● A Sheath for the Elbow Adze

First the handle

In my opinion, any tool with a sharp edge needs a sheath to protect it and, me, the woodworker. The small elbow adze blades I “handled” in the last post are super sharp. They should be covered. I had a little leather lying around the shop that can be used to make protective sheaths for the blades. The 8-9 mm vegetable tan leather is my go-to material for heavy duty leather projects.

Now the sheath

The first thing that must be done is to decide on the shape and size of the leather blank. Kraft paper is ideal for quickly drafting a pattern for the leather blank. I played around with the pattern. The design “plan” included a small sheath with a welt and rivets:

The patterns for the sheaths were developed organically. Simply holding the blade against kraft paper or even the leather will get a shape or profile that works. I used the paper pattern to determine the placement of the strap and the snap which secures the sheath on the blade edge. Also, I shaved the leather to reduce bulk on the strap to accommodate the snap.

Filling in the blanks

Then, I wet-formed the leather to the curved gutter adze blade. Just a little water is needed to cover the leather. Since the formed leather will be wrapped in plastic on a large dowel, too much saturation will introduce a moldy mess.

After the leather dries and is released from the wrap, I punched holes and attached the rivets through the leather before dye staining.

I coated the metal fittings with the dye stain to “match” the tone of the leather.

The leather is left to air dry.

It continues to dry to a mellow yellow shade.

The straight blade sheath:

The gutter blade sheath:

The pair of elbow adzes satisfied a desire for a traditional adze. I received more than that. I learned about the meaning of the elbow adze to the Indigenous people of the Northwest.

In the end, making this tool for my shop furthered the development of my values of self-sufficiency and greater wisdom.

Baadaye



Shirley J ❤️

_________

This is the last of the three-part series about making an elbow adze. Here are the others:

• Part 1 – Elbow Adze – Branch and Blade

• Part 2 – Lashing the Elbow Adze