All,
Cold Kill, this is not directed at you but you brought up the dulling of the edge issue. Don't take this personally, I'm just try to get something aired out.
This dulled edge issue is a contentious one that rivals Batoning in my book.
Here goes:
1) Sheaths are supposed to: a) protect the user from cuts when not in use. b) help transport the knife. Much has been written about sheaths not doing that. ie; blade cutting the stitching, blades piercing through the leather (yes even those $200 customs)
We can use a variety of materials. We use Glass filled Nylon as it offers ease of manufacturing, strength and durability. User safety is always the first on the criteria list. We take great care to make sure that there is sufficient room in the sheath so the blade is not striking or hitting the inside of the sheath. The issue arises when people are pulling the knife out and pushing the knife into the sheath; they drag or run the edge of the blade into the plastic. If one pulls the knife straigjht out and inserts the blade straight in, there is no problem...we have investigated all of the Becker and KA-BAR sheaths and the issue is the same on each.
2) Anytime an edge is run across any material, it loses sharpness...paper, flesh, cartilage, cardboard, plastic. That is the nature of the knife and the sharpened edge. Some things wear out the edge faster than others. Cardboard is one of the worst materials.
3) Sheaths that REALLY protect will be made of materials that are strong and will resist the sharpened edge. Kydex and leather are used by custom makers because it is easy to work not because it is stronger than Zytel/ Grivory or any of the injection moldable plastics. That's right; convenience over protection. Don't get me wrong; Kydex is a neat material and it has some great properties but Custom Makers use it because they can produce sheaths in their kitchen. By the way, a sharp blade will slice through Kydex and it will wear out and also melt next to a roaring fire. Same problematic issues with leather. They will also dull the blade when edge is dragged over it. Making 50 custom sheaths a year is a lot different than trying to mass produce 10-20,000 pieces a year. We investigated Kydex and decided it does not meet our criteria for a sheath material.
I can hear the next question..."Okay Toooj but that isn't reasonable to always pull the knife straight out of the sheath." I say, "Yes it is." Always know the limitations of your equipment and do the correct thing. Vince Lombardi used to say, "You don't do the right thing some of the time, you do the right thing all of the time". You also may say, "This person's sheath doesn't do that or the Kydex sheath doesn't do that". You may be correct. We have done/are doing several things. a) We lowered the glass in our sheath mixture. We did this several months before this issue went viral on Utoob. The lowered glass was to make the sheath more flexible. Some of the sheaths were too stiff and knife removal was an issue. We will not remove all of the glass from the plastic. Nylon without glass? Think of nylon stockings or your toothbrush handle. Not good options. b) We have gone back to our Hard Sheath maker and we are putting a slot into the entrance of the sheath on the edge side to reduce the chance of the edge cutting into the sheath upon egress/entrance. This is where most of the edge dragging occurs. The first change has already happened. The second is in the works. We are waiting for samples as we speak. I don't know the exact date this will happen and it will be a running change.
4) When we deliberately dulled the knife edge on the sheaths (20 drags plus), the edge was very quickly brought back to razer sharpness with two passes on a Ceramic rod (one pass each side of the cantle) Thats how "Dull" they were.
5) U toob and the internet is the giant warehouse of mis information. Caveat Emptor. Everyone wants their 15 minutes of fame and what better way to do that than to bash products on the 'net.
6) If you are a(n): outdoors man/woman, survivalist, bushcrafter:
a) Complaining: That mindset will kill you when the SHTF. One has to be strong and pragmatic in the wild. That should carry over to everyday life.
b) Reality: What is really important? I'll take a strong sheath.
c) Learn skills: Like how to sharpen your knife on a flat sedimentary river rock in the wilderness...or how to sharpen your knife in the first place.
d) Adapt: Initiate a fix for the sheath or if you can't, buy a custom sheath. The moderate cost of a KA-BAR or Becker Knife will allow you to have some discretionary funds left over for a
different sheath.
7) KA-BAR will continue to offer great customer service so if you want to change over your sheath, send it to my attention. However KA-BAR also stands for strong, skilled, independent, creative users.
End of pedantic lecture.
Best Regards,
Paul Tsujimoto
Sr Eng
Prod Dev and Qual
KA-BAR Knives
Cold Kill, this is not directed at you but you brought up the dulling of the edge issue. Don't take this personally, I'm just try to get something aired out.
This dulled edge issue is a contentious one that rivals Batoning in my book.
Here goes:
1) Sheaths are supposed to: a) protect the user from cuts when not in use. b) help transport the knife. Much has been written about sheaths not doing that. ie; blade cutting the stitching, blades piercing through the leather (yes even those $200 customs)
We can use a variety of materials. We use Glass filled Nylon as it offers ease of manufacturing, strength and durability. User safety is always the first on the criteria list. We take great care to make sure that there is sufficient room in the sheath so the blade is not striking or hitting the inside of the sheath. The issue arises when people are pulling the knife out and pushing the knife into the sheath; they drag or run the edge of the blade into the plastic. If one pulls the knife straigjht out and inserts the blade straight in, there is no problem...we have investigated all of the Becker and KA-BAR sheaths and the issue is the same on each.
2) Anytime an edge is run across any material, it loses sharpness...paper, flesh, cartilage, cardboard, plastic. That is the nature of the knife and the sharpened edge. Some things wear out the edge faster than others. Cardboard is one of the worst materials.
3) Sheaths that REALLY protect will be made of materials that are strong and will resist the sharpened edge. Kydex and leather are used by custom makers because it is easy to work not because it is stronger than Zytel/ Grivory or any of the injection moldable plastics. That's right; convenience over protection. Don't get me wrong; Kydex is a neat material and it has some great properties but Custom Makers use it because they can produce sheaths in their kitchen. By the way, a sharp blade will slice through Kydex and it will wear out and also melt next to a roaring fire. Same problematic issues with leather. They will also dull the blade when edge is dragged over it. Making 50 custom sheaths a year is a lot different than trying to mass produce 10-20,000 pieces a year. We investigated Kydex and decided it does not meet our criteria for a sheath material.
I can hear the next question..."Okay Toooj but that isn't reasonable to always pull the knife straight out of the sheath." I say, "Yes it is." Always know the limitations of your equipment and do the correct thing. Vince Lombardi used to say, "You don't do the right thing some of the time, you do the right thing all of the time". You also may say, "This person's sheath doesn't do that or the Kydex sheath doesn't do that". You may be correct. We have done/are doing several things. a) We lowered the glass in our sheath mixture. We did this several months before this issue went viral on Utoob. The lowered glass was to make the sheath more flexible. Some of the sheaths were too stiff and knife removal was an issue. We will not remove all of the glass from the plastic. Nylon without glass? Think of nylon stockings or your toothbrush handle. Not good options. b) We have gone back to our Hard Sheath maker and we are putting a slot into the entrance of the sheath on the edge side to reduce the chance of the edge cutting into the sheath upon egress/entrance. This is where most of the edge dragging occurs. The first change has already happened. The second is in the works. We are waiting for samples as we speak. I don't know the exact date this will happen and it will be a running change.
4) When we deliberately dulled the knife edge on the sheaths (20 drags plus), the edge was very quickly brought back to razer sharpness with two passes on a Ceramic rod (one pass each side of the cantle) Thats how "Dull" they were.
5) U toob and the internet is the giant warehouse of mis information. Caveat Emptor. Everyone wants their 15 minutes of fame and what better way to do that than to bash products on the 'net.
6) If you are a(n): outdoors man/woman, survivalist, bushcrafter:
a) Complaining: That mindset will kill you when the SHTF. One has to be strong and pragmatic in the wild. That should carry over to everyday life.
b) Reality: What is really important? I'll take a strong sheath.
c) Learn skills: Like how to sharpen your knife on a flat sedimentary river rock in the wilderness...or how to sharpen your knife in the first place.
d) Adapt: Initiate a fix for the sheath or if you can't, buy a custom sheath. The moderate cost of a KA-BAR or Becker Knife will allow you to have some discretionary funds left over for a
different sheath.
7) KA-BAR will continue to offer great customer service so if you want to change over your sheath, send it to my attention. However KA-BAR also stands for strong, skilled, independent, creative users.
End of pedantic lecture.
Best Regards,
Paul Tsujimoto
Sr Eng
Prod Dev and Qual
KA-BAR Knives
