Silver Sheath Tips......

[Dacks]

..... How are they attached to the leather sheath?
..... What gage or thickness is the metal?
..... Can this be done with brass?

I'm speaking of these:
(I hope Mr. Fuegen doesn't mind the use of his work as my example.)

 

[leatherman]

I can answer two of those:

Most often the caps are attached with silver rod, most of the antique sheaths I've worked with have been done this way. Some newer sheaths have a stiffener in the body, fiberglass, wood, etc. The tips are then glued to that with a heavy cement, or epoxy.

Yes, brass is common, as is bronze, copper, etc. Non ferrous metals being the most popular.

Guage is not a term I've used since college and I've lost that knowledge unfortunately. My metal smithing teacher would knock me upside the head. I think its something I need to resurrect as this type of sheath is gaining in popularity.

Absolutely stunning knife and sheath by the way! Amazing work.

 

[John M Cohea]

In most cases these days I believe they are simply glued in place. You want to use a fairly thin gauge, anywhere from .025 to .040. Brass and nickle silver are the most commonly used, but I wave seen mild steel, and even damascus used.
If you will go to the tutorials section on the second page you will find a thread called"Nickle silver sheath tutorial". That is a link to a tutorial Bruce Evans did and the same methods can be used to make the throat and tip.

 

[Dacks]

Leatherman - Thank you.

By "rod", I assume these are essentially peened pins driven into pre-tapped holes through the metal tip and into the sheath welt??

When I used the word "gage" I was, apparently, not only displaying my woeful spelling skills, but also flaunting my perfection of layman-speak for "thickness of sheet metal".

John - Thank you!

 

[Josh Dabney]

Dacks,

While not EXACTLY what you had in mind I thought you might be interested in the sheath build by Bruce Bump. It does have metal throat and collar so I thought it was valid for your question and you may want to take a look see-

http://www.knifedogs.com/showthread.php?t=289

Josh

 

[Dacks]

Josh - Its actually that sheath of Master Bump's, and that thread, that gave me the idea to do it to one I'm working on. However, he never shows or explains specifically how the collar and tip are attached. It just magically happens ...... pooooff...... perfection.

I think he used barge cement as that's what he was using throughout the build, but I can see either contact cement or even epoxy as workable alternatives in my case.

Thanks for the input folks.

 

[amcardon]

PM Bruce, he's a very nice guy that I'm sure would answer any questions you have, especially if it's about one of his knives.

 

[Bruce Evans]

They are epoxied on now days,some of the older ones had pins through the welts also...

Bruce

 

[Bruce Bump]

On the back side I have two dome headed nickel silver pins on the throat and one on the tip. I also put a small amount of epoxy inside and the pins are also epoxied. Hope that answers your question.
Thanks for following my tutorial. How did you do on yours?

 

[Dacks]

Bruce - I elected not to go with a tip on this one. I think it would have looked mighty fine with that shiny bit on the tip, but I had to much trouble finding the right thickness brass sheet and this pieces needed to be completed on a deadline. However, I will give this a shot at some point. Thank you (all) very much for the tip tips.

Here's the finished product:

 

[JAWilliams]

Dacks that is beautiful work.

 

[mcahron]

If you decide to use silver,then use argentium sterling silver as it wont tarnish due to the adding of germanium.