Cleaning your sheath

[Charlie_K]

I see a lot more cases of people using their EDC knives for cutting food than I expected. All well and good if your knife is up to the task, but how do you prevent contamination? If you keep a fixed blade in your sheath and it encounters various circumstances that leave it dirty and you can't wash it off before resheathing you're going to deposit those contaminants in the sheath and recontaminate the knife every time you put it away. So how do you go about cleaning your sheath? And what if it's one of the factory polyester models that the larger Beckers come with?

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

Just wipe the blade with soap/water, Windex or isopropyl alcohol before food use, as well as after. Lacking any of those, at least wipe it with a relatively clean rag. For that matter, it doesn't hurt to do the same after other uses as well, so a minimum of contaminants get deposited inside the sheath. It's inevitable that the sheath will accumulate dirt/grime/etc. over time. There's really no such thing as totally preventing contamination, if the knife & sheath get used at all. So, making sure the blade is adequately cleaned/wiped and dry, before it's sheathed, and again when it's withdrawn from it, is the simpler means of control.

Alcohol wipes or swabs can be purchased at drug stores, and they're easily pocketable for situations when other cleaners aren't conveniently at hand.


David