Buck fixed blade nylon sheaths

[Irishgrouch]

I think that the nylon sheaths that come with some of the Buck fixed blades arent that bad. Sewn well, decent material and I think they would certainly be functional sheaths. Only real issue I have with them is the plastic insert doesnt appear to be removable, I think it is sewn or glued in and I dont want to destroy it getting it out, so I can heat it up to form it to the blade. So when the blade is in the sheath, it is secure, but rattles like a ball bearing in a box car. Anyone out there engineered a way to fix this?? Thanks for any advice.

 

[TAH]

My 70s 124 was noisy in its leather sheath and there is no plastic insert. Here is my fix without permanently modifying the sheath. I threaded a leather lace through the belt loop and around the handle and used a steel jump ring to hold it in place. It's one extra step to sheath and unsheath the knife, but it fixed the rattle. Actually, I don't even have to tighten or untighten the jump ring, the leather lace just slides off the pommel and back on. Might not work for your set up, but the idea of a "tie down" could be an option.

 

[David Martin]

Wow. The plastic insert is what makes the sheath safe. The rattle is an easy fix. I've use all kinds of items to fix them. I've stuffed a spare boot lace down in it using a popsicle
stick and leave the stick in it. You have a toothpick or fire started for later. A short strip of leather works. A short piece of cardboard. I've cut a green twig and pushed that down in it. This is easy to replace. A strip of oily cloth for clean up later or fire starter. Just all kinds of items will work. DM

 

[Irishgrouch]

My 70s 124 was noisy in its leather sheath and there is no plastic insert. Here is my fix without permanently modifying the sheath. I threaded a leather lace through the belt loop and around the handle and used a steel jump ring to hold it in place. It's one extra step to sheath and unsheath the knife, but it fixed the rattle. Actually, I don't even have to tighten or untighten the jump ring, the leather lace just slides off the pommel and back on. Might not work for your set up, but the idea of a "tie down" could be an option.

Might give it a try, thanks.

 

[Irishgrouch]

Wow. The plastic insert is what makes the sheath safe. The rattle is an easy fix. I've use all kinds of items to fix them. I've stuffed a spare boot lace down in it using a popsicle
stick and leave the stick in it. You have a toothpick or fire started for later. A short strip of leather works. A short piece of cardboard. I've cut a green twig and pushed that down in it. This is easy to replace. A strip of oily cloth for clean up later or fire starter. Just all kinds of items will work. DM

DM,
Agreed. Maybe I wrote that wrong, I meant I wanted to remove the plastic to heat it and mold it to the knife then put it back in the sheath, not remove it all together, or it would cut thru the sheath eventually. Might try to find a multi use item to place in the bottom of the sheath. Thanks.

Bill

 

[The Zieg]

My Diamondback 476 sheath came unravelled, so I took it apart and found the plastic insert to have four spurs, barbs really, that pointed upwards, making it difficult for the insert to slide out. In manufacture they probably stitched the nylon closed and then jammed the plastic insert in. I took the insert, removed the snap loop, and threw the rest away. Then I trimmed the barbs off the insert and slid it into a Maglite holster and sewed the snap loop on. Now I have a working sheath for a knife that cost me $5.00 at a garage sale. It's been in my get-home bag for years but I recently starting using it.

Zieg

 

[The Zieg]

And here you can see where I cut the barbs off. At first I was sorry I cut them off, thinking I needed to keep the insert secure in the holster-cum-sheath. But after using the thing in the barn and filling it with dirt, hay, apple debris, and other junk that had stuck to the blade over a day's work, I realized I needed to be able to clean the thing.

Zieg

 

[The Zieg]

All this is to show that you would have a hard time doing anything to the plastic insert that would form it tighter to the blade; short of shimming it as suggested earlier. And anything you put in there runs the risk of staining the blade. I've just gotten used to the rattle of knives in sheaths like this. I make enough noise on my own that any rattle is unnoticeable to me now. And puukot in wood or antler sheaths, quite traditional, rattle, too.

Zieg

 

[Irishgrouch]

All this is to show that you would have a hard time doing anything to the plastic insert that would form it tighter to the blade; short of shimming it as suggested earlier. And anything you put in there runs the risk of staining the blade. I've just gotten used to the rattle of knives in sheaths like this. I make enough noise on my own that any rattle is unnoticeable to me now. And puukkot in wood or antler sheaths, quite traditional, rattle, too.

Zieg

Thanks for the great info Zieg

 

[The Zieg]

FWIW, the advice above mine is really good. If it's an inexpensive knife (in the case of my 476, read "cheap"), the risk of staining the blade with a stabilizing item slid into the insert as Dave suggests is a non-issue. And some emery cloth or jeweler's rouge would clean up a 420 or 440 steel blade anyway. Same with any carbon steel, most likely. Stuff gets in sheaths all the time when I'm doing outdoorsy stuff. When i canoed a lot i was always rinsing the things out. And fishing makes a mess of things. Besides, aren't we supposed to remove knives from sheaths for storage? Um . . . uh . . . oops . . . who, me? Then TAH's cord-lock solution above is also quite elegant. It looks first-rate on that sheath.

Let us know what knife you're working with and what solutions you try out.

Zieg

 

[MT_Pokt]

I would be curious if you could boil the sheath to soften the insert without damaging the nylon, then put the knife in and pinch it snug.

I have a 619 with the same issue. It hasn't bothered me enough to do anything about it though, especially since I retired it from service.

You could always try to cut it loose by running a blade between the nylon and the insert. I think those knives that cake decorators use might be thin enough and long enough to reach?