Mounts and sword chapes for medieval and viking sheaths and scabbards

Material for the construction of a knife sheath at Pera Peris

In the online shop of Pera Peris you can buy knife blades, various knife making supplies and leather for knife sheaths as well as a wide selection of medieval bronze sheath fittings.

You will find detailed replicas of Viking scabbard fittings, sword chapes and sheath mounts of bronze, which were used for the fitting of medieval swords, as well as sax hangers and various strap distributors for swords and knives of the Viking era, which were faithfully manufactured according to archaeological findings.

The medieval sheath fittings from our online shop are made of high-quality bronze casting and are also available in silver-plated. So you can make yourself an authentic sheath for a Viking seax or a medieval knife or sword sheath with a little bit of craftsmanship.

Of course, it does not always have to be a knife scabbard that is completely attached with medieval bronze fittings, even just a piece of leather can result in a gorgeous sheath.

To make such a leather sheath yourself is not that difficult, you just need some time, diligence and pleasure in the craft.

How to form a knife sheath of leather

When making a leather sheath, it is important to consider whether it should later be attached to the belt with a rigid belt loop, as is usual with modern hunting knives, or whether it should hang from the belt with a leather loop, as with medieval or Viking knives.

First draw a straight line on a piece of grain leather of 2.5 to 3.5 mm thickness, which should be slightly longer than the knife, and then align the back of the knife on this straight line and fold it to the side. In a distance of about 2 cm draw a line around the contour of the blade and extend it to about 2.5 cm in the handle area.

At the upper end, you have to decide whether the knife sheath should be provided with a firmly connected, folded down belt loop or an extra sewn-on belt loop or an eyelet for a leather band and whether the seam should be on the back or the side of the sheath.

Now the leather has to be cut out with a sharp knife, for example, a cutter, on a suitable surface, ideally a plastic board or simply a flat piece of wood.

To ensure that the leather sheath has a nice fit and lies well against the knife, the scabbard should first be slightly wet-moulded. To do this, the leather should be wetted with well lukewarm tap water, whereby it should not drip, but the leather should turn dark. 

Before you put the knife into the sheath, it should be wrapped with a few layers of some adhesive tape to prevent damage. Starting from the tip of the blade, press the leather flat towards the handle until the leather fits well against the blade. And then continue modelling around the handle.

A folding stick of bone is also very useful here. If you don’t have such, a lighter or something similar can also be used. If the leather is too damp and does not want to keep the contour properly, you can let it dry a little and try again later.

So that the sharp blade does not will later cut the seam, an intermediate layer is always necessary with knife sheaths which are sewn on the side. For sheaths with the seam on the back, you can leave it out.
This intermediate layer should be between 0.5 and 1 cm and has to be carefully glued to both sides of the sheath before sewing at the edge. It is a good idea to roughen the upper side of the layer with a knife so that it will bond better.

How to sew a leather sheath

There are different ways to sew a knife sheath, the easiest way is to use a powerful sewing machine with triple feed. Since you usually will not have such, you should rather use an awl to prick the holes for the seam. To make the work easier you should glue the leather together at the edges.

The holes should be accurate and at a constant distance from each other, for which a prick-wheel is particularly suitable. If you don't have such a wheel, simply a fork will help as well.
The best is if you can use also a seam countersink to draw a small tunnel into the leather, in which the seam will be slightly countersunk later. But it’s not needed in any way.

After sewing, you should tap it in with a hammer. The thread should be at least three times as long as the actual seam.
Steel bristles have proven to be very useful for sewing. They can be purchased in saddlers' shops and can be easily passed through the leather and well gripped. Alternatively, saddler needles in a straight or curved form are also suitable. Sometimes it can be helpful to have a small pair of pliers at hand.

Ideally, you sew with two needles, which are alternately passed through the leather starting from the tip of the scabbard and sewn back two stitches at the top. For a better look, it is best to let the ends come out inside the scabbard.

Waxed saddler's thread is suitable for sewing, but you should wax it from time to time to keep the thread supple. After sewing, the edge of the sheath usually needs to be levelled a little bit. For this, you need a very sharp knife to bring the overhang to a uniform size.

Or you can grind the edge with sandpaper in various grain sizes, using a damp sponge 2 to 3 times to cover the surface. Now the knife can be placed in the sheath a second time and the surface of the sheath should be moistened with a damp sponge to reworked the shape once again.

The front side should also be well moistened and carefully polished with a folding stick, spoon handle or similar so that the fibres are well closed there. In the best case, you should use a polishing wheel.
It takes two to three days until the sheath of the knife has dried out properly, depending on the weather conditions.

Afterwards, you should grease the leather well from the outside.
With black shoe polish or leather paint, you can add a coloured accent to the forehead and the upper edge of the leather sheath after drying.

In addition, you can also protect the leather sheath with wax or leather oil against moisture or even dye it. Tandy's leather colours have proven to be very effective here and are available in different versions.
Otherwise, you can simply lay the leather in the blazing sun for one or more days. Then it gets something like sunburn and beautiful honey-like colouring.


Should you now feel like making more than just a knife with a ready-to-do knife kit, then you will find in our online shop at www.peraperis.com many different knife kits and a wide selection of knife blades in different sizes and shapes made of carbon steel and damascus steel as well as a wide variety of handle materials.

Beside wooden blocks and handle plates made of real horn and bone, you can also buy finished bolsters and endplates made of steel, brass or damascus steel, as well as intermediate layers made of leather or fibre and matching leather pieces for knife sheaths.