Purpleheart Modern Pugio for GQ (Cav Scout)

I am honored to begin work on a custom knife for our Iraqi Brother, "GQ" ,who is currently serving with a deployed Cavalry unit, as a scout.
He has chosen the Purpleheart wood for his handles/scales, and I will resume work on that, in the next week or so, when the weather has cleared up here.

In the meantime, I am beginning the design/layout for the sheath for the knife. The work here, is the initial/prototype work, and not the final product, as I need to design this sheath to be MilSpec compliant with his Molle/ Malice gear. The needs for the spec, is for mounting/ lash-down of the sheath in a variety of ways to his belt, vest, etc.
That's a bit more challenging than usual, with hand-made, 10 oz. leather vs. Kydex, or MilSpec Cordura/ Ballistic Nylon. Especially, since I use no machines to stitch things together.

So, here we go:

Initial layout of the main/back panel of the sheath, and it's attachment loop slots , 550 cord holes, and stitching holes for the front panel and welts.

Initial trim-up/squaring of the layout -

Rough-punching of the locations for the 550 cord grommet holes -

And with the rough-punch of the locations for the Molle loop lash-down points, and the stitch-holes for attaching the front-panel, and retention strap (at the handle)

And rough-shaping of the welts, which will be stitched-in just outside of the blade edges, and before the row of stitching for the front-panel

Stay tuned, over the coming weeks, as I will document the entire build as it progresses.



Ok. Hurricane Sandy has passed us by, and now the weather has cleared, so work resumes on sanding the handles for the knife.

This Purpleheart is hard, hard wood. Sanding-wise, one of the hardest I've yet worked with.

Here, I'm attempting to hand-sand it to where it is flush with the contours of the handle tang.

These are very thick boards of Purpleheart, but it gives me plenty to work with (and a ton of sanding) for when I begin contour-shaping/ beveling of the handle's final shape.

I will resume sanding tomorrow- for now, Im "popping" the grain, to bring out the Flame figure more -

More to come. This knife, and sheath, will be on the bench for a few more weeks, at least.