Indo-Persian letter opener

For his birthday this year, my dad asked for a letter opener.  I wonder if he didn't ask for one just because he knew it was a project I'd enjoy, but anyway, I took the first idea that came to mind and ran with it.

This is based loosely on a number of roughly 17th- to 19th-century khanjars, most often seen with curved blades but sometimes with straight ones.  It uses a Windlass full-tang dagger blade with a modified butt end.  This blade is in fact the same one as from the letter opener I made five years ago; I ordered a new one, but the new one was slightly longer and with less distal taper than the old one, and didn't fit the scabbard core I'd created.  (It, along with the large "companion" blade I ordered earlier this year, also have squared edges of around a millimeter thick, and I wonder if this is a sign of a decrease in quality control.)

Because the handle should be low-maintenance, I finished the holly grips with Tru-Oil, which, unlike linseed oil, forms a hard, glossy top coat.  The hardware is all brass.  I cut the bolsters from 3/16-inch (4.76mm) bar stock, shaped them to the correct profile with an angle grinder, polished the edges, then epoxied them in place for pinhole drilling and cross-section shaping.  I drilled flared openings to the pinholes with a Dremel high-speed cutting cone so that the pins would hopefully mushroom to fit these openings rather than forming protruding domes.  Once the pins were peened, I smoothed off the faces of the bolsters with the angle grinder, a rasp and polishing paper to produce a flush surface.

The scabbard was fairly quick to make, since I already had a wooden core on-hand fitted to this exact blade and some thin green leather, stitched with black simulated sinew.  (Velvet would be more appropriate, but regardless, most antique Indian knives I've seen have either a green or red facing material.)  I at first tried to do a cross-X stitch, but that placed so much strain on the leather that it tore and I had to replace the entire facing.

The throat and chape are sheet brass, with classic Mughal leaf decoration drawn freehand in permanent marker for a resist and ferric chloride-etched.  A soldered tab holds a suspension ring.  A few originals I've seen have a cord tied to the suspension ring, which I understand would be used for attaching the scabbard to a belt, but in this case it seems less effective because the blade is very light, causing the whole assembling to hang handle-down when tied to a belt.  This is perhaps less important in this application than it might be elsewhere, since it's unlikely that Dad will actually wear this letter opener, but it would be nice nonetheless to figure out a way to make it work anyway.  A second suspension ring on the other side of the throat might help; however, I suspect that any system which doesn't involve lashing the scabbard tightly to the belt will be ineffective on account of the balance.  The chape has a soldered brass bead for a finial, capped off at the other end with an escutcheon pin; the chape and throat are also soldered up the back.

Flute carrying bag

For her birthday this year, Mom pointed to a flute bag in the Crazy Crow catalogue and asked for one to fit hers (a concert flute somewhat too long to fit into the one they offer) for carrying to Market Day and other local vaguely Colonial events.

I made this one from a split, chrome-tanned garment buckskin with a dark red, hard-faced cotton twill lining to keep the weight from stretching and bulging the leather, and prevent too many shed leather fibers from getting into the instrument's workings.  The fringe is some large straps of leftover German-tanned buckskin.  The bag is folded and sewn inside-out with the fringe facing inward and the lining on the outside; when it's turned rightside-out, the fringe now sticks out and can be cut into strips.

The drawstring and shoulder strap are more German buckskin, but the small bits connecting the strap to the bag are a much denser, tougher chrome-tanned cowhide.  I handmade two pairs of soldered brass D-rings to attach the shoulder strap to the bag at the correct angle.  The cowhide bands are secured with tin rivets and steel washers; I would've preferred copper, but the hardware store didn't have any that were short enough.

One improvement I'd still like to make would be to line the shoulder strap with a smooth leather so it won't shed fibers into one's clothing.