Another collaboration!

This town offers SO MANY opportunities for people who want to tap into their creative side - we have stone carvers, pottery shops, wood turners and knife makers, just to name a few of the skills one can learn here. I've had the knife-making group on my radar for a few years. In fact, I went to a knife and gun show and was blown away with the array of weapons on display. I blogged about it here, and even organized a woodworking meeting at the shop where many of them forge with fire and create magic.

One of their members reached out to me about making a box to hold a sword he'd made. This piece was outstanding - almost 30" long, with a Damascus faceted blade, and a custom carved (and inlaid!) handle.

 On top of that, he'd fashioned a hand-sewn sheath for the blade with intricate tooling. 

This masterpiece needs to be seen to be fully appreciated!

My task was to fashion both a display stand for this, as well as a box for storing the sword.  This sword was sold to someone in the Middle East, and will be shipped soon. (Have I mentioned that I love having my work across the globe?)

I took a few measurements of the piece, but the asymmetrical blade was a challenge - so my first thought was to make a stand that was adjustable. Sliding dovetails are a perfect solution for this, and after making a cardboard model of the sword, I sketched a few designs on paper, to work out the angles that would hold the sword and sheath. This adjustable stand can be narrowed to hold shorter knives, or slid to its maximum width with to display the longer sword. 

The box was more routine to build, but one thing I've learned is to treat the Maple that I use with a shellac wash, to eliminate any finishing blemishes. Maple and Cherry can turn splotchy when oiled, and I wanted to avoid that. So I thinned some shellac and applied a few coats to seal the grain. 

The lid is held in place with a chain, to hold it at a proper angle and keep it from flipping backwards. And the two small supports that hold the blade have rare-earth magnets inlaid in them. The supports are covered with felt to hide the magnets and protect the blade. 

I absolutely love collaborating with other artists, and I hope to make quite a few boxes for the knife-makers - their community is vibrant and diverse. Right up my alley!