Saya ventures!

[RoanRoks29]

I wanted to get some practice in with wood working, so I decided I would try to make a saya. So I started making one for my 8" shun.

Traced it out , then cut it

Then retraced it to see where I need to carve out to fit the knife!Hours of work later, I lined it with some smooth maroon felt then glued it together sanded it down and cleaned her up a bit . So after making that one I had some small peices left over and figured my little petty need one too. This time I changed the design a bit an add in two little notches in order to make it easier to pull off. The two sayas with the felt fit like gloves and I orginally planned on putting in pins but they were unnecessary.

[Taz575]

Get some 1/8" thick wood from Rockler or WoodCraft. I find 1/16", 1/8" and 3/16" BassWood (or another soft wood to be easy on the edge) work pretty well as a spacer and the 1/8" thick woods work well on the outside Soooooo much easier than carving it out! WoodCraft also has a bent chisel for like $15 that I found that will let you chisel something like that out easier than a straight chisel supposedly, but I haven't tried it out.

Also, watch the felt. I have some Dexter blade guards with the felt on the inside. I put some of my cheap carbon Green River kitchen knives into them and they rusted a lot after a few weeks. I had dried them, so I don't know if I missed a spot or if moisture got in there somehow. I only use them on SS knives now, or for transport and then take them out for storage.

[GlassEye]

I would worry about the felt holding onto debris and scratching the blade, and also the rust from ambient humidity. Better than my saya, since I have only bothered to cut magazines to size for my blades that need a saya.

[RoanRoks29]

Herd ... I get ya on the felt I wish I thought about it picking up moisture before hand, but as they say hindsight is 20/20 aye hahaha. The wood is basswood and it was pretty easy to carve out. I was thinking about doing the spacer piece but was feeling a little ambitious, plus I want it to fit snug. A friend of mine has a saya with a spacer and it wiggles so much in it. I am gonna make another one now though and leave the felt out.

I would worry about the felt holding onto debris and scratching the blade, and also the rust from ambient humidity. Better than my saya, since I have only bothered to cut magazines to size for my blades that need a saya.

I used to do something simular I used cereal boxes, duct tape and some plastic bottle pieces to help from the knife cutting through!

[Taz575]

The spacer method is much easier IMHO and I get the basswood in a few different thicknesses. You can always sand down the spacer to make a tighter fit, too.

I did the cardboard and duct tape sheaths years ago, too!!!

[Marko Tsourkan]

It might be a little easier to carve the cavity on one side only, so you don't run a risk of wood shifting during glue up and affecting the fit.

M

[Don Nguyen]

It might be a little easier to carve the cavity on one side only, so you don't run a risk of wood shifting during glue up and affecting the fit.

M

This is exactly what I was doing. Glad I'm on the right track...

[RoanRoks29]

So I just made a new one with the carving one side technique and I am very pleased with the results and it was soooo much easier!!!

[Marko Tsourkan]

So I just made a new one with the carving one side technique and I am very pleased with the results and it was soooo much easier!!!

Yes, it is.

[Mike9]

I learned a good lesson today. I made a saya out of three pieces of Italian bending poplar which is nominal 1/8" for my Honyaki gyuto and the slightly blade is thinner than the middle ply. It worked out quite well with even a little side to side play. Then I figured WTH and made one for my Kiritsuke. What I learned is measure the tang at the ferrule!! While the blade is thin it gets wider at the tang and I had to fiddle with making something with sand paper to widen that part of the saya . . . Doh!!! This is where calipers are handy and barring that one could make a go/no go gauge for a particular knife. Oh well - learn something new every day even if it's the hard way.