The Best Knife? (Part 7)

How ya gonna carry it?  I am amazed that there are knife makers who sell their knives without a sheath.  One popular brand of rather expensive semi-custom knife ships in a mere cardboard sleeve!  With the prices they charge, they can do better than that!  I suppose they figure that a person who can afford their knives can also afford to pay someone to make a custom sheath.  It is still disappointing to receive one of their blades after months of waiting only to have to wait even longer to carry it into the field while a sheath is being made.  As a custom knifemaker myself, I consider the sheath to be part of the knife, not an opportunity to charge more, so every knife I make comes with it’s own custom fit sheath.

The sheath in which you carry your knife often depends on what it comes with.  However, some knives come with such cheap sheaths that they need to be replaced.  It seems that the company that makes the knife considers the sheath an area in which they can save money and lower the overall price point so a cheapie sheath is what you get.  When purchasing a survival knife, don’t fail to thoroughly examine the sheath to determine if it will hold up to the hard use that may be demanded of it.  Also, some sheaths come with a small pouch attached for a sharpening stone, a mini survival kit or a ferro rod holder.  If you can afford it and need to have a custom sheath made, inquire as to whether or not the sheath maker can add one or all of the afore mentioned items.  That way, if you lose your pack or just get lost/turned around on a day hike, you will at least have your knife and a small kit with you with which to start a fire, boil some water and maybe a few fishhooks and fishing line to catch some supper.

Most sheaths are made of either leather, kydex or nylon with a kydex insert.  Leather is more beautiful and adds to the overall aesthetics of the knife package, but if it gets wet can take a long time to thoroughly dry and that is a real problem if you have a high carbon steel knife using a steel such as 1095 which rusts easily.  This however, can be overcome by either a wax treatment of the leather or by oil soaking/treating the leather so it cannot absorb moisture.  Kydex is a thermo-plastic that is easy to form and is an ideal choice for long term survival use as it is very tough.  It does scratch up though and can deform if left too close to a campfire etc.  A nylon sheath is another excellent choice if the quality of the nylon is good and also has a good plastic insert to prevent cutting the nylon when inserting or removing the blade.  These sheaths, depending on how they are made, can be attached in various ways to your belt, pack or pack straps, or worn as a neck knife.  Of course, your main knife should always be on you so that if you lose everything else to a bear, forest fire, canoe accident or whatever, you will still have your knife.  In an emergency, you can make a passable sheath out of cardboard and duct tape, if that’s all you can find, or by heating and flattening out a piece of PVC pipe to hold the blade safely.  Don’t ever try to carry an unprotected knife!

Even in the Bible, Jesus told Peter to put his sword back into it’s sheath.  Jesus was on His way to the cross and even though I’m sure He appreciated Peter’s attempt to protect Him, there were too many soldiers and the gesture would have been ultimately useless and symbolic instead of effective.  However, the Bible, the Word of God, is our Sword of the Spirit and should never be sheathed!  We are always under attack by the Devil, our enemy, and thus we must always be prepared to fight him and win!  Is your Sword in your hand?

James B.

PS. You can check out my website where you can set up training for many of these skills at www.waypointsurvival.com and look at and order my custom knives at www.benderknifeworks.com.