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How to Make a Wooden Knife Sheath

How to Make a Wooden Knife Sheath
You have a great and dependable knife that you've often used outdoors. But now you want a good wooden sheath to protect the blade against the elements--and you want to make it yourself. Making a wooden sheath for your metal blade can be a simple process, though it may take a few attempts to get it exactly right.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Things You’ll Need:
  • Wooden block Pencil Power saw Carving knife Sandpaper Super glue Leather strips
  • Wooden block
  • Pencil
  • Power saw
  • Carving knife
  • Sandpaper
  • Super glue
  • Leather strips
Step 1
Obtain a piece of wood that is at least 1/8-inch thicker than your blade and at least 1/4-inch longer than your blade. This can be purchased at a hardware store or foraged for in the wild.
Step 2
Lay the blade of your knife against the block of wood that you've obtained. Use a pencil to trace the blade's shape on the wood block. Be sure that the blade's guard is pushed up firmly against the bottom of the wood block so that the entire blade is being traced; you don't want your sheath to be too short.
Step 3
Use a jigsaw or some other power saw to cut about 1/8-inch outside of the tracing you just made of your blade. Discard the extra wood, leaving you with the blade-shaped piece.
Step 4
Use the jigsaw again, this time to cut the blade-shaped wood piece into two pieces. Cut along the narrow edge, right along the middle. You should now have two identical blade-shaped wood pieces that fit perfectly together. The sides that lay against each other when put back together are the inside of your sheath.
Step 5
Use a carving knife to hollow out--but only slightly--the inside sides of the wood blocks. You'll need to measure the thickness of your blade and carve out the same depth here. Use sandpaper to sand down the inside of your sheath. Be sure to preserve at least 1/16-inch of a border around the sides and top of the inside of your sheath.
Step 6
Apply a small line of superglue around the entire un- carved edges (the two sides and the top) of the inside sides of your sheath blocks. Press them together and let them sit for at least three hours.
Step 7
Use three to five leather strips to tie tautly around the sheath, further binding the two blocks. Your wooden sheath should now be ready for use.

Article Written By William Jackson

William Jackson has written, reported and edited professionally for more than 10 years. His work has been published in newspapers, magazines, scholarly journals, high-level government reports, books and online. He holds a master's degree in humanities from Pennsylvania State University.

Write for Trails.com

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