I worked my way down the risers to the tip end in small sections before turning around and dealing with the top of the byknife (mind you, at this point nothing has been glued to the backside...only on the 'front'side.) I put glue across the throat of the byknife scabbard, and laid the leather flat across that. This is where the fold in pic #4 came from...the leather had to "step" down off of the byknife, which left excess that would have to somehow be cut out or tucked away, because the leather couldn't be stretched enough to eliminate this distortion. Too big of a change in elevation, so to speak. So I tucked it under on both sides and, after some manipulating, got the fold to lay straight across the back. Once I had glued the rest of the way up the scabbard to the sword's throat, I started my stitching on the backside at the fold, and stitched from there to one end, and then started fresh at the fold again and stitched down to the other end, cutting off excess as I went. Seams didn't stay perfectly centered, but I don't particularly care. If it was perfect, it might be harder to convince someone that I actually made it.
Now the sword shall come from under the cloak.
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Aaron
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Re: 3rd Age Arming Sword Scabbard

Post by Aaron »

That turned out beautifully. Greg. Well done to all involved!
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Harper
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Re: 3rd Age Arming Sword Scabbard

Post by Harper »

Very Nice!
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Taurinor
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Re: 3rd Age Arming Sword Scabbard

Post by Taurinor »

Oooo, that is wonderful! I am continually amazed by the artistic/maker talent on this forum.

The rig is so simple and makes so much sense, and I never would have thought of it in a million years :mrgreen:
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Greg
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Re: 3rd Age Arming Sword Scabbard

Post by Greg »

Taurinor wrote: The rig is so simple and makes so much sense, and I never would have thought of it in a million years :mrgreen:
Took about that long to think up. I have a file folder full of suspension photos a mile long.
Now the sword shall come from under the cloak.
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Iodo
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Re: 3rd Age Arming Sword Scabbard

Post by Iodo »

That is amazing, beautifully made :P
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Re: 3rd Age Arming Sword Scabbard

Post by Zaskar24 »

That really looks great Greg!
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Greg
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Re: 3rd Age Arming Sword Scabbard

Post by Greg »

Small but significant update: the suspension hung fine during test runs and briefly after it was finished, but didn’t wear well over time. Last trek with Udwin and a Odigan had it sneaking behind my leg on occasion...it was just too close to the leg overall, and needed a slightly more pronounced tilt backwards. As the risers were already in place, I had to work within the confines of the existing scabbard shape. Fortunately, that worked out just fine.

I kept the buckle-on, buckle-off feature present, but now have a buckle running in line with the scabbard from the back, which attaches to a small loop of rolled, stitched brain tan from Udwin to avoid sliding around on the belt. It’s still vertical enough to stay under the cloak as per references, but regained a hint of swing that it was missing. I literally went for a jog, and am much happier. Didn’t want someone to read this thread and make my mistake on my recommendation. This is much better.

I also expect that the loop may come in handy for my workflow around the cookfire, hanging things like tongs and strikers from it to avoid loss and keep things close. Not a historical solution, but there are a lot of things we ask of our sword harnesses that swords historically didn’t really deal with, so I’ll just have to let this one slide through.

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Now the sword shall come from under the cloak.
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theowl
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Re: 3rd Age Arming Sword Scabbard

Post by theowl »

With that setup do you have much leeway with the back strap to make the scabbard tilt more or less?
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Ursus
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Re: 3rd Age Arming Sword Scabbard

Post by Ursus »

Very nice! The anchor points are almost similar to the way Tod of Tods Stuff does a lot of his longsword suspensions. I think that may be the first time I’ve seen a pic of you wearing your piece. I almost fancy that loop would make a great place to slide a pipe.
"Lonely men are we, Rangers of the wild, hunters – but hunters ever of the servants of the Enemy."

“My cuts, short or long, don’t go wrong.”
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