First sheath from new tooling

The first sheath off of the new tooling ready to ship out to a very patient customer.  15" Wrecker, sharpened inner beard, Boltaron sheath, quick-detach shoulder sling.

The first sheath off of the new tooling ready to ship out to a very patient customer.  15" Wrecker, sharpened inner beard, Boltaron sheath, quick-detach shoulder sling.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2hwYH2b][img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48920959976_9e0ae55f1c_c.jpg[/img][/url][url=https://flic.kr/p/2hwYH2b]bob01[/url] by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/148294846@N06/]James Helm[/url], on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2hwVXQ7][img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48920424458_639a5cd0c7_c.jpg[/img][/url][url=https://flic.kr/p/2hwVXQ7]bob02[/url] by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/148294846@N06/]James Helm[/url], on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2hwZL5e][img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48921165357_70266fe0af_c.jpg[/img][/url][url=https://flic.kr/p/2hwZL5e]bob03[/url] by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/148294846@N06/]James Helm[/url], on Flickr

The first sheath off of the new tooling ready to ship out to a very patient customer.  15" Wrecker, sharpened inner beard, Boltaron sheath, quick-detach shoulder sling.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2hwYH2b][img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48920959976_9e0ae55f1c_c.jpg[/img][/url][url=https://flic.kr/p/2hwYH2b]bob01[/url] by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/148294846@N06/]James Helm[/url], on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2hwVXQ7][img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48920424458_639a5cd0c7_c.jpg[/img][/url][url=https://flic.kr/p/2hwVXQ7]bob02[/url] by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/148294846@N06/]James Helm[/url], on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2hwZL5e][img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48921165357_70266fe0af_c.jpg[/img][/url][url=https://flic.kr/p/2hwZL5e]bob03[/url] by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/148294846@N06/]James Helm[/url], on Flickr

The first sheath off of the new tooling ready to ship out to a very patient customer.  15" Wrecker, sharpened inner beard, Boltaron sheath, quick-detach shoulder sling.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2hwYH2b][img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48920959976_9e0ae55f1c_c.jpg[/img][/url][url=https://flic.kr/p/2hwYH2b]bob01[/url] by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/148294846@N06/]James Helm[/url], on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2hwVXQ7][img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48920424458_639a5cd0c7_c.jpg[/img][/url][url=https://flic.kr/p/2hwVXQ7]bob02[/url] by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/148294846@N06/]James Helm[/url], on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2hwZL5e][img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48921165357_70266fe0af_c.jpg[/img][/url][url=https://flic.kr/p/2hwZL5e]bob03[/url] by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/148294846@N06/]James Helm[/url], on Flickr

The first sheath off of the new tooling ready to ship out to a very patient customer.  15" Wrecker, sharpened inner beard, Boltaron sheath, quick-detach shoulder sling.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2hwYH2b][img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48920959976_9e0ae55f1c_c.jpg[/img][/url][url=https://flic.kr/p/2hwYH2b]bob01[/url] by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/148294846@N06/]James Helm[/url], on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2hwVXQ7][img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48920424458_639a5cd0c7_c.jpg[/img][/url][url=https://flic.kr/p/2hwVXQ7]bob02[/url] by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/148294846@N06/]James Helm[/url], on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2hwZL5e][img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48921165357_70266fe0af_c.jpg[/img][/url][url=https://flic.kr/p/2hwZL5e]bob03[/url] by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/148294846@N06/]James Helm[/url], on Flickr

The first sheath off of the new tooling ready to ship out to a very patient customer.  15" Wrecker, sharpened inner beard, Boltaron sheath, quick-detach shoulder sling.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2hwYH2b][img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48920959976_9e0ae55f1c_c.jpg[/img][/url][url=https://flic.kr/p/2hwYH2b]bob01[/url] by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/148294846@N06/]James Helm[/url], on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2hwVXQ7][img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48920424458_639a5cd0c7_c.jpg[/img][/url][url=https://flic.kr/p/2hwVXQ7]bob02[/url] by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/148294846@N06/]James Helm[/url], on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2hwZL5e][img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48921165357_70266fe0af_c.jpg[/img][/url][url=https://flic.kr/p/2hwZL5e]bob03[/url] by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/148294846@N06/]James Helm[/url], on Flickr

Sheath tooling upgrade

We experimented with vacuum forming sheaths and were not giving the level of retention needed to hold a tomahawk securely in a bottom-eject sheath, so we cut a new mold to be used under my hydraulic forging press.

The material is 3/4" HDPE.

The design allows for molding both sides at once, an improvement on the one half at a time design of my old molds.  I'm using .08" Boltaron for the sheaths.

Trimming is done on a holding fixture in the CNC router, which is also what was used to make the mold.

The completed and assembled sheath.

By comparison, one of my old molds and trim jig.  They're pieced together from waterjet cut pieces.  The mold is one of a pair, since it only molds one half of the sheath.  The trim jig holds both halves of the sheath at once, but mounting them was always aggravating.  Holes were hand -drilled, slots were cut with a Dremel in a router table attachment, excess material trimmed with a bandsaw, and the profile trimmed on a router with a bearing bit.  The CNC router does all of that more quickly, safely, and consistently.