A late 10th Century, inlayed Coppergate blade, with Dublin sheath.
The blade has a high carbon steel edge forge welded on to a wrought-iron spine, which is inlayed with 4 brass and bronze wires on each side. The handle is made from Thuya Burl secured with an historical cutler's resin.
Blade length: 77mm
Width: 20mm
Thickness: 5.5mm
The sheath is made from 2mm veg tan, based on Dublin DLS54, with a skived, whip stitched back seam, and finished with my own leather balm. The original report suggests that the small holes are intended for leather thonging, to form the suspension. However, the original has a wider hole, which is more likely the suspension point, and the holes are c.2mm which is far too small to pull a leather thong through without it breaking.
So, I've opted for using delicate bronze 'rivets'; rivets feature on many seax and knife sheaths both earlier and later than this example, and this seems the most plausible explanation.
