Old knives, new sheaths

[jmr40]

I bought one of the Becker BK16's a few years ago and upgraded to better handles. I loved the knfe, but I never liked the nylon sheath. It would have been OK, but the knife blade is 4.25", the sheath had room for a blade about 6" long. It never made sense to me for them to make a more compact blade and use such a large sheath.

I toyed with several options including making my own from Kydex. But a few weeks ago I realized there were lots of Buck sheaths available on Amazon at good prices. After doing a little measuring I concluded a Buck 103 sheath would be about perfect and ordered one for $14. At the same time I bought a Buck 105 sheath for $12 that is a perfect fit for my Ontario Air Force Survival knife.

I'm quite pleased with the results and think it was worth the money. Some might have a problem with the Buck logo on a sheath with a different brand knife in it, but it doesn't bother me. Just a heads up in case anyone else might be looking at options.

 

[hso]

Nice!

Do those another piece of leather sewn in so the edge doesn't contact the stitching?

 

[jmr40]

Yes, there is a 1/4" thick block of leather between the blade and stitching. The BK-16 fit is a tad loose and the blade only lightly touches the sheath. The Ontario knife is a little wider about 1" back of the tip and I had to force the widest part of the blade into the opening at first. It cut a shallow groove into the leather block right at the opening. After inserting and removing a few times it goes in and out smoothly. Once inside it does not contact the leather block.

 

[Stony]

Darned shame they make some good knives and stuff them into nylon sheaths just because they are cheap to turn out. I have to share your thoughts, a good knife deserves a good sheath....

 

[Coyote3855]

Good idea! I'd like to find a leather or kydex sheath at a reasonable price for my BK9.

 

[Shanghai McCoy]

The leather sheaths for Buck Knives have been the best of the commercial knife companies in my experience.
It has always amazed me how Case and others have gotten away with providing such flimsy leather sheaths for their knives.

 

[chameleonbear]

Darned shame they make some good knives and stuff them into nylon sheaths just because they are cheap to turn out. I have to share your thoughts, a good knife deserves a good sheath....

It actually isn't cause they are being cheap. They are making sure they are "jump ready" so they can be used by military since that is kind of Ka-Bar's thing.


OP, that looks pretty sweet! I personally don't care if there is a different brand on the sheath, if it fits that is sweet!

 

[rcmodel]

I'm not sure I buy into that right there.

I wouldn't jump out of my truck with some of the flimsy nylon or leather sheaths they sell with otherwise good knives today.

Rc

 

[hso]

RC,

The BKT sheaths aren't flimsy so you're sniping at the wrong target there.

BKT sheaths are hard poly lined so you could PLF on the mounted knife and not get stuck or cut through the sheath or the knife come out to cut or stick you. That's what "jump rated" is supposed to mean even if the term is used in marketing by less scrupulous manufacturers than KaBar.

 

[jmr40]

I agree, the nylon sheath that came with the BK16 wasn't bad at all. It was just way too big for the knife. There is almost 2" more length to that sheath than is needed.

I like the Buck design. They are sturdy leather sheaths with well designed snaps. I like that they let the knife ride higher on my hip while many others hang low and get in the way. I realize that is personal preference and that is mine.

You can go to Bucks website and order straight from them. They offer a lot of different sheaths that will work with other knives. I simply did a little measuring and compared the specs on this website and found some that would work.

http://www.buckknives.com/sheaths/

Looking around on www.amazon.com I found most all of them available about 25-30% cheaper than going straight through Buck.