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!
