Doug Lester

Now that you mention it Alan, that blade does have a bit of a blue tint to it. Might need to check the back yard for Orcs. Doug

A basic pouch sheath is about as simple as it gets. If you can get your hands on one of the late Chuck Burrows' DVDs on sheath making, even as a loaner, it will help you out a lot. Too bad it went out of production with his death, though I imagine that there are other good videos on YouTube. You will find different recommendations on threads. Everyone seems to have their favorites, mine's waxed synthetic sinew which is actually waxed nylon. Others go with waxed linen thread. Regardless of the fact that your thread comes waxed, get a cake of bee's wax to add more to it before stitching. Get a stitching wheel to lay out your holes and an awl to punch the holes, though I use a heavy drapery needled chucked up in my drill press to push the needle through the leather after laying out the holes. I clamp a board to the press table with a 1/2" hole in the middle and another right at the edge. The hole in the middle is for punching holes in the leather as it lays flat and the hole at the edge of the board I use for punching the holes on the edge of the sheath because the sheath won't lay flat after it's folded over. To make your life easier, get a stitching pony to hold your work while leaving both hands free. Pick up a couple of pamphlets on leather sewing and lacing, you should be able to get three our four for around $20. However, if you learn the saddle stitch it will be the only stitch that you will ever need. Some other things that you will need besides the stitching pony, awl, stitching wheel, needles, and thread are an adjustable groover and some contact cement. If you want to dye your sheaths get some dyes and some 1' foam brushes to apply them with. That should be enough to get you started though others may add on things that I might have overlooked. Doug

From what I can see it looks nice but I agree with Joshua that a picture from the top to get a better look at the handle would be nice. Doug

If I had made that, and there's no way that I have the skill to, I'd have to really be asking myself how much I needed the money from selling it. That outfit is some real nice eye candy. Doug

Absolutely outstanding, sir. I wonder if you could afford to make that with the price of silver these days. Doug Just out of curiosity I looked up the price of silver and saw that it price is actually falling along with most of the other precious metals. But still, at approximately $558 per kilo, two pounds of silver is going to dig into a budget quite a bit.

That is insane! Is that an off campus site for Hogwarts? Doug

Zeb, I'm not sure what you mean by order of operation. I heat the blade until he decalence passes then quench point down in warm peanut oil for at least a seven second count, wipe the excess oil off and cool until it's no more that warm to the hand then take it right to my waiting oven to temper. Doug

I've had a sinus infection for the last week or so. I had to go into the designated clinic for respiratory problems and was put on decongestants and an antibiotic. Don't really feel sick; I just wish I would get over this drippy nose and cough. I went to the grocery store to get some stuff. Two bags of mandarin oranges on the shelf; I bought one. It's a good thing that I don't use sliced bread because there were only six loves on the shelf. The store can't keep meat in the coolers, though they did have fried chicken. They were low on hamburgers but they had enough for me, just no buns. Plenty of cat food though (I wonder how it tastes). There was one story on the news that I get on my smart phone. A man was caught in a stolen semi full of toilet paper. I wonder if he had a clue of how he was going to unload it. Well, that's my report from this corner of this crazy world. Doug

According to Kevin Cashin, peanut oil isn't the best for quenching blades, though I've seemed to have done ok with it. Doug

That is something that I've always have wanted to try but with a different guard. There's a whole lot to like about that sword. Doug

I think that Amazon has restricted deliveries to essential products so I don't know if you can get much from them. I have a book on pole arms and how they were made on order and I hope it's not sitting on a shelf in some warehouse until these restrictions are over. Doug

Beautiful knife and I love the carving on the handle. Kestrels are one of my favorite birds of prey and I think that that knife picks up the spirit of them. Doug

If you are going to build a new forge then I'd look into getting some Mizzou or Kast-O-Lite to coat the ceramic fiber matting with. Both are much more durable than the Santinite and you won't have to reline is as often. Doug

Yes, I agree with you that the handle looks a little blocky. BTW, is the handle wood Osage Orange? If it is it's going to turn a russet brown. Doug

I think that you will find that the historical makers weren't as good on fit and finish as modern makers are. Todd Cutler, a noted knife and sword maker in the UK, said that if he made one of those old swords the way they were made back then he wouldn't be able to sell it. I imagine that the fuller extended under the guard and part of the handle without the guard being "fitted" to fill in the fuller. I've read people claiming that it would cause rust to form under the guard but there are swords hundreds of years old that do not display any such damage. Doug I guess Alan and I were typing at the same time.