briar seax

GHEzell

Well-Known Member
Just a simple seax, blade of W2 is 8 3/16" long, forged for an Alabama Forge Council demo (first blade I've forged in coal in over 10 years)... handle of briar wood, overall length is 13 1/4". The pictures do not do the briar justice, it is a lovely wood, dense but light, and has amazing grain.
Yyg141.jpg

Yyg140.jpg

Yyg142.jpg


The sheath is loosely based on an original, and has bronze fittings, copper rivets, and brass rings... The fittings are loosely based on some that have survived, plus a healthy dose of guesswork and bad workmanship... :)

Thanks for looking!
 
I really like it. The package is impressive. I've never used briar wood, but it looks nice. I love what you did with the sheath. Would have really have liked to see more detailed pictures of the fittings. Looks like you did a bang up job there!
 
Thanks guys, glad you like it. Here is a close up of one of the sheath fittings...
briarsaxdetail.jpg

Pretty straight-forward how they are made and work. What I did not anticipate was how much stamping them would distort the profile of the parts, but I was able to work with it.

On the first few sheaths of this type I made, I used escrutcheon pins for rivets. My advice, don't do that...:3: I was surprised at how much better actual 3/32" rivets worked than my improvised ones did... they would bend at the least excuse, and then you have the joy of removing a bent rivet without destroying the finish on the metal plates. Using these copper rivets spared me much pain and anguish making this sheath. This is my seventh sheath of this type, I'm thinking about documenting the process on the next one and doing a little WIP on it, if anyone is interested.

I learned a lot from this guy about this type of sheath construction, I just had to adapt it to the saxon style sheath, as opposed to the Nordic style.

Thanks again!
 
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