Why do you think that Ronnie? Give me specifics.

Here are three #1-8" sheaths for this discussion. I beleive the first sheath is a MJ and the last a Heiser. Not sure about the middle one. It looks to be the same as the Heiser in my opinon. The color,stones and stiching.

Is there a hugh price difference between a Heiser and Johnson in that era?

Joe

I have been reading Thread II trying to learn. I agree with Ronnie, in that sheath no. 3, to me, is a Heiser.
1. The belt loop is wider than 1, 2, 4 and 5. It is similar in width to the marked Heiser sheath.
2. The stone hone pocket seems to be placed lower, more towards the toe of the sheath, like the marked Heiser.
3. The butterfly stitching on the back, has a more open butterfly than 1, 2, 4 or 5. It is very similar to marked Heiser.
IMO the "traits" of No. 3 sheath lean more towards the Heiser design, than the other four sheaths.
Ronnie sorry for jumping in on your thoughts.

Good stuff there Jimmy. I think you are correct with the first things I notice is the shape (the toe and throat particularly) of the sheath and the leather used on the one on the left is different than the other two. Also, notice how the stone pouch interferes with the keeper and the wide belt loop on the back side. The wide belt loop doesn't seem to be consistent with these HKL sheaths, but I don't really see it with Johnsons.

The sheath on the left looks like the one that started this debate and the one that is in Gary Clinton's photo (second from left) used by Jack.

In my opinion, there is no discernible difference in price between an HKL or a Johnson BB.

Rod, those are some of the things I was looking at too that made me question. I wish I had it in hand to take a look. Good chance though it is an HKL.

Any thoughts on the side by side comparison of the four sheaths?

Joe

I have observations, but in all honesty I don't have any conclusions or provable conclusions.
Sheath 1 and 2 I think were made around the same time. Leather looks similar. Stitching, butterfly shape, keeper strap placement and width of belt loop all similar.
Sheath 4, the stitching is similar to 1 and 2. But the keeper strap is not in the middle. My "guess" it was not made during the same era as 1 and 2.
Sheath 5, IMO was made on a different machine. The stitches are longer, which is most evident on the butterfly. If I was to guess, I would say 4 and 5 were made about the same time due to keeper strap placement, but on different machines.
Also the leather on 4 and 5 looks similar. They both look different than 1 and 2, but that could be usage of the sheaths.

Joe I look at the third sheath and see the same things Rod does but.....this may sound crazy and I have mentioned this before.....a long time ago.....I believe the Heiser Brown Buttons are a different shade than the Johnson Buttons. I haven't done an in depth study as you, Ron and Jack have done but it seems to me that in SOME cases the buttons on Heiser's are a darker brown.....slightly darker. It makes sense to me that a different batch of buttons could have been sent to Johnson. You see that in manufacturing often. The third sheath appears to have the darker buttons.

Rod,

I think you are talking about the model 3 sheaths Ron posted.

The keeper snap placement "thesis" put out by Jack I think at this time is proven invalid. It is evident that Johnson made center snap sheaths, again shown in Jimmy's photo above, and he moved it over. We know that.

I originally was asking about the four model 1 sheaths posted on page four of this thread. In any event, you are looking at these things now.

Ronnie -

The button issue is as I think was stated simply different dye lots. With some researsch, I suppose one could make a case, but I don't think it will be necessary. There is plenty of other things to looks at.

How about the four #1 sheaths on page four?

Am I gonna have to stay in after class if I get it wrong?

I think the first two on the left are Heiser's and the third is a JRB as is of course the Baby Dot.