Anyone tried these southpaw sheaths?

JD Mandrell

JD Mandrell

Joined
Apr 20, 2001
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I like the ambidextrous plastic Ka-Bar sheaths, but I'd also like a good leather one, but as a lefty, I'm only finding these online. Run around $25, but wonder has anyone tried them?

Most listings say they are made by Ontario, so I'm assuming they are for the 498, so should be close to a Ka-Bar.
 
Bear Claw Chris Lappe said:
I like the ambidextrous plastic Ka-Bar sheaths, but I'd also like a good leather one, but as a lefty, I'm only finding these online. Run around $25, but wonder has anyone tried them?

Most listings say they are made by Ontario, so I'm assuming they are for the 498, so should be close to a Ka-Bar.
Click to expand...

I checked with Tooj and they are not an Ontario product. Origin unknown.
 
Well I gave it a try and they are just fine for Ka-Bars. Here it is with my Doghead Utility, but it fit my regular Ka-Bar Fighting Utility knives the same.

Quality is pretty much the same as factory sheaths, whoever is making these does a good job. I plan to stain and waterproof it.



Nothing against the factory synthetic sheaths, since they are fully ambidextrous, but for us southpaws that want a leather sheath, it's an option.
 
They would have a real winner if they made them for right handers without any markings. The factory leather sheaths are substandard for such a high quality knife.
 
Another big miss on the repo and stock sheaths is the lack of a proper welt at the throat. The leather needs to be built up a little for the knife to seat properly. Check the govt specs for the leather sheath and see how they should be made. I would like to see someone make these sheaths to the govt spec sans the black dye.
 
While were on sheaths, got this in the mail yesterday from Valhalla Custom Kydex.

Works with the standard 1217 and the Doghead Utility.



 
D R E said:
Another big miss on the repo and stock sheaths is the lack of a proper welt at the throat. The leather needs to be built up a little for the knife to seat properly. Check the govt specs for the leather sheath and see how they should be made. I would like to see someone make these sheaths to the govt spec sans the black dye.
Click to expand...

There were a lot of sub contractors making sheaths for all the knives provided during WW2. Even if we just look at the ones made for the various 1219C2/MK2 knives it's hard to ID them all. The construction of these different sheaths vary a lot. Some of them were made with no welt at all, some with thin welts that were almost not worth the time to use them in the sheath. Others were more robust and I think the variety in the construction lead to writing a more definitive specification.
The only thing I wish they would have done with this left hand remake is to have used 9 rivets on the sheath body instead of the seven. That would have made it closer to what you'll most often find in the WW2 versions. Of course I've never seen an issued sheath for the 1219C2 knife that was left handed.
 
I'm mixing them all together, WWII and post war into one standardized usable aftermarket leather sheath. The post WWII sheaths matched with the Utica Mark II are pretty spot on. Nine rivets but without the Black dye job of the later spec.

All the repo sheaths I have found lack in one way or another but one company that does a pretty good job is: W. P. G.
 
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