rifle scabbard

[john beattie]

Hi Everyone
iv'e been asked to make a rifle scabbard for a 1894 winchester so i picked up will's pattern and have decided to go the full hog and carve it all over with the carving pattern in the pack.
my question is would these be carved on both sides or just the one facing out

many thanks
john

[Eloy Santa Cruz]

John, I guess it just depends on how hard you want to work. I have a real bad case of O.C.D. and would carve the whole thing even though only one side would show. If you want it to be ambidextrious where you can secure it to either side of the saddle then you would want to do both sides. Also Will's pattern includes an end cap so the rifle can be used as a carrying case so I would do both sides. I find that when I do a carving pattern that I have never done before, My second product always turns out better than the first and so on and so on. If I was just going to use it specifically as a saddle scabbard and one side would be against the horse for the most part, I would carve the inside part first to familarize myself with the pattern and you would have the balance of having both sides carved. Show us some pics when you get it done.

[Arizona Cattleman]

I carved the whole thing, I wanted the option of hanging any direction.  Here is a pic of mine.

AC

[bedbugbilly]

Beautiful scabbard!  Fantastic work!

I'm glad this question got asked as I always wondered about one or two sides . . . . a good point on whether you hang left or right . . . and this is sort of a "right handed world".  Reminds me of the time a gal hired me to make her boyfriend a holster . . it turned out great and I was really proud of it . . . after she gave it to him at Christmas, I found out he was left handed instead of right handed . . . . guess who now has two holsters . . . one for each hip.    

All these years I was a thinkin' that for a rifle scabbard, it all depended on whether your horse was left or right hoofed . . hooved . . whatever . . . 

[john beattie]

Hi Guy's
sorry i posted lastnight but it looks like it went missing, so here we go again

Eloy thank you for that tip, i will carve the back first and hopfully make a better job of the front, not sure how long it will take but yes i will post some pic's when done.

Arizona you have a real nice piece of work there, it looks like the jesse james pattern if i'm not mistaken,thank you for posting 

john

[Beauregard Hooligan]

I carved the whole thing, I wanted the option of hanging any direction.  Here is a pic of mine.

AC

Beautiful work. 10 for 10 amigo!