Hot water -- how to ruin a leather sheath (Bark River)

S

smersh

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This is probably obvious, old news to most of you -- but I thought I'd post this just in case there are other morons out there.

I recently bought a Bark River Mini Skinner, and thought I would wet-form the sheath for a snug fit. Remembering that I had used hot tap water back when I did the sheath for my Highland Special (it turned out great), I thought I'd go one better and use water out of the teakettle. After all, I had just made a cup of coffee....

Boy, does boiling water ruin leather. At first I thought it was just stiff because it was an old sheath that hadn't been conditioned. Nope -- I ruined it. It is hard, badly cracking, has no stretch, and feels like it's been dipped in hide glue.

Not the end of the world since it's the oldest and least desirable sheath, and I've got a replacement on the way (actually, two -- a KSF Sharpshooter pocket sheath and a JRE clip sheath that will take a little longer) . Still, it deserved better.

So to all the dummies like me out there: don't put your sheath in boiling water.

But holy cow, the Mini Skinner is a great knife. Very cutty -- and I really like the slimmer 12c27 blade on a small knife.
 
Sheesh sounds like something I would do :eek:, but now I know I won't. Lesson learned the easy way for me, the hard way for you. But thanks for the tip!
 
Glad to help!

;- )

It's weird -- it's like all the collagen in the leather just crystallized. I definitely won't be doing this again.

(btw, I realize I probably should have put this in the sheath forum -- but I thought everyone there would know this already, and wanted to warn anybody as dumb as me. Feel free to move, though, if that's more appropriate)
 
Thanks for the advice. I do know that boiling leather and shaping it is a way to make armor, like in the medieval times. If you had the right boil time and leather, you could probably make a leather hard sheath, which would be pretty cool. Although I guess that is why they invented kydex and use it these days :p
 
The texture of Kydex sounds about right -- but in my hands it's more like an old mummy's skin than armor. I'm sure they had their techniques in the old days, though!
 
You've gotta remember that Leather is essentially skin.

Skin doesn't respond well to boiling water.

Lukewarm water works a lot better to form leather.
 
Congrats on your Mini Skinner! It is a great knife! Too bad about your sheath, but the new Sharpshooter sheaths are great. Here's a pic of my Mini-Skinner!

2146557533_e1c7083ff4_b.jpg
 
As lessons go, it came at a fairly low cost -- I'd already planned on the Sharpshooter, and as soon as I can live without the knife for a while, I'll send it off to be fitted for a little JRE clip sheath (I figture both of them can do double duty with other knives on occasion).

The Mini Skinner is an amazing knife -- the blade contour and grip make it perform like a much bigger knife, and I like what a good slicer it is with the thinner blade than many BRKTs.
 
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