leather handle care

hso

hso

Joined
Dec 16, 1998
Messages
1,066
Will/Phil,

What is the proper maintenance for the stack leather washer handles of the Marine Fighting Knife?
 
Hey HSO

A trick I got years ago from Larry Harley, who I believe got from his dad,
is to melt parrafin in a coffee can in a sauce pan of boiling water to the depth of the handle or a little deeper and immerse the handle for a few minutes and let it harden . I have had very good success with this method. .. the parrafin is impervious to water and appears not to change dimension even after many years. You should lay down aluminum foil along the exit route of the knife from the pot and DO NOT USE A GAS STOVE ! I use a small visegrip padded with cardboard to hold the blade. Let it soak in thoroughly before removing it from the parrafin. You will find parrafin in the supermarket in the canning section.

I have treated several knives in this manner and other than darkening and dulling the surface of the leather I have found it extremely effective on using knives.

I did the neatsfoot oil routine on an old MKII many years ago and after only a couple of decades the leather shrank in a most unfortunate way!

All best....
Ethan
 
SnowSeal works well on all kinds of leather. I use it for boots, belts, leather packstraps, sheaths and stacked leather handles. Rub it on then use a hair dryer to melt it in. It is a beeswax/silicon mixture that will not soften leather. Good stuff.
 
Thanks Ethan, et al.,

Keep in mind that leather treatments that are intended to make leather soft and flexable may not be the right threatment for a leather that is intended to be stiff and firm.

I switched from snowseal to biwell for boots when I discovered that the snowseal when liberally applied can degrade glues. The biwell hasn't had that problem. Loved snowseal for 7 years. Have now loved biwell for 20.

Thanks again, everyong.

Mike

Ethan, been telling the monumnets to battle none to wars story since SHOT with great results.
 
Wax sounds like an interesting idea. I used neatsfoot oil on an issue knife I had in the AF for 8 years and worked just fine.
 
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