Aistan 2.0 knife sheath
Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2022 4:43 pm
Since rolling out my 'Beorning 2.0’ this fall and having 30 miles on the latest MERS trek to work free some ideas that had been rolling inside my head, I realized that one key part of my existing Beorning kit that didn’t quite match my updated mental picture was Aistan’s knife sheath. The design was fine, but the use of braintan made it feel a bit less ‘civilized’ than I wanted. Also, I have a crush on Odigan’s lovely seax sheath that he brings on all our treks, and might have subconsciously wanted to emulate it. : P
This project was fairly straightforward – I cut my existing sheath apart to use it as an approximate pattern (I saved the original rawhide liner too), then laid it out and cut the piece. I opted to use the belt loop from the old sheath, which has some sinew embellishments that give it some structure, plus the braintan material gives it some extra ‘hold’ versus slick vegtan.
I decided to reuse the stylized mountain motif I’ve used previously to decorate my braintan tunic and loincloth-holding-up belt pouch. I don’t think it’s quite right for the more civilized, later-Germanic Beornings (it feels more ‘neolithic pottery pattern’ to me), but a mountain motif is more appropriate for a Beorning than my Second Age Greyflood Man, and I don’t know of any examples of mountains depicted in Norse/Germanic artwork - paging Eofor?).
To show that they are in fact meant to be mountains and not just stripey triangles, I added little circle-and-dot ‘stars’ in the spaces between them.
After tooling, I dyed the leather and stitched everything back together with hemp cord!
Much improved, if I do say so myself!
This project was fairly straightforward – I cut my existing sheath apart to use it as an approximate pattern (I saved the original rawhide liner too), then laid it out and cut the piece. I opted to use the belt loop from the old sheath, which has some sinew embellishments that give it some structure, plus the braintan material gives it some extra ‘hold’ versus slick vegtan.
I decided to reuse the stylized mountain motif I’ve used previously to decorate my braintan tunic and loincloth-holding-up belt pouch. I don’t think it’s quite right for the more civilized, later-Germanic Beornings (it feels more ‘neolithic pottery pattern’ to me), but a mountain motif is more appropriate for a Beorning than my Second Age Greyflood Man, and I don’t know of any examples of mountains depicted in Norse/Germanic artwork - paging Eofor?).
To show that they are in fact meant to be mountains and not just stripey triangles, I added little circle-and-dot ‘stars’ in the spaces between them.
After tooling, I dyed the leather and stitched everything back together with hemp cord!
Much improved, if I do say so myself!