Eljay.....do you have any suggestions? Sure would appreciate some pointers or pictures!

Just to finish out this thread, I am going to report on modifying the locket of the scabbard. As mentioned above in another post, Donnie Shearer gave me a tip that the locket of the Hanwei scabbards could be easily reversed so that the locket is positioned on the opposite side of the scabbard, i.e. on the side opposite the stiching. As most know, Hanwei for some unfathomable reason placed the locket on the side of the scabbard with the stiching and therefore on the inside of any suspension device.

The locket can be easily removed by gently heating the metal. In this case, I used a butane cigar lighter with three jets, moving the flame over the entire surface of the metal. I applied heat for about 30 seconds, and yes, the leather did flame up just a bit but a quick pufff of air took care of that. Once the glue had been melted, I took a small hammer and tapped the locket off the hilt end of the scabbard by striking the end of the "hook."

After it cooled to the touch, I polished it bright to match the hilt, reversed position so that the locket was now facing outwards and, starting at the drag end of the scabbard, moved the locket up til it was snug. Snug was about 1.5" below the hilt end. Taking the same hammer, I just tapped it into place, again tapping the end of the hook.

It probably took me longer to type this explanation than to complete the project. Good luck!!

Hello
I put a Darkwood Armory blade on mine.Makes a pretty cool cutlass:-)I think I will strip the paint too.

Sorry...I forgot the pic:-)

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