I have been meaning to carve myself a Nåalhus for ages now. Now for those who never heard of it, it is exactly what it sounds like. Originally deriving from Sáami culture, it is, plain and simply put, a "house" for your needles, a needle case to be worn on the belt alongside your knife and firesteel equipment. Typically, it stowes away the needles, stuck into a cloth and sometimes secured by additional leather flaps, which rests in a case typically made from reindeer antler or bone, but also sometimes wood, being secured by a rather intelligent combination of gravity and friction. I personally think it is genius. Now I wanted to set myself a challenge to make it entirely with a Victorinox SAK, and only from stuff that was lying in the woods not doing anything, also because I also want to do a fancy-schmancy version in antler soon. I drilled two holes from either side of the piece with the awl, and made a long hole by sawing out the middle. Needs a bit of patience, but it is perfectly doable. You can also remove the middle part by using the blade.
That said, I actually left it on a bigger piece in order to better being able to handle it. When I had done the drilling, I carved the outline of the body of the case.
After that, I sawed it off.
A bit of cleaning going on, and I actually put an angle into the bottom to create a bit more of a friction fit.
Splitting and carving the bottom. Now to carve a ring for the top.
Also I am currently contemplating what to use as a cloth. Originally I had planned to make it from Amadou, also the flaps, but it, while being an awesome material in its own right, has its shortcomings, at least mine has still, because it is not very homogenous. So maybe I will use leather and cloth from an old couch I found in the junk... we will see. I hope to show you some progress soon!
Those are the adventures of Mr. Fimbulmyrk, in bushcraft and blacksmithing, mountainbiking and hiking, reenactment, writing, singing, dancing, stargazing and having a piece of cake and a coffee. Pray have a seat and look around you, but be warned - the forest´s twilight is ferocious at times.
Beliebte Posts
-
Last week I had my first forging tutorial on schedule. Mr. Rothenberg came around to forge his first custom knife. We agreed on file steel,...
-
So, some two weeks ago, I went to the smithy again, for there was work to be done;-). Daniel dropped by, too, and helped out, too. I really...
-
At my recent visit to Solingen I also dropped by the Otter knives booth. Now they were very persuasive;-) and I got this beautiful tradit...
-
This is my collection of traditional Hungarian hunting knives. I am quite interested into the ethnographical and morphogenetic influences of...
-
On Solingen knife expo I had the privilege to meet with Lukas Mästle - Goer, a tutor in Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA), workin...
-
On request I am doing a personal evaluation of a very classic bushcraft combination. The famed Roselli hunter and carpenter´s knife. I pur...
-
It is a bit difficult to me at the moment. I had to move out of the smithy again, so no blacksmithing at the moment. I had been betrayed ...
-
Germany is target for the IS and whatever. There has been a formal declaration of total war. Germans have the reputation amongst people f...
-
This is a part of my collection of pocket knives. (Top to bottom: Otter "Notschlachter", 1.4110 100 mm blade, á virole lockback...
-
This is part of my not exactly tiny collection of German hunting knives, representatives of a very distinct and ancient style of knife. Y...