Waxed my own sheath

I'm guessing there's some purist that will cringe at this but I picked up this model 14 to be a user. Best guess its a late 80s to mid 90s model. Beat them down to $575 at smokey mountain knife works a couple weeks ago.

We do alot of overlanding type adventures so there's a huge chance that I will end up in the river or trapped by heavy rain. I figured a waxed sheath would be a good idea.






I also did a matching holster for my usual carry gun a 102 year old colt m1911. Now I just need to find a matching belt.

Nice ! You did a terrific job !

Nice job.
Could you describe the process you used?
Thanks

Looks fantastic!

Well. Since you asked.




Before I start i drill a weap hole on the back side of the sheath for water drainage.



I start with a double boiler of wax, I'm using paraffin. Some of this wax was my great grand fathers and dates back to ww2 I'll just add more to the block as needed but its a sentimental thing.



After the wax is melted...or somewhat in this case start by using a hair dryer, Ive used a heat gun before but I feel more control with the lower tempatures as you can watch how the wax absorbes in to the leather.

Once the leather is hot (think black car seats in summer) give it a dip.



After it comes out I place it on a towel and let it soak in some and start to flash over. Then I use the hair dryer. You can see the wax soaking in to the leather as it gets hot again.




Keep doing this until you get full saturation. Make sure to dip the sheath and let the wax drain fully from the inside each time. It usually takes 3 or 4 dips and heat cycles until the leather won't hold any more wax. Once you hit that point just towl it down and rub the leather firmly to remove any extra



Place the blade inside the sheath and press firmly with your fingers to form the leather to the blade and then let it set and harden.

Great job. Thank you for the details.
Walker

Thank you for the tutorial.
You make it look so easy, a cave man could do it!

Thank you kind Sir for taking the time to post this excellent write up.
It looks like this knife and sheath are going to work for a living.,mine do too.
Could you post pics from time to time showing how the knife and sheath wear as they are used hard?
Also where do you source your paraffin when you need to add more?
P.S. the sheath looks better than new!

Gordon

I've got a few pics already. Perfect size for about any every day task.




Today we received 15 pallets of paint. Around 1600lbs each. This knife will open every box. Its a wearhouse knife for now on. I like the model 8 because of the sharp top edge and small size. One edge for delicate work and i can flip the knife over and rip boxes open.



As for the wax, canning section at the grocery store.

Every time I open a box with a Randall I want to cry
Tape...Tape...Tape
Sharpi
Stick to Birds and Trout

This knife is perfect for what I needed. Ive been using the sharp top of the blade for box and tape cutting duties. The image below is 4 pallets placed. Got a total of 5 done so far. Around 1600 to 2000lbs per pallet.

Forklift operator need a block of instruction on how to handle good wood planks?

That was a good idea that went horribly wrong. Was doing a rack swap and did not want to unload them all by hand. Won't be doing that again.

Looks good. I wax a lot of my own sheaths. I use a 50/50 beeswax paraffin mix that we keep in an old crockpot.