Kydex and Sheaths

[silverdragon33]

Plastic will not scratch steel.

Certain finishes will be flattened by the pressure of the plastic smoothing out a rough finish such as double cut or even satin finishes.
If you look at these finishes under magnification they are a series of hills & valleys. sometimes the pressure or even your fingernail can mar the finish.

The foreign matter that may get trapped in the sheath through use will scratch.

If you get sand, dirt or any hard matter in the sheath, it may become imbedded in the plastic thus scratching the finish every time you remove or insert the object into the sheath or holster.

what he said.

in my experience, the scratches are only noticeable if you're sheathing and unsheathing it a lot, or using the blade and then putting it back in the sheath without cleaning it (in which case you wouldn't be worrying about scratches). i don't have many satin blades, but i have a mashed cat sheath for a sar6 which hasn't been used yet, and after a fair amount of sheathing and unsheathing, the blade still looks pristine.

 

[J. Oeser]

Kiah nailed it. If you want a minty safe queen without scratches (which I have a few of) then don't even put it in the cardboard sheath. If you are going to use it then who cares, it's going to get scratched up.