I had determined to pull the metal off the scabbard to cut out the designs, and make a few changes. The leather sort of exploded however and the wood was so crappy it cracked in several places. It turned out to be necessary to rebuild it. It is built in two halves, front and back, each of which is laminated from two pieces of thin beech wood. Each half is curved to accommodate the blade. These are cut to size and glued together, then the tip is cut to shape. The main thing I wish I had done differently is to reshape the tip so it does not have the typical deepeeka curved shape. Then leather was cut, sewn, and slid into place- actually crammed into place with lots of force and stretching. I folded the top edge in and glued it. A misting of water to make it shrink, and a couple coats of paint, and it was ready for metal work. I tinned all the metal heavily before installing it.
Hand guard carved down and decorated. Bone grip replaced with wood grip, which is a shorter length, and fits tightly. The sorter length fits my hand better, and left enough of the tang bolt sticking out the top of the pommel to allow placing a decorative brass nut (lamp nut).
The locket plate was removed and the ring straps removed and discarded. The design is drilled out with miniature drill bits(I used mostly a #63), then filed to shape with a jewelers saw and mini files- time consuming. The suspension ring straps where re-made from flat stock to match the gutters. The original rings where soldered and re-used.
The suspension ring straps where bent to shape, with a 1/4 inch overlap on the back, which was soldered and files smooth. Four small nails were used to affix each strap.
I re-used the chape, but made new palmettes, which along with the new strap were soldered into place. I still need to make the palmette-with-curly-que element.
The chape is glued into place and also held by two small nails on the back, as well as a small nail at the tip of each palmette.
