I am not an expert on the sheaths, but Pap’s story is interesting, and it reflects how things were sometimes done back in the day.

I remember going into the shop when Pete was behind the counter, and talking to him about a Model 4 with stag. He went into the back and came out with maybe a dozen pieces of stag and laid them on the counter. I narrowed it down to two pieces, had a hard time selecting, and then Pete and my wife preferred one of the two.

Having written up the order, Pete handed me the second piece of stag and told me to send it or bring it back for my next knife. I still have that piece of stag, never had it put on any of the knives bought since then…might dig it out.

While Pete’s friendliness and consideration were just good customer relations, it was one example of the kind of things that “might” have been done in the course of doing business.

Having Pap describe how Pete voluntarily installed rivets in his sheath AT THE SHOP AND NOT AT JOHNSON’S, if we came across HIS sheath we probably would not call it “phony.” Maybe it is “unusual” since we now have a first-hand account of Pete adding rivets to a sheath and we don’t “think” that he did this very often.

[Actually, this is interesting because it suggests that maybe Johnson did not do “all” the rivets…since Pete was set up to add them at the Randall shop. Maybe this can be clarified by DW or somebody else.]

The rivets in Miles’ sheath do look to be old…and without any other information we have no reason to think they are not as old as the sheath itself…and they appear to be professionally installed.

Maybe Pap can tell us whether the rivets in his sheath were installed to look like those on Miles’ sheath?

I think the real mystery is why was the gadget installed in the back of the belt loop? What was its purpose? It does appear to be “aftermarket” (not done by Johnson or RMK) since it is in the middle of the Randall trademark!

By the way, it is a nice knife and sheath.

Larry