150mm Single Bevel Saya

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Thanks for the reply Dave, I appreciate the advice.

By economical I meant that I'm not looking for it to be of an exotic wood, just for it to just be a functional blade protector. I'll probably do something like the edge protector if I can't find a wooden one.
 
It's tough to beat that Korin blade guard from $2.95 from a utilitarian standpoint! It'll get the job done.

Your only real option for finding an "economical" saya will be buying one off the shelf, but that may be a bit tricky in your case. I think the challenge that you're going to have is the thickness of your blade at the heel. Your knife is 5.3mm at the heel which is thin for a deba, but positively massive for a petty. I measured my own petty and it's 2mm thick at the heel, and even my gyuto is only 3mm thick at the heel. You can probably forget any off-the-shelf saya made for double bevel knives. I'm not suggest that is isn't worth looking, I'm just trying to save you the hassle and expense of ordering a saya that you'll likely need to return as paying for shipping both ways gets expensive!

If you do want to search for an off-the-shelf saya that has a good chance of fitting, you might have your best luck using the search term "kaisaki". A petty is a western knife which implies double bevel (which won't work for you). I'm not an expert, but I believe a kaisaki bocho is a traditional single bevel fisherman's knife that has the shape of the petty but is generally taller at the heel, and thicker at the heel (like your knife).

Good luck and let us know if you find something out there.
 
Yeah, for simplicity's sake the knife is a mini yanagi. I have been thinking about buying a 210 yanagi saya and just cutting it to length. That might be the best way to get the off the shelf price.
 
Yeah, for simplicity's sake the knife is a mini yanagi. I have been thinking about buying a 210 yanagi saya and just cutting it to length. That might be the best way to get the off the shelf price.

Great idea! The only tricky thing will be if the saya has a distal taper. A well made 210 yanagi saya might start out with the slot at 5mm (at the heel), and taper to 3.5mm at the 150mm mark where you would be cutting it to length. Come to think of it though, an off the shelf saya will likely not have any distal taper to the slot, because it is considerably easier to make a saya without a distal taper. Adding a distal taper to a saya takes real precision and craftsmanship and would limit the knives that it would fit.

Also, I mistakenly thought the knife was 5.3mm at the heel, but it is only 4mm at the heel which is a bit easier to accommodate with an off the shelf product. Here is the distal taper for the OP's knife from the link that he provided.

Width of Spine at Handle- 5,3mm
Width of Spine Above Heel- 4mm
Width of Spine at Middle- 2,8mm
Width of Spine 1cm from the tip- 1,7mm
 
One can be madefrom balsa with an exacto knife and white glue. Using cardboard would be even more economical.
 
One can be madefrom balsa with an exacto knife and white glue. Using cardboard would be even more economical.

Interesting idea. Presumably you'd be doing a 3 layer balsa "sandwich" with the shape of the of the blade cut out of the middle piece. The softness and impact resistance of the balsa might be an issue for a gyuto, but for a petty it might be strong enough if it was finished with epoxy rather than an oil finish. Anybody ever tried this?
 
Even simpler. Cut two halves and a single piece for the spine ensuring it goes from the boslter to just past the tip. Glue the spine to one half first, let dry, then lay the knife down and trace the distal taper onto the inside face of the spine. Cut along the line and you'll have created a spine with distal taper. Next glue the other half of the saya to your first half with spine, let dry and you're done. Clean up the edges with sand paper. It will be a snug fit but super simple. Oil and epoxy aren't nessesay. I have flooded the edges with CA which helps keep them stiff but in the end it's meant to be abused so im less concerned about looks. Check the works in progress section as a few, including myself, have done DYI balsa/bass wood threads

http://www.kitchenknifeforums.com/s...Friction-Fit-3-Piece-Softwood-Saya?highlight=
 
I just checked out your WIP post on balsa saya construction and it's fantastic! Thanks a bunch for sharing the idea and such great pics of your process. I don't really need a saya, but after seeing your tutorial I'm awfully tempted to make one!
 
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