My First Saya

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marc4pt0

marc4pt0

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So I finally did it. This one has been on the list of "Things to do" for over a year now. Yesterday I just buckled up and gave it a go!
Poplar 2 piece construction, friction fit and in need of some more stain, but here it is.


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good job sir, I would like to give this a go myself, what were the tools you needed?
 
Belt sander, chisels, clamps, sand paper, gorilla glue, and a jigsaw
 
Great job Marc! Hard to believe it's your first one. What was your biggest challenge?
 
Wow! Looks great. Really nice work.
 
Thanks guys!
Biggest challenge? Chiseling out the cavity to fit the blade. Definitely a learning curve there. Second biggest challenge? Getting all that saw dust out from inside the saya! Seriously, how does all that dust get in there? It was all cleaned prior to gluing. Jeez!
 
marc4pt0 said:
Thanks guys!
Biggest challenge? Chiseling out the cavity to fit the blade. Definitely a learning curve there. Second biggest challenge? Getting all that saw dust out from inside the saya! Seriously, how does all that dust get in there? It was all cleaned prior to gluing. Jeez!
Click to expand...

Did you have any issue with glue seeping into the saya when gluing?

I have been wanting to make one for one of my knives that doesn't have one, and also have been looking at making a knife block, and one of my biggest worries is glue seeping to the cavity and effect the fit.
 
Thanks again guys!

As far as glue leaking into the cavity, yes that became an issue. I had no idea how much gorilla glue expanded! So the knife didn't fit as well as it did prior to the glue up. To fix it I just took an old beater knife and just Worked it in there, breaking up some of the hard dried glue. In the end all worked well-ish.

This was a huge learning lesson for certain. One of the lessons being to just do it. Shake off the fear of the unknown!
 
marc4pt0 said:
Thanks again guys!

As far as glue leaking into the cavity, yes that became an issue. I had no idea how much gorilla glue expanded! So the knife didn't fit as well as it did prior to the glue up. To fix it I just took an old beater knife and just Worked it in there, breaking up some of the hard dried glue. In the end all worked well-ish.

This was a huge learning lesson for certain. One of the lessons being to just do it. Shake off the fear of the unknown!
Click to expand...

I use 30min epoxy, using a "spatula? to apply it and let it sit for 15-20min and then scrape the excess with the spatula before i clamp it together

no problems with leaking into cavity :thumbsup:
 
There are tricks of the trade, but we can't tell you all of them. ;) Seriously, Marko was an amazing resource for me, when I started with sayas, and before then, Stefan, with handles. If you have any questions, you know how to find me. With that being said, I doubt I can help you much, since the first one looks so damned good!
 
Beginners luck! I attempted 2 different 3-piece sayas this morning. Not so lucky this time around. ..
 
I use gorilla brand wood glue. Doesn't expand like regular gorilla glue, yet is plenty strong. I spread it on both areas with a toothpick, and let it sit for a few minutes before putting pieces together. Letting it sit helps it from oozing.

I've had bad luck epoxying sayas. I used acrylic sheets a few times instead of wood, and found I had to rough the edges in order for the epoxy to take.
 
This is now my second attempt at a saya. It's for a 240 Kato Workhorse. All was good until it started to split at the tip, and it fell a little short at the heel.
This is a 3 piece construction, which definitely had its own learning curve.
I think I'll try some putty or epoxy on the cracked part, than give it a dark stain to hide it a bit...


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Thanks!

Here's another one I forgot to post here. It's been finished since these were taken, but...





 
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