Leather and Steel

G

ghost squire

Joined
Feb 1, 2004
Messages
360
How well will a leather handled knife such as a KaBar or SOG Bowie hold up to repeated lengthy immersion in fresh, chlorinated and salt water?

Jungle environment?

I assume fairly well considering Marines and SOG carried them all over the world, but would this assumption be correct is the question.

How do I care for leather handled knives?

How do I deal with the water left in the gaps between handle and tang?
 
I wouldn't think they would hold up very well in that environment, but leather grips if treated will tolerate occasional wet/damp. I treat mine with SnowSeal (melted in), and use a little BreakFree around the front of the grip and rear as a routine rust preventive measure. I always take apart a new leather grip knife (Marble's) and treat the entire tang with BreakFree and then reassemble. For serious immersion in salt water something in H1 steel with a plastic grip would be a lot better.
 
It just doesnt make sense though, why were combat diver units supposedly issued with leather handled knives? :confused:
 
In WWII they made millions of Kabars. The ones with the rotted handles were easily replaced by new knives.
 
Yup, knives are disposible/expendable tools, just like a gun, an aircraft, etc (to a lesser extreme)
They gotta be cost effective and work
 
Well that explains the mystery of why all those SOG Scuba/Demo knives went "missing" during the war... :barf: :D

Thats so... unromantic.

So if I were to crash land on a tropical island and have to wade through a river to get food, my knife would become near worthless after how long? Thats sort of scary.

How do I take care of a wood handled knife like a Randall?
 
Why do we find bronze swords from ancient times, but not steel? It hurts to think about it! :D

On the cheap, soak the handle in oil, leather or wood, to retard corrosion. But even the blade of that Ka-Bar will rust out on you without some maintenance -- clean it, dry it, oil it. In a combat or survival situation, you may not have time or attention span or equipment to do much maintenance, but as long as the emergency doesn't last for months, your knife can recover.

I think it would be a shame, and an unnecessary problem, if soldiers who know they have to maintain their rifles were to skimp the much simpler maintenance on their knives as well.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top