My lastest WIP

[Joshua States 1,005]

On to the casting portion of our show........

First, a photo during the carving that shows the tang extension through the butt cap. 

I carved a small wax peen block and fit it over the tang extension. (no photo) Now, I only have the delft clay casting setup and that doesn't work for casting a piece with a hole through it. So I decided to try a modified lost wax idea. I embedded the wax model in some plaster of Paris and let it cure for a day, removed it from the plastic form and baked it in the Paragon at 350*F for an hour or two to remove the wax. The stem that filled the hole mostly exploded when I filled the form with molten shibu, but I did get a peen block casting.

You can easily see the obvious flaw in the casting. Not to be deterred, I saw a design option with this. The original design was going to have me make inset holes for the lanyard ring in the ends of the peen block. Now I will change that and put them in the sides. Drill and file to fit the tang.

I took a 3/16" round file and pushed that arch through the other side. Still a lot of clean up to do in this pic, but now to make the lanyard ring.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 5, 2018 by Joshua States

[Joshua States 1,005]

In delft clay casting, (a form of sand casting) you can make a model and reuse it over and over again. I used a piece of brass brazing rod and some 14 ga. copper wire to make the lanyard ring model. Here is the basic process: Fill the bottom half of the form with sand and press the model into it. Coat the surface with talc, fit the top half and fill with sand. Take the halves apart, remove the model, cut the sprue lines and fill tube with pour funnel. Reassemble, fill with molten metal and remove the casting.

Cut the excess off and clean up the fitting. Check for fit in place.

Still a little clean up and polish to do here, but you get the idea.

 

Edited February 5, 2018 by Joshua States

[Joshua States 1,005]

On to the sheath making.

After sizing and cutting out the leather, I trace the outline onto some white drawing paper and design my carvings. For inspiration and ides, I used these two books.

I couldn't decide what to put in that lower corner. At first I wanted to do a stylized version of the constellation Orion. That wouldn't fit.

Then I use tracing paper and trace the drawings so I can transfer them to the leather with a blunt stylus. I decided to do a version of the Celtic Good Luck Knot instead of Orion.

Once the designs are transferred to the leather, I cut the lines with a swivel knife. The top half is cut in this photo, the bottom is not.

Everything cut.

 

 

Edited February 24, 2018 by Joshua States

[Joshua States 1,005]

Now a set of bevel stamps will work the lines to push the leather down and "raise" the body of the design.

You can also see I have drilled my stitching holes for the primary seam.

Adding the background and detailing to the carving makes the whole picture complete.

[Francesco Muci 16]

Nice job on everything. Keep it going!

[Clifford Brewer 292]

Gittin better all the time ........

[Joshua States 1,005]

Thanks guys!

[Francesco Muci 16]

Are you using a round awl to punch the holes for the stitch? 

[Brian Dougherty 668]

I appreciate you sharing the detail on how you are doing the leather work.

Edited February 8, 2018 by Brian Dougherty

[Joshua States 1,005]

16 hours ago, Francesco Muci said:

Are you using a round awl to punch the holes for the stitch? 

No, I use a tapered 5/64" drill bit in the drill press. I took a drill bit, chucked it in a cordless drill, put the drill in reverse and tapered the end to a point. When I lay out the holes (using a stitching wheel for spacing) I mark each hole location with a red pen and drill them on the drill press. Typically, the sheath is glued together in correct orientation and I drill though all the layers at the same time. On this one, I did each side separately with the spacer glued to one side.

Edited February 9, 2018 by Joshua States

[Francesco Muci 16]

Have you ever tried glueing all together, then marking the holes and then punching them with an diamond cross awl, on 45° angle? This would give you a very attractive zig-zag stitching. Just a different point of view. 

 

Awesome jobe and thanks for sharing

[Joshua States 1,005]

7 minutes ago, Francesco Muci said:

then punching them with an diamond cross awl, on 45° angle?

I have not, and I'm having difficulty visualizing this. Can you demonstrate?

[Francesco Muci 16]

I will try and take pics tomorrow morning as I am making a sheath in these days. I am not a good "stitcher", by all means, and it takes years of practice to perform a well executed stitch, but I can share the little that I can do. Anyway, once you master that technique, the stitching looks very professional and it is also incredibly strong...

[Joshua States 1,005]

Time to wrap this up.

I needed a few more fittings for the belt loop attachments. This is the two rings, clasps (?) and a shibu dowel to pin the clasps to the sheath.

Add a few black/gray rivets along the edge and the sheath is complete.

So this is my first attempt at a Seax. I hope you enjoyed this one as much as I did.  Here are a few more shots of the completed set.

 

[Alan Longmire 1,778]

You are on a dangerous path, my friend!  The rabbit hole is deep and dark, and you will not return the same, if you return at all.   Here be dragons, after all.

Nicely done!

[Eric Morgan 81]

Awesome!

[Joshua States 1,005]

1 hour ago, Alan Longmire said:

You are on a dangerous path, my friend!  

The best kind of path, for the easy life is not worth living!

1 hour ago, Alan Longmire said:

you will not return the same,

Unless I am very unlucky or terribly unwise. 

1 hour ago, Alan Longmire said:

Nicely done!

Thank you sir!

[Will Wilcox 191]

Awesome! Really nice work. The seax is very cool and well executed, dont get me wrong, but that sheath is outstanding.

[Zeb Camper 620]

Looking good! 

[Francesco Muci 16]

Awesome job. I like the Japanese influence on a Nordic design. 

 

I am sorry I did not have the time to post those picture, nor even touch my sheath for what that matters... I will try to open another thread for that, so I won't bother yours.

 

Again, beautiful job.

[Joshua States 1,005]

1 hour ago, Francesco Muci said:

I will try to open another thread for that, so I won't bother yours.

Another post is fine, or posting here. I don't mind either way.

[Charles du Preez 341]

Nice one Joshua.

[Collin Miller 136]

Awesome work, dude!

[Clifford Brewer 292]

Mighty fine stuff there Josh .......

[Joshua States 1,005]

Thanks guys, I appreciate the support.