I attempted the knife sheath today. I didn't use quite the right materials, but I did learn about the technique.

Ötzi's sheath was made of loose bast fibers, which are the fibers from a plant in between the bark and the wood. Bast is excellent for making cord, string, and rope, and indeed nearly all of Ötzi's kit is sewn together or knotted up with bast thread. Strangely, the sheath is actually made from flat and unspun flat fibers sewn together with bast cord. I wonder why? Twisting bast makes it much stronger.

In any case, what I had available was hemp cord and manila rope, so that's what I used. The technique is quite easy and I believe it is known as a pairing weave in basketry.

On this first try, I used short strands of rope which I awkwardly and messily cut on each end. The pairing weave was quite easy, and I noticed it was possible to adjust the tension on each band of weaving. Adjusting the tension of each strand allowed me to change the shape of the sheath as I went. I get the feeling you could make just about any sheath or basket form you wanted just by using this method.

Ultimately, though, this piece finished with some very disorganized knots, and I couldn't really fit a knife in comfortably without catching on all the loose rope fibers and hemp tbreads. To taper the bottom, I just cut off some of the rope sections, which also made a mess and does not look good. Overall score 2/10, but a good start. I can see this as a contender for "Most Improved" award in the future.

Second try: much better! On this one, I did a few things differently. First, I wove the sheath as a flat sheet as opposed to weaving it in-the-round, and then at the end I sewed up the edges. I also un-plied the three-ply rope and used one ply for each vertical cord - much sleeker and more manageable. This also gave the sheath a sort of wiggly shape, since the single-ply stayed curly after being un-plied.

Also, you can see I bent the ropes in half instead of just chopping them off, so the opening is much smoother. Most of these edits I made after watching an excellent video from Shawn Woods. I like to just wing it on the first try, to see how far I can get on my own lobes before I see how the pros do it.

You can see the edge where I sewed it up has some loose strands and bulky knots. I want to work on loose strand management with my knotwork in general, because I seem to always end up with floating strands that make the whole thing look like a crappy arts and crafts display instead of something usable. Maybe I could sew the loose strands in between the thicker rope fibers, like tucking in the loose ends after finishing a knitting project? Even though Ötzi's work is half-rotted, his knotwork seems to be very clean, and his pieces have very few loose ends. I admire that sort of minimalism and efficiency when it comes to a craft that can be so tangled.

I'd call it at 4/10. Still some messy ropework and the blade gets caught if you sheath it too fast. I now understand why Ötzi used flat bast instead of woven rope: even a little bit of bulk gets in the way, and a thin sheath would allow smooth movement of the knife. The fit is very snug and the whole thing took me less than half an hour. I really like the look and I think I'll make some more for my other tools. Maybe a rope sheath for a hot coffee cup? Perhaps this method is how Ötzi made his grass cape too.