This course will focus on crafting a birch bark sheath for a favorite short-bladed knife. A good example would be a carving knife, which students should bring to class or purchase in the North House School store. We will begin by crafting an inner sheath of wood for the knife blade. We will then prepare strips of the inner bark of the paper birch tree. We will weave these strips around the wooden sheath and blade to make a custom-fit tight and attractive sheath that can be worn on a belt, a lanyard or sit in a tool box. Students may bring two other sharp edged tools (kitchen knife, hunting knife or chisel, etc.) and, as time allows, we’ll learn another simple folded sheath design. This project does require some hand strength and dexterity.

You will need the following tools for this class:

• A short bladed knife (2-3”) to make the sheath for. This could be purchased in the school store.

• Two additional sharp-edged tools to make sheaths for