California Bowie sheath

Geoff Flato

Geoff Flato

Joined
May 23, 2017
Messages
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Looking for some recommendations. I've got a California Bowie to make at some point over the next year or so. The knife itself I'm not worried about, its the sheath I need some help with. I'd like to do the classic metal sheath (either in nickle silver or sterling), but I've never really done anything like that before.

I'm looking for book recommendations, either something specific to California bowies, something on metal sheaths/scabbards, or general silversmithing books that might be relevant in some way. Any other thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
 
Real Sheffield "California Bowies" mostly used pasteboard sheaths covered in leather, with metal throats and tips.
Making a full metal sheath is quite the undertaking- requiring hard-soldering skills and sheet metal forming skills.
 
There is a Bill Moran video out there where he makes a metal sheath. IIRC, he hammered the two halves to shape using a mandrel of some kind and then hard soldered them together.
 
I imagine that has to be a pretty close fitting joint all the way around not to look like hell. Definitely a challenge.
 
Here's a link to Bruce Evan's how to make a metal sheath. http://beknivessite2.homestead.com/nssheath.html

I talked to Steve Rapp, who makes a very nice metal sheath, at the Guild show and he said he is using monel to make his sheathes. He said it works easily and will not tarnish like nickel silver. McMaster Carr sells Nickel Alloy 400 which is their replacement for Monel

I have started my first metal sheath using the nickel alloy 400 and it seems to work well

Take care

Charles
 
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Bill, I'm aware of that sort of sheath. The one I'm going to be doing is more along the lines of a Michael Price or Buster Warenski's California Bowie's, and I'd like it to have the full metal sheath. I know it will be a challenge and a real test of my abilities, plus having to learn that sort of metal forming which I've never really done. But pushing myself outside of my comfort zone and learning new things is what keeps this fun for me.

Everyone else, thanks for the advise. I'll read those this morning and take some notes.
 
kuraki said:
I imagine that has to be a pretty close fitting joint all the way around not to look like hell. Definitely a challenge.
Click to expand...
The challenge aspect is mainly why I want to do it. If it was easy I wouldn't be learning anything, and that sort of takes the fun out of it for me.
 
Well then- I would make each sheath half separately. You should make a hardwood die to shape the metal, and a wooden insert to hold the blade and reinforce the thin metal. After hard soldering the halves together, insert the wooden part, and soft solder the throat of the sheath over the body. Nickel or silver plating the sheath will cover the hard solder joints and make the sheath look homogeneous.
While I have not made one of these-that's how I would do it.
It will be interesting to hear other ideas.
 
I quite like the look of the method suggested in the article above. I think I'll do a test sheath or two in brass to figure out how to do it, and then make an actual one in nickle silver or the monel suggested.
 
I have seen the felt liner method in a couple of WIP's. One may have been for a hardwood sheath. I suspect that the advantage with the wood sheath is no heat to worry about so you can install the felt before you glue up the two sides of the sheath. One of the problems with trying to copy stuff by Michael Price, etc is that they did some crazy stuff, like forge out and taper the tang some of their "simpler" full tang knives after they had slipped the guard over the tang. Most sane people today would do a morticed tang or frame tang.
Charles Vestal said:
Here's a link to Bruce Evan's how to make a metal sheath. http://beknivessite2.homestead.com/nssheath.html

I talked to Steve Rapp, who makes a very nice metal sheath, at the Guild show and he said he is using monel to make his sheathes. He said it works easily and will not tarnish like nickel silver. McMaster Carr sells Nickel Alloy 400 which is their replacement for Monel

I have started my first metal sheath using the nickel alloy 400 and it seems to work well

Take care

Charles
Click to expand...
 
If anything that's the fun part for me. Mind you I'm hardly sane when it comes to my projects
 
Chasing and Repousse'
Meathods Ancient and Modern
By Nancy Megan Corbin
and
Creative Metal Forming
by Betty Helen Lonhi and Cynthia Eid
 
It'll probably be sometime early next year before I actually get it done, few things on the list in front of it, including rewiring the shop and getting my hansvedt edm machine set up.
Just wanted to start the research early
 
Honestly, I think a sinker edm is a lot more useful for knifemaking work, especially for fancier pieces. Use the tang as the electrode to effortlessly fit guards (al Pendray did it that way) interframe knives and other inlays into metal, gold inlays, tapered square holes and other odd geometry for button locks and other tricky things, ect.
A wire edm is still on my list, but behind a pantograph mill, lapidary tools, and a large K&T. In other words a few years off at minimum
 
I would rather fit guards with a wire. With a tang/ricasso surface ground flat and parallel you could drill a starter hole and wire the slot to a couple tenths so that you could assemble it by hand with a press fit appearance. Wire the shoulders too. Or do crazy integrals. You're limited to pass through cuts but the other side is you're not making electrodes.

If I had a sinker I'd be using it for custom texture patterns though.
 
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