Here's the sheath I made for the Western W49 Bowie that I did some work on recently. This is a two piece frog and scabbard arrangement.
The leather frog is thick 1-3/4" strapping from a 'farmer's bundle' that is sold at agricultural supply stores for the repair of horse tack. The two pieces of the frog are sewn together with a double pass of stitching. The front lacing is military paracord with the center strings removed so they lace flat and tight.
The scabbard is 1-1/4" UV resistant PVC electrical conduit. The pipe was heated in an oven, flattened, formed to fit the blade so it 'grabbed' it snugly on the sides, cooled, and then cut to fit. The scabbard tip was heated, formed, then clamped tight while PVC primer and glue were applied. After it dried, a drain hole was drilled in the tip and a notch was ground on each side with a Dremel tool and a rasp for the straps of the frog to fit into and securely hold the scabbard.
The scabbard was then roughly sanded, painted with primer made for painting plastic, and then alternate layers of camouflage khaki brown and clear acrylic were applied.
The horizontal strap of the frog was cut a tad short and then soaked in water with the paracord lacing. The frog was then was tightly laced onto the scabbard, stretching it, and allowed to dry and become tight and snug.
The smaller knife in one of the pictures, propping up the bowie for the side shot photo, is a 'puukko' style knife that's one of my handiest and most used knives. I normally use this 3-3/4" blade as my auxiliary 'neck knife' when I'm in the bush' or I'll use a small, strong carabineer style clip and attach it to my gear, shirt, belt, etc. I originally made it as a karda knife for a Nepalese khukuri I've been known to carry with me on forays out into the bush. I wound up liking it so much I made another karda for the khukuri and started packing this around by itself.
I made the puukko from an old Western L66 bare blade made of tempered 0170-6C steel I had laying around that was given to me as 'junk', and a hickory hammer handle I re-carved. The blade I slowly re-ground keeping it cool all the while into a slender spear/drop point. The sheath is scavenged off of a 4" Rapala filet knife, the hanger was removed, and a small split ring was put in it's place for using either a lanyard or a carabineer.
The leather frog is thick 1-3/4" strapping from a 'farmer's bundle' that is sold at agricultural supply stores for the repair of horse tack. The two pieces of the frog are sewn together with a double pass of stitching. The front lacing is military paracord with the center strings removed so they lace flat and tight.
The scabbard is 1-1/4" UV resistant PVC electrical conduit. The pipe was heated in an oven, flattened, formed to fit the blade so it 'grabbed' it snugly on the sides, cooled, and then cut to fit. The scabbard tip was heated, formed, then clamped tight while PVC primer and glue were applied. After it dried, a drain hole was drilled in the tip and a notch was ground on each side with a Dremel tool and a rasp for the straps of the frog to fit into and securely hold the scabbard.
The scabbard was then roughly sanded, painted with primer made for painting plastic, and then alternate layers of camouflage khaki brown and clear acrylic were applied.
The horizontal strap of the frog was cut a tad short and then soaked in water with the paracord lacing. The frog was then was tightly laced onto the scabbard, stretching it, and allowed to dry and become tight and snug.
The smaller knife in one of the pictures, propping up the bowie for the side shot photo, is a 'puukko' style knife that's one of my handiest and most used knives. I normally use this 3-3/4" blade as my auxiliary 'neck knife' when I'm in the bush' or I'll use a small, strong carabineer style clip and attach it to my gear, shirt, belt, etc. I originally made it as a karda knife for a Nepalese khukuri I've been known to carry with me on forays out into the bush. I wound up liking it so much I made another karda for the khukuri and started packing this around by itself.
I made the puukko from an old Western L66 bare blade made of tempered 0170-6C steel I had laying around that was given to me as 'junk', and a hickory hammer handle I re-carved. The blade I slowly re-ground keeping it cool all the while into a slender spear/drop point. The sheath is scavenged off of a 4" Rapala filet knife, the hanger was removed, and a small split ring was put in it's place for using either a lanyard or a carabineer.
