Schrade sheaths are a story I am yet to untangle. Actually, the term "aftermarket sheath" itself can be misleading. Schrade over the years made very few of their own sheaths. Yes, it was shown during the auction that they did have their own sheath department, and I have been told that they did do some of their short run fancier sheaths inhouse, particularly in the last...fifteen years or so? An educated guess is that some regular "production sheaths" were most often customized there with decorative logos, stamps, and maybe dyes, and perhaps some sample designs were put together there. For the most part, the department did not have the capacity, nor was it equipped and staffed to do production work, such as 60,000 sheaths for the 152OT/UH/SC/DU/DS. Outside vendors provided most of the sheaths over the years, sometimes more than one vendor per pattern at a time, and some of them added their own minor detail differences according to their own manufacturing methods, material availabilities, and capabilities. In this sense, almost all of Schrade's sheaths were produced by outside sources and were OEM and, at the same time aftermarket. Naturally these same vendors sold similar or even same sheaths to other buyers. And quite a few of Schrade's customers provided their own sheaths from whatever source. Knives were shipped to them in bulk for them to sheath and put in their own packaging.
There are, so far, few solid leads in tracking down many of the sheath suppliers Schrade used. That will prove to be an epic adventure in and of itself. I have a sneaky suspicion that one rabbit trail will lead to Mexico and even possibly South America. And Kansas. Any leads anyone runs across would be deeply appreciated.
I think Paul is spot-on with his observations too. It was a manufactured sheath, not a hand made custom one. His particular expertise and eye for details is a most valuable addition here. Thank you Paul.
Codger
