Designing and building the Sayas for my knives

A Saya is a Japanese term for a kitchen knife sheath. They tend to be custom made for each knife, and is meant to protect the blade when the knife is not in use or in transit. This is a very helpful addition for any knife-owner that carries his knives for work, or just want them to be protected at home when in a drawer.

Now, building a sheath for cooking knives is no easy task. I've tried in the past with cardboards, plastics and leather and did not have very great success due to the difficulty of handling materials, quality of finished product vs. the time taken to build.

I spent some time designing my Saya sheaths in illustrator using my existing knife templates for the outline and added a bit of space for tolerances. I added tabs to help me line things up during glue-up and designed the middle spacers. Next I set out to design my own patterns to add to the outside of the saya to make them more visually appealing. I based these designs n a document I found online that depicted many Japanese patterns and their meanings.

The next step was preparing my materials, for this I used beautiful Black Walnut lumber cut-offs. I cut them to size, squared them off and cut 4mm veneers butterflied out of them.

With the designs finalized and the materials ready, I stepped over to the lazer. I utilized the lazer to etch my artwork over the surfaces, then cut out the outline, glue guides and holes of each set. I then turned my attention to cutting out the spacers from a black polycarbonate sheet.

With all of my components ready to go, it was time to give the parts a quick sand and glue them up with epoxy resin. Once glued up, I ground and finish sanded the sheaths. They were then sealed with a wood finish and protecting wax paste.

The sheaths are both beautiful and functional! They also make a great presentation as a present, and can be customized with your own artwork(just reach out & make the request)!

I've used mine to keep my knives safe while working in a boat kitchen were the seas can send things rolling off real quick! This allows me to have the peace of mind while working on other tasks that i won't be surprised by my 8" French knife in foot!