A friend of mine had a pretty nice Japanese sword but the sheath was poorly made. It was glossy and black but one day, it took a hit and revealed how it was made. The core was made out of some cheap light wood, roughly shaped and coated with plaster and paint.

So when my friend asked me if I could build a nice sheath for his sword, I accepted the challenge and started to look for suitable wood. I found 2 bamboo floor boards which had the right size for this project. I traced the contour of the sword on each board, carved one side with a router and glued them together. The outside was carved with a spokeshave, dyed and varnished with several coats of polyurethane.

It was the first time I used bamboo as a building material and I found it matches pretty well the bamboo designs of the sword.

  • Project: Katana Sheath
  • Technology: Spokeshave, router
  • Material: 2 bamboo floor boards
  • Time: 1 week