leather care?

J

joninthetolet

Joined
May 26, 2009
Messages
97
just wanted to give an update about my first rat and a question.
i recently took a mountain biking trip with my rc-4 with the leather ksf sheath.
it was a beautiful trail along a large creak, at one point there was a part where the trail got uncomfortably close to the water. at one point the dirt completely collapsed under me,and me, my bike, and my trusty rc-4 go into the water, it was freezing!! i forgot to mention, i started the 2 hour trip at about 8 in the morning. and i when i went in, i was only 15 min into the trip, i retrieved my bike and i toughed it through. when i got back to the house, i checked my leather rc-4 sheath. fully expecting it to be saturated with water, and possibly cracked or ripped, no, its still in great condition!! this is truly hard use gear!
i took apart my rc-4 and washed it to get all the dirt and sand out, i also scrubbed the micarta clean, good as new!!

but i got a question, does the leather ksf sharpshooter sheath need any maintenence like oiling? if so what do i need?
anyways, the leather sheath sold a knivesshipfree.com is great!! highly recomended, and i couldent be happier with my first rat!!
 
I'm unfamiliar with Ballistrol but I would not oil it. Oil will soften the leather and you don't want that in a knife sheath, at least I wouldn't. Instead, I would melt some bee's wax on to the sheath and rub it in with a clean rag. This will waterproof your sheath without softening the leather. It will darken the leather though, as would oil.

If you decide you still want to use oil, I would first check with Sharpshooter to find out if applying oild would be adviseable, based on the tanning method used with his leather.
 
I would check with KSF first. I am sure they can tell you what you need to do. The sharpshooter sheaths have some kind of special treatment impregnated into the leather and you do not want to ruin it.
 
smustian said:
I would check with KSF first. I am sure they can tell you what you need to do. The sharpshooter sheaths have some kind of special treatment impregnated into the leather and you do not want to ruin it.
Click to expand...

The inside is treated to be water resistant. The outside is normal leather.
 
smustian said:
I would check with KSF first. I am sure they can tell you what you need to do. The sharpshooter sheaths have some kind of special treatment impregnated into the leather and you do not want to ruin it.
Click to expand...

The Sharpshooter sheaths are made of leather that has been EEP'd. Reid has said many times that it is a 'process' not a 'treatment' done to the leather before it is built into a sheath. It's all through the leather, inside, outside, and everything between, as well as the thread in the stitching. When I was up at the Bark River Grind In, Reid showed me an EEP'd sheath that he's had tied up outside the shop for over a year. It's pretty dirty but not rotted.

I wouldn't even worry about treating it with anything. I believe the sheaths are warrantied for life as well. They are pretty awesome aren't they? :thumbup::D
 
smcclown05 said:
The Sharpshooter sheaths are made of leather that has been EEP'd. Reid has said many times that it is a 'process' not a 'treatment' done to the leather before it is built into a sheath. It's all through the leather, inside, outside, and everything between, as well as the thread in the stitching. When I was up at the Bark River Grind In, Reid showed me an EEP'd sheath that he's had tied up outside the shop for over a year. It's pretty dirty but not rotted.

I wouldn't even worry about treating it with anything. I believe the sheaths are warrantied for life as well. They are pretty awesome aren't they? :thumbup::D
Click to expand...

thats a roger!!:thumbup:
 
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