Great Sheaths for Great Knives!

Balislinger

Balislinger

Joined
Nov 11, 2003
Messages
6,787
Ever since the SFNOLE won my Busse comparison thread I've been wanting to order a special sheath for it. Back then I was attracted to the new sheaths Richard Holloman started making for them, but never got around to ordering one. Recently I've had the good fortune to buy a couple of those off the exchange, one light one and one dark one. The light one I paired up immediately with my primary Busse knife (the comparo winner), and it is the perfect sheath for the knife. Distinctive, yet still utilitarian. The darker sheath will be home for another SFNO.

Now don't get me wrong, I like the work of our other leather benders like Dwayne, Mikey and Chuddy, among others, and have several of their sheaths as well, but there's something about these Holloman sheaths that is different and a little special. They are very well made, have a unique design, and I think look great with the SFNOLE. So here are some pics! I'll be posting more pics in the next few days of knife/sheath combos. Tell me what you think!

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those are very nice sheaths, great attention to detail, definitely top shelf work, thanks for posting them
 
Are those horizontal carry only or are they set up for vertical carry with molle straps or is it something else? Does he do anything set up for vertical belt carry? If so, could you post a pic or link please?
 
Those look very nice! He has a good sense of design. :)
 
d762nato said:
Those are some sweet sheaths are they lined with anything.
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Nope. It sure feels and seems like they are. When you touch them, you would swear there is a thin piece of kydex sandwiched in between leather, but there isn't, it's all leather. He wet forms these sheaths to fit each knife using a 20-ton hydraulic press, which compresses the leather. He begins with 12 oz. leather, so there's room for that. It makes the leather thinner and stiffer. Then the sheath is dried in a dehumidifier, which stiffens it even more. The result is a very firm retention system much like kydex. You knock on it and it feels like there's a piece of kydex in there. But it's a single piece of leather and the inner lining is the soft backside that babies the blade. There is no portruding metal or anything inside to scratch the blade.
 
on_the_edge said:
Are those horizontal carry only or are they set up for vertical carry with molle straps or is it something else? Does he do anything set up for vertical belt carry? If so, could you post a pic or link please?
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It's set up for horizontal carry at the small of the back only. All of his "scout style" sheaths are made that way, which is pretty much all he makes these days. He used to make other types of sheaths as well, but is now real busy with the scout style and is limiting his orders to them. I have a sheath he made for a NMSFNOLE that is set up for vertical carry. I'll post a pic of it later.

Here are a couple links to his website where you can read more about the process. The first page is for the ASH-1 sheath, and if you scroll down you can read the specs of these sheaths in terms of the build process and materials used. It's the same for the SFNOLE sheaths (there is a link on his site for those as well). I have no affiliation to Richard so I'm not posting these links for any reason other than to provide more info.

Holloman ASH-1 Sheath

General Sheath Info

I am a leather sheath snob and I am really impressed with Richard's work. The other maker I would have liked to order from would have been Martin Swinkel, but I would have had to send my precious LE across the pond. No way! Two other makers I looked into and liked certain styles they make are Ken and Cody at Rowe Leather and Hedgehog Leatherworks. Again, I like all my sheaths from our usual stable of makers as well, but was trying to find something a little different for the LE so it would stand out.

Richard is pretty busy with orders so he limits his work right now to a total of 6 knife models, 2 of them Busse Knives and 4 of them Tom Brown knives. He's not set up like our other guys to make a sheath for a great variety of Busse models. You can read more on his sheathmaking process on his site.
 
Those are amazing sheaths!!! :eek:

AMAZING looking quality :eek::thumbup:
 
Here's a pic of the darker one with a SFNO. This knife had a shot at the sheath, but because the darker sheath was made for a flat ground SFNO, I have another SFNO that won the sheath due to better fit. I will say this about Richard's sheaths. They are so precise in the molding that you really want to use them with the exact model they were built for. For example, my SFNOLE sheath is a perfect fit, because he molded it to that exact model. The darker sheath was made for a 2008 SFNOSE, which is flat ground and has machined mag scales. A saber SFNO will not fit the way it should in that sheath.

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Here are some pictures of my best Busse (the one that won the "best Busse for me comparison") with it's new special sheath:

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on_the_edge said:
Are those horizontal carry only or are they set up for vertical carry with molle straps or is it something else? Does he do anything set up for vertical belt carry? If so, could you post a pic or link please?
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OK, here are some pics of a vertical carry sheath he made for a NMSFNOLE. Awesome design. Like all his stuff, very distinctive and innovative, but utilitarian as well.

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Those are some really nice sheaths!! :cool:

The NMSFNO LE sheath is killer. :eek:

He does have a good eye for design.

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