Chrome tanned leather okay for SS?

A

adoboyo

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Aug 20, 2012
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I know it isn't recommended for carbon steel, but how about stainless steel?

Reason I ask, is I love the little pouches that come with the Chambriard Le Compact. I'm not an expert but I believe it is chrome tanned since it's very pliable and soft. I refuse to believe Chambriard would ship their knives with something that could harm them, but just wanted to make sure for piece of mind :)
 
I'll always live by one of the first things Sandy Morissey told me back in 2001. "It's best to always avoid chrome tanned leather in sheath making"
 
I recently asked about using chrome tanned for lining just the mouth (so it wouldn't touch any of the carbon steel). It looked like the general consensus was not to use ct at all. There was no evidence that it may have an adverse effect on ss.

My guess would be that sheath makers, that is, people that make sheaths for sale, won't use ct because they couldn't guarantee the product from damaging the owners knife. I haven't done so, but if you are making it for yourself, some more research might be in order.

I'm fairly certain that there are other leather tannings that are compatible with carbon steel. My multi tool sheath is clearly some sort of oiled leather and doesn't feel like veg tanned at all. The tool is ss.

This is a good topic. I would *really* like a definitive answer, especially if there was scientific evidence backing it up.

A sheath maker should probably stick with vt because it's universally known to be safe for any knife. But for those of us making our own sheaths for specific knives, it would be nice to know if we have options.

Let me know if you find something.
 
CT leather is cured with Chromium Salts. consider the word salt. Salt will eat even the best stain"less" steels. Bad part about chrome tanned leathers is there is always some chromium salts left in the leather, ready to leech out onto the steel. It will etch stainless.

Your oil tanned leather Strig has a chance of being either a veggie tanned leather that is vat "fat stuffed" with oils, or and its is a big OR its whats referred ot as double tanned. First veggie, then chrome, then fat stuffed. Its an old trick for tack. You get the benefits of chrome with the non stretchy nature of veggie tanned. I have some double tanned in my stack, its really oily, almost greasy feeling.
 
Strig and adoboyo, there are two ways to learn something. One is by personal experience and learning by your own success or failure. The other is to take advantage of someone else's advice based on their personal successes or failures. One is painless and the other not so much. If options are important, you still have option to choose one or the other.

Now, one more time, it is not prudent to use Chrome Tan inside a sheath regardless of the steel.

Paul
 
And there you have it. The stuff just looks so innocent! :p

Seriously though, I do like to test stuff and find out for myself why this or that is the way it is. That said, I have no will to damage my possessions for no good reason, so I thank you both.

I can't count on all toes and fingers how many instances that I've received bad or erroneous information on the net, but this has been discussed many times. The use of the leather with ss (or handle material for that matter) wasn't a topic that I recall seeing so I'm happy with the clarification.

Dwayne, I'm not up to speed on the various different leathers (obviously) so I'm glad you pointed those out. I'll make it a point to study up.
 
No need to worry about Chambriard Le Compact leather
it is English tanned and wont affect your steel.
A very fine and expensive leather, very soft
and glove like. These folks use only the best leather
for their knives. very imoressive.

For an explanation of tanning methods check out Wikipedia
for the many types of tanning chemicals used for different
purposes that way you get the right stuff.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanning
 
A little off topic
I used alum tanned leather for an axe sheath once and the axe was rusty as an old nail in a few weeks. I boiled the sheath oiled it and it still caused rust.
I would only recomend veg tanned leather for anything of any value.
 
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