I want it waxed inside and out. I live a half mile from the ocean. All the water in the area is brackish. Between falling, jumping, or wading into the water while fish and boating, sealing out the salt water is key. When I get caught out in the rain while hunting and camping and get soaked thoroughly, I don’t go into panic mode. Guns and knives get dried off first.

If I only wanted to wax the outside only, external heat and rub it in like doing boots and gloves.

I take my 19 saltwater fishing all the time.
I hose the sheath & knife down with fresh water, dry the knife & outside of the sheath down, put sheath in sun for 15-20 minutes & i'm good.

Rain and snow is what I will be dealing with.
Getting soaked with rain is most likely.
Of course I will dry my Rifle and knife every night(in that order) But it will be nice not to be overly concerned when I get caught out in bad weather.

Gordon

Makes sense. Thanks for the response.

Unless you were diving, how wet would you say you could get a sheath completely saturated? I suppose completely exposed on your belt in bad weather?
In cold climates it's probably under a jacket. Waxed helping anything?

Salt water exposure makes perfect sense to me.

Warren
Many years ago I fell in open water in the winter. I had a non RMK knife and
“home done” waxed sheath on. I and everything I had on was soaked.
When we got home, we slowly dried the sheath, no direct heat, re waxed it and nary a problem.
Now it was not in the water long, but I was soaked to the skin.

"Fell in open water"
Love to hear about that story friend.
I think the bottom line discussion should be leather completely soaked or occasionally wet.
I've been wearing leather soled dress shoes for years. None have had wax treatments and all survived.
Bring on the argument as a civil discussion.

I worked as a forester for the Forest Service adjacent to Yellowstone Park for 3 years and the Idaho Department of Lands for 5 years, spending 90% of my time in the field, wet or dry. I always wore a pair of leather White's boots, made in Spokane,WA. Tried many different brands of waterproof concoctions. SnowSeal worked the best but had a bad effect on any threads. I finally mixed SnowSeal with Mink oil and that worked. Now the bee's wax and pine tar mix is very popular. It's one thing to get leather wet once in a while vs leather boots walking in wet weather day in and day out, to find a good waterproof material. Old timers made their own, 40% bear fat,40% mutton tallow, 20% pine tar. Hard to find that today.

Pap

To further the discussion, I like waxed leather for knife sheaths and axe guards for the protection of the steel tools against rust, not necessarily for the upkeep of the leather. The leather sheath is replaceable if the knife remains in good shape.

Leather shoes and boots get wet, dried, and eventually replaced as they were out. I still carry my hunting knife from 35 years ago however my boots from that period are long gone.

Dive knives are a different matter, they all get trashed after time. My son asked me what happened to your Model 16? I went diving all the time. Work, sport, and police dive team. Sea water at depth does a job on the them. The Model 5 I carried for a rope knife survived just fine.

For me the waxed leather is just extra insurance. And I like the look and feel although it can be stiff at times.

My leather handgun holsters were not waxed.

Just to add a tidbit, my oldest White's boots are 38 years old and have been factory rebuilt twice. I love my Lace up Cowboy boots by them with mini Vibram soles.

Pap