- Joined
- Mar 4, 2014
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- 3,646
So I recently unearthed a box with old childhood stuff stored away. I guess officially, this would be the first sheath I've ever made. With maybe 35ish years between that, and my next "first sheath". So, the backstory....
In Jr. High, way back in a slightly less paranoid society, we had both metal and wood shops in school. If I remember correctly, this is from metal shop in my 8th grade year. The knife was ordered as a rough cut blank, from a school project catalog. Most (if not all) of the machine grinding was actually done by my shop teacher. I spent more hours and days than I even remember sanding and and polishing. But sadly, like many of my projects, didn't quite make it to completion. And my shop teacher was great. He didn't care if we were making throwing stars, or a battle axe. Just so long as we showed some interest in learning some of the equipment and/or processes. After my first class with him, I signed right up to be a teacher's aide the entire following year.
The sheath was originally stitched from some pretty thin leather. Then glued to a much thicker piece. Not exactly something to show off. But was a fun find. Giving a segway to torchure my highschool boy with stories from the good ole days.
Wish I knew a bit more about the blade. I was surprised to see that it was made in Germany, and not Japan (where the inexpensive stuff came from at that time). No idea on what the steel is either. Obviously stainless in some form. No noticable rust after decades of storage. The only thing I've done to it since Jr High, was to sand off the black adhesive that was on the Tang, from gluing the scales on to shape and sand. Under the old adhesive, it looked like there was some point of origin stamp, but couldn't read it until sanded down. Not sure what wood I used for the handle either, but looks kind of oaky.
If anyone actually recognizes the blank, or companies in Germany that sold blanks 30-40 years ago, please throw it out there. My son thinks I should take it to completion finally. But to be honest, I would really love for him to take over and finish, but not seeing that as likely. He has indulged me with some amazing father/son time in my hobbies. But he prefers less of the real hands-on, even though he is really good at the stuff. Sorry about the wall-o-text.
In Jr. High, way back in a slightly less paranoid society, we had both metal and wood shops in school. If I remember correctly, this is from metal shop in my 8th grade year. The knife was ordered as a rough cut blank, from a school project catalog. Most (if not all) of the machine grinding was actually done by my shop teacher. I spent more hours and days than I even remember sanding and and polishing. But sadly, like many of my projects, didn't quite make it to completion. And my shop teacher was great. He didn't care if we were making throwing stars, or a battle axe. Just so long as we showed some interest in learning some of the equipment and/or processes. After my first class with him, I signed right up to be a teacher's aide the entire following year.
The sheath was originally stitched from some pretty thin leather. Then glued to a much thicker piece. Not exactly something to show off. But was a fun find. Giving a segway to torchure my highschool boy with stories from the good ole days.
Wish I knew a bit more about the blade. I was surprised to see that it was made in Germany, and not Japan (where the inexpensive stuff came from at that time). No idea on what the steel is either. Obviously stainless in some form. No noticable rust after decades of storage. The only thing I've done to it since Jr High, was to sand off the black adhesive that was on the Tang, from gluing the scales on to shape and sand. Under the old adhesive, it looked like there was some point of origin stamp, but couldn't read it until sanded down. Not sure what wood I used for the handle either, but looks kind of oaky.
If anyone actually recognizes the blank, or companies in Germany that sold blanks 30-40 years ago, please throw it out there. My son thinks I should take it to completion finally. But to be honest, I would really love for him to take over and finish, but not seeing that as likely. He has indulged me with some amazing father/son time in my hobbies. But he prefers less of the real hands-on, even though he is really good at the stuff. Sorry about the wall-o-text.