Meet Mister Wizard

Raymond Richard

Forum Owner & Moderator
Guess I've been working on this project for a couple weeks now and I'm still not 100% done with the bowie but I have been pretty excited about showing off the sheath so here it is. I still need to do some more hand rubbing on the blade and then I'll get it epoxied and sharpened. The bowie has a 9 1/2" W-5 blade. The usual wrought iron fittings and a curly maple handle. Its 14 1/2" overall.

I got the idea for the sheath after looking at "Its a Burl" website. There is a wood carving on the home page that caught my eye. I asked Mark if he could please send me the photo of the carving and he said the carvings were all over his business so he sent me around 10 different photo's of the various carvings. After studying the photo's for awhile I ended up wanting to do a composite of a couple different ones besides adding some of myself. At the same time doubt had crept into my head thinking I'd never be able to pull it off but I went ahead and gave it a try and I think it worked out. Thanks a lot Mark for the photo's.

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damn Ray, that is one of the best sheaths I have ever seen. I assume you had to raise the detail for the face/beard with leather between your two layers, and then carve or sculp in the fine detail? That is really unique.

The knife is really good, too. How long is the handle? It looks like it may be a little short but it may just be the angle of one of the pics. Digital cam may have made the blade look bigger and the handle look smaller.

I like the texturing on the guard (punch?) too.

good stuff, man.
kc
 
damn Ray, that is one of the best sheaths I have ever seen. I assume you had to raise the detail for the face/beard with leather between your two layers, and then carve or sculp in the fine detail? That is really unique.

The knife is really good, too. How long is the handle? It looks like it may be a little short but it may just be the angle of one of the pics. Digital cam may have made the blade look bigger and the handle look smaller.

I like the texturing on the guard (punch?) too.

good stuff, man.
kc

Kevin, 14 1/2" - 9 1/2" = 5" The handle is just right. I think it could be the angle of the photo also. I used a triangle file on the fittings for the texture. Here's a photo after I did the work on the inner sheath. Actually after I had the beard done I felt it was to short so I had to do beard extensions. I added another 2" to the beard.

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:drool: Any particular reason why you decided to go with a Wizard, beside the one where you knew it would cause uncontrollable drooling when I showed it to my 10 year old Harry Potter fanatic son.:biggrin: He and I both think you are a Knife Wizard!
 
Ray - yeah, I didn't really doubt your handle length. I just thought the pic didn't do it justice.

That is a good insight into your process, the wiz all built up from strips and circles and stuff. Really revealing pic.

kc
 
I think you have inspired me to do some laminations on sheaths from now on. Nice work and great detail. How is the thin layer of leather adhered to the the under-layer with the figure? Looks like there was a ton of boning work here and very detailed at that! My sheaths up to this point have been exceptionally strong and plain. Time to let the muse loose on the leather.
 
I think you have inspired me to do some laminations on sheaths from now on. Nice work and great detail. How is the thin layer of leather adhered to the the under-layer with the figure? Looks like there was a ton of boning work here and very detailed at that! My sheaths up to this point have been exceptionally strong and plain. Time to let the muse loose on the leather.

Everything is coated with contact cement so you need to make sure you have it centered when you start joining the two layers. After the contact cement has dried on the finish piece of leather I'll spray water on the finish side and then stretch the leather before I start working it on the inside sheath.
 
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