Knife rattle in some 100 Series sheaths!

TAH

TAH

Joined
Jul 3, 2001
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In a recent thread, Lawrence Helm mentioned how his 119 and 124 rattle in their Buck sheath. I noticed this rattle too with my 1970s Frontiersman, so I added a leather tie down, which fixed the problem. For this style of sheath, I simply ran a leather lace through the belt loop and used a small steel ring as a slide. The ring adjusts the tension and it is not necessary to loosen the ring to remove the tie down from the handle. The leather lace simply slides up and over the pommel. This extra step doesn't add much time at all when unsheathing the knife and the tie down isn't bothersome when not in use. It just hangs out of the way behind the handle. The tie down also acts as a secondary retention strap incase the snap is accidentally disengaged. As you know, the swivel sheath offers no retention through friction fit, which is what causes the knife to rattle in the first place. Perhaps this in why Buck changed the design to the Snoopy sheath, which is stitched on both sides. I'm guessing the 124 doesn't rattle in a Snoopy sheath. True?

Has anyone else modified their sheath to prevent rattling?


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TAH said:
In a recent thread, Lawrence Helm mentioned how his 119 and 124 rattle in their Buck sheath. I noticed this rattle too with my 1970s Frontiersman, so I added a leather tie down, which fixed the problem. For this style of sheath, I simply ran a leather lace through the belt loop and used a small steel ring as a slide. The ring adjusts the tension and it is not necessary to loosen the ring to remove the tie down from the handle. The leather lace simply slides up and over the pommel. This extra step doesn't add much time at all when unsheathing the knife and the tie down isn't bothersome when not in use. It just hangs out of the way behind the handle. The tie down also acts as a secondary retention strap incase the snap is accidentally disengaged. As you know, the swivel sheath offers no retention through friction fit, which is what causes the knife to rattle in the first place. Perhaps this in why Buck changed the design to the Snoopy sheath, which is stitched on both sides. I'm guessing the 124 doesn't rattle in a Snoopy sheath. True?

Has anyone else modified their sheath to prevent rattling?


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Click to expand...

Tah,

No responses so far. I'll bet most people either weren't bothered by the rattle or if they were went to a different knife. In my case I went to the Buck 639. I just recently learned to read the symbols and see that my knife was made in 1987 so that must have been when I bought it. I was probably carrying a lot of gear back in those days because I was taking groups on hikes in the Angeles National Forest & took a lot of stuff just in case someone got hurt or needed something; so the 639 was a great light-weight knife that was still a "real" knife in terms of its capability. I didn't care what the sheath looked like back then. It was quiet and didn't weigh much.

But in the last few months I decided to check & upgrade my gear. I was no longer happy with my old and shabby 639. The first thing I did was check eBay. Someone was selling a 639 that he claimed was in "mint" condition. I forget what I paid him but his knife was in worse condition than mine. His sheath was in better condition, but I decided to give up on the 639 and start looking elsewhere.

I became interested in Becker knives. Ethan Becker has a very different idea of a knife than the Buck people. His BK2 was the first and he described it as an Apocalypse-type knife meaning if you could have only one knife in an Apocalypse-type situation that would be the one to take. Maybe so but he made some other knives as well. I ended up buying all the ones I thought I might conceivably use on hikes, and one or two besides. There are people on eBay making sheaths for these knives (I hated all the Becker sheaths, but was used to hating sheaths because of my Buck experience); so I got a leather sheath for every Becker I bought. Also, Becker knives are made so that you can take off the handles and replace them with handles that you can buy from sellers on eBay. I did that too.

I thought I was all done buying knives when I decided to see if by some off chance anyone was making sheaths for my Buck knives. The first two sheaths (for the 119 & 124) were from the same seller and were excellent. The third, for the 120 is too tight. I'm not going to send it back. It is well enough made and does its job. I'll put my old 120 in it and put my 120BR in the new sheath I'm getting (from the same seller I got the first two from). And "then" I'll finished buying knives. :D . . . maybe ;)

As to my 124, the snakeskin sheath as I said is excellent but when it was in its old rattling sheath, it just sat in an old box for years and years. It is still in great shape and I could take it hiking, but it isn't my favorite Buck knife. I like the 119 a lot better and will like the 120 better as well if I get a sheath as good as the ones on the 119 & 124.

Lawrence
 
Tah,

That "sounds" like a good and simple solution.

Bert
 
Good story, Lawrence. I've heard a lot of good things about Becker knives, but I never owned one. I do like your custom snakeskin sheath in the other thread. It really makes your 119 look like a whole new knife. I guess there is one good thing about the loose fit of these Buck sheaths, they're not so tight that they scratch the blade unnecessarily from going in and out.
 
Thanks Bert. I like that I didn't have to make a permanent modification to the sheath - at least on this style. The tie down can be easily removed, but when in use, it looks very much apart of the sheath. Here it is without the knife...


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TAH, A good fix & idea. I've noticed the rattle with my 120 and 119 as well. Mine have the flap over sheath, both are 1980. The fix I did was to fold a leather strip in with the blade and up over the flap then snap it closed. Voila, no more rattle. The leather has slurry applied so it doubles as a strop. DM
 
Thanks Ed and David.

David, I'm having a hard time visualizing your fix, but I'm intrigued.
 
My 102 rattles a little if I shake it but when I put it on my belt and wear it I don't notice any rattle.

Jim
 
In my experience the rattle is from the plastic liner in the fold over sheaths. The ones with the full leather welt doesn't really rattle but the knife may have a little give.
 
D R E said:
In my experience the rattle is from the plastic liner in the fold over sheaths.
Click to expand...

I don't think my 70s fold over sheaths have plastic liners. Never looked inside them, though. What year did they start using plastic liners?
 
Last night, I decided to make another tie-down for my 124. This one is a little more custom. Dyed black top, oiled back and sides, then distressed to match my belt.


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