Not new, but improved

Update 12/10/13:  This post contains information that is probably incorrect.  Please see here.

You may recall that last year, my swords were angular things in a rough scabbard with a pitted, home-cast pewter chape and ragged metal throat.

I'd long planned to replace them entirely with longer swords and all-new scabbards with sheet brass throats.  However, my research on the handful of akinakes finds that are clearly associated with the Achaemenids points to these weapons actually being quite small, though larger ones existed elsewhere in the Classical world (among some Scythians, for example).  As such, I'm keeping the ones I have, but I've reshaped the wooden hilt components to be more in line with iron examples.  The new hilts are vastly more comfortable to hold.

The scabbard needed to go, though.  The only evidence I've found for how Achaemenid scabbards were built indicates that they were made of wood.  Since I have not the time or tools to shape large pieces of wood, I've decided to go another route.  It's experimental and difficult to achieve, but the result has been acceptable.

  

The new scabbard is made of two layers of heavy (in this case, roughly 7-ounce) vegetable-tanned leather - the best type for this use; it stretches when wet, holds whatever shape you give it, dries stiff, and when it's still a bit damp, you can tool it to your heart's content, making it an easy-to-work alternative to the embossed metal covers used on fancier Medo-Persian scabbards.

The scabbard is made, like a wooden one, out of a front and back face.  These were cut out flat and sewn as per a two-piece knife sheath, but without a welt.  They were then soaked and a wooden scabbard core inserted.  This was the hardest part of the project:  The core was too thick, so I had to shave away a ton of wood on the outside until it fit.  A better technique may be to dispense with a core and just make the sheath welted, allowing it to dry with the sword inside (wrapped with scotch tape or something) to hold its shape.

 

Afterward, I stuffed the throat with tissue paper until it ballooned enough to accept the scabbard throat.

It's still a bit tight because of the inward curve near the top of the throat.  Luckily, the guard on my sparring sword is somewhat smaller and comes out with no trouble.  Iron hilts are less bulky and would be even less disposed toward this problem.

A leather thong is tied around the scabbard just above the chape, leaving two trailing ends, a long and a short.  When worn on the right hip, the short end points forward and ends in a bead or, as here, a small knot.  The long end loops (not ties) around the right thigh and ends in a slipknot, which is then tightened around the short end.

The chape is also leather, and should be replaced with one of bronze or bone when I can do so.  It features an abstract, curled-up goat, one of the most common motifs used on Achaemenid chapes.

The back of the scabbard is partly waxed to provide a water-resistant finish that won't rub off and contrasts nicely with the undyed back of the throat and chape - first painted with melted paraffin (beeswax would be the preferred ancient material), and, when that didn't work, held over a heater until the leather heated enough to absorb the wax.  Otherwise, the scabbard is finished with modern acrylic paints, as unfortunately I have not yet figured out what ancient paints to use.