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Story time!
April 11, 2016

I may be on break from WiT for the next two weeks, but that only means I have other work I have to finish in a limited time. Here's an in-progress look at a project I've been looking forward to finishing.

A few months ago I purchased one of them yataghan's (a Turkish blade)I love so much off of Ebay. The only reason I could afford it (other than Paypal credit yo) was that it did not come with a scabbard. Normal scabbards for these swords can be pretty damn ornate, so I gave up on finding one like that pretty fast that would fit the aesthetic of the blade or the affordability of my bank account.

Instead, my fiance and I (who also had a sword that needed a scabbard) decided to make our own! It's been really fun.

We used poplar to fashion the overall shape, with felt inside to preserve the metal. Mine was a curved blade, so I had to boil pieces to form into the profile. We used woodglue and vices to stick that shit together, and then sanded it down into final shape. I decided to stain mine ebony, and coat in polyurethane.

Over this past weekend, I [finally] had time to try and fit the first leather and brass pieces on so it can hang from a belt. I went against yataghan tradition here and placed the buckles such that when hanging, the blade edge would not be against gravity (which may dull a blade). Different cultures seem to do it different ways. It's definitely trickier to draw though, so I may end up refitting the brass so it hangs the other way. Since the blade is also short enough to comfortably fit into a sash, I may also leave it the way it is.

I've got some more work to do at the end of the scabbard, definitely the most difficult piece to fit. I'll also be adding some brass beads and some fur.

I'll post a pic with it's finally finished!

If there's no art from readers to feature, I may post some other stuff I'm working on, or feature some of the comics in my sidebar that I think readers here would really enjoy.

Have a great Monday!

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