Anyone else hate retention straps on sheaths?

Q

Quillan

Joined
Dec 15, 2013
Messages
272
Is there a bigger pain in the butt than having to unsnap that blasted strap every time you want to use your frequently needed camp knife? And even when opened, it still "gets in the way" of gripping the knife handle and withdrawing it. I have a CS Master Hunter with a great, SECURE kydex sheath that would be just FINE without the strap. So I cut the damn thing off and couldn't be happier. The Youtube videos showing knives in sheaths with retention straps being held upside down and vigorously shaken to justify a strap's existence on a sheath is, to me, just plain silly. Why not get a sheath that fits in the first place? The next time you are held upside down by your ankles and shaken until your teeth fall out, do let me know how that works out for you. :p
 
I was just going to post that you should cut the strap off, but I see you already did that. Retention strap may be required in some circumstances ... like jobs (LEO/security), or for activities like parachuting or diving.

That said, I have cut the strap off of knife sheathes and gun holsters before, and for personal use I always buy custom fit gun holsters without retention straps (especially for CCW). Shoulder holsters and other vertical draw sheathes and holsters need the retention strap though. I modified the sheath on one of my fixed blade Microtech A.D.O. knives to be vertical draw, so I could mount it behind my back on my belt. Good thing it came with a retention button. :)
 
I like simple, compact sheaths. So I prefer a well fitted kydex or leather sheath with no retention straps, extra pockets or anything like that.

I've never had a problem with a knife falling out of a well made leather sheath, even on long bumpy horseback rides in the mountains.
 
I've never needed to draw my fixed blade knife so quickly that it got in my way. I prefer having the retention strap in certain circumstances. If I was bush wacking if be afraid of losing the knife.
 
My like/hate for retention straps depends entirely on the sheath itself. On something like the BK2 or the GI Tanto where the sheath secures the blade so it can't slip out, it really serves no purpose. On others where the blade just slides in and sits in a pocket, the strap comes in handy.

Look at it this way. If you have to do a lot of running with a sheath knife on your belt and it goes flopping around, do you really want to take the possibility of all the movements causing your knife to actually fall out and get lost?
 
Hence my statement re well-fitting, secure sheaths making retention straps unnecessary.
 
I prefer a sheath that holds the knife w/o straps, but if that's not the case, something has to hold the knife in place. As pictured above by Tommythewho, light bungee cord works well (I use bungee and a small cord-lock on my BK-7 and BK-9, and it works great).
 
Last edited:
If the factory sheath came with a retention strap, I will almost always use it on woods knives. It is too easy to loose a knife in the woods and I don't much like the idea of re-tracing my steps for potentially miles looking for a knife that could have fallen anywhere along a trail or my path. I have done this. So, I have no problem with retention straps.
 
I think the main problem is that the retention straps are an afterthought in most cases. Ideally I'd make a sheath so that the retention strap can be tucked away if its use is not desired - i.e. a secondary snap on the back of the sheath.
 
Things such as car crashes can exert enough force to disloge any knife from a sheath, I see retention straps on retention sheaths for those times when you cant afford the knife to come loose.

If you think a retention sheath is good enough... hold it in your hand knife hilt facing outwards and swing your arm around as fast as you can in a full circle.
Do it where if it comes loose no one will get hurt... Obviously.

The last thing I need is a knife out of its sheath flying about when im in a car accident, or been bucked off a horse, or fallen down a steep embankment through scrub.
After times like these is when I may most need it, and I dont need to be trying to find it, or pulling it out of myself or someone else, or patching up cuts and nicks I suffered from it.

That said, I have some sheaths that lock a knife in solid with a blocking pin, but when you reach down to pull the knife out your fingers between the sheath and the knife bend the sheath and blocking pin away from the knife and it comes free easily, they take no extra time to draw after you get the feel of how to have your hand, but offer the benefits of retention strap and retention sheath.
They do however scratch the knife... This may rub some people the wrong way(pun intended).

I was actually just thinking of how to do it with a BK9 and its default sheath, I settled on a piece of kydex glued into the insert and running past up the handle with a brass studs lined up with the bottom and middle bolt holes on the handle. Not sure if it would be deep enough so may drill the scale to allow a longer stud. The sheaths retention strap gets in the way every time you sheath/draw the knife and is annoying as all buggery

So I guess I dislike retention straps, but like added safety that retention sheaths lack.
 
Phoynix said:
Things such as car crashes can exert enough force to disloge any knife from a sheath, I see retention straps on retention sheaths for those times when you cant afford the knife to come loose.
Click to expand...

Never thought about the car accident scenario before. good point Phoynix.

I also hate retention straps and try to come up with ways to get around them. A good one I found is to wrap an elastic band or hair tie around the retention strap such that when you unsnap it the strap is pulled open and back, thus getting the hell out of the way...this is hard to explain and I'm having a hard time coming up with a picture. no knives with retention straps at the moment either..so here's an even more confusing drawing:
 
I'm generally not a big fan of retention straps, but I don't hate them. I don't need to quick-draw my fixed blades, but it adds a step to drawing and sheathing that isn't necessary for my purposes since all my sheaths have pretty respectable retention without the strap. I'm not going to be sprinting through the woods or going parachuting or anything. What really bothers me about them is that they can drag along the blade and could potentially dull the knife or put wear on coatings (even if the effect is negligible).
 
I stopped using strapped sheaths long ago when I discovered the Finnish knives (Leukus, etc.) with their well fitted, deep carry strapless sheaths. Such sheaths are my favorite and the good ones will have plenty of space to really jam the knife into it securely when you need to. Very secure...never even came close to losing a knife. The tightness of the seal around the handle prevents water/snow coming into the sheath also.

I only buy tight fitting fixed sheaths now. I even order my folder slip-sheaths for pocket carry very tight. In both cases I force the knife in and let the sheath mold to the knife over a period of time.

Vegetable tanned leather molds the best and quickest. It won't get the "greenies" around brass fittings on knives either.
 
Ones that go around the handle yes. I don't mind ones that go lower around the guard. Those are alot easier to deal with.
 
Binalith said:
Never thought about the car accident scenario before. good point Phoynix.

I also hate retention straps and try to come up with ways to get around them. A good one I found is to wrap an elastic band or hair tie around the retention strap such that when you unsnap it the strap is pulled open and back, thus getting the hell out of the way...this is hard to explain and I'm having a hard time coming up with a picture. no knives with retention straps at the moment either..so here's an even more confusing drawing:
Click to expand...

Good idea, Binalth. I just put a rubber band on the nylon sheath of a Buck fixed blade, and it seems to work. I will have to see how the system works out in the long term. Thanks. The knife I am trying this on is a Buck 679, a decent knife but with a sheath that has a plastic liner that fits loosely and allows the knife to rattle. Here, the trick is to jam some cotton into the bottom of the sheath - the cotton molds onto the tipoff the knife, holding the knife in place and preventing the rattle. I f the knife is inserted firmly, knife and sheath can be inverted and shaken without the knife falling out. Not an original idea with me, but it works.
 
Last edited:
I like a strap holding a knife in place just to be safe it won't move around or slip out espeically when moving around alot like through brush or climbing over rocks or tree's. Don't like more than one strap on a sheath though like on the one that comes with the Ontario Rat 7. Like smaller thinner sheaths. Much more comfortable to wear and conceil. Don;t like nylon sheaths either.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top