Good morning, everyone. I wish I had even the most basic talent to make my own sheath, but I am so mechanically inept that I think if I attempted to make my own, it would end up on some kind of "ugliest sheath" thread around The Yard.

Right on Brother! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbup.gif" alt="" /> In your "sheaths" thread you're showing some nice work there, and an excellent example for anyone considering making their own. I'm like many here, needing to save the cost of custom sheaths in order to buy knives. I am envious of Dogs like Jim and others who have beautiful sheaths from some of our terrific pros, but mine does the job for me. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

C/R - try it! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> They can be as simple as two pieces of leather glued together with leather cement or riveted together. The more you do, the better you get. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I will give it a shot, PK. Probably not for the S5s, but for one of the larger blades that eventually get offered. It is going to be way ugly and probably end up with duct tape somewhere to fix my flaws <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

You guys all have some real talent and improvisational skill, by the way. I really liked reading MM's ideas on sharpening with mouse pad and sandpaper. I am heading to the Home Depot today to get some paper to be prepared for the sharpening process for the S5s (or maybe even a SOD if I get lucky). Do they come from SYK sharp enough for duty, or do people tend to go over the blade before use?

C/R , hit up your local auto parts store in the autobody finishing section. Look for 3M wet/dry autobody paper, its often sold in singles or by the pak. (i'm not sure if Home Depot carries it, thats why i posted)

Will do. Thanks, Bushy!

Just finished sawing up some firewood. I left a few pieces for some S5 testing. Also gonna take down a few small aspens with the S5 after they arrive.

Evening gents - I'm finishing up a long day of yard work with seven different knives. I'll be posting a bunch of pictures and impressions later when I'm in front of my desktop. Right now I'm sitting with my laptop in front of the fire I built with all the stuff I chopped up.

Took down some small trees, trimmed some dead widowmakers that were hung up in branches, slashed back a bunch of kudzu, and trimmed some branches...

Then I used one of the downed trees for a chopoff, and pulled out some very hard birch from a tree I felled (with a chainsaw) a few years ago and did some batoning. I even made some crappy fuzz sticks. I really suck at making fuzz sticks <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/doh.gif" alt="" />

Can't wait to see the pics and the write-up of the yard eval, MM.

Got to the auto store and picked up 3M 220 and 400 grit paper. I also ordered up some strops and the green/black compound. Now, I just need a knife to use it all on <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> It seems like it will be a good thing to do when watching TV.

16 more posts to become a Scrap Yard mongrel. Then, it's just one step between that and JYD! Once I get some SYKs in hand it will allow me to talk more about the specific performance of the blades, which will be nice.