Leather sayas for kitchen knives & rust

C

coldsteelburns

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Aug 2, 2010
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I'm just about finished with a kitchen knife and since I don't have the proper size wood to make a wooden saya I'm wanting to make a leather one for it.

My question is what do you guys with experience in making leather sayas/sheaths for kitchen knives recommend using to seal the inside of the sheath to help prevent rusting? I guess this can actually apply with wooden ones since wood can either be sealed or left natural as well.

I don't have really any experience in leather working to begin with, but I am aware of another bladesmith who saturates the inside of his leather sayas for kitchen knives with lard, which is of course food friendly.

I recently asked another maker on here what he uses and he uses nothing, as his thinking is that this may let the leather breath to allow any moister from the knife absorb into the leather rather than trapping it in there with the knife.

I'm curious, what is your experience in dealing with this issue (being that it even is one)?

Thanks

~Paul
My YT Channel
Lsubslimed
... (It's been a few years since my last upload)
 
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I wouldn't use leather on a carbon steel kitchen knife personally. On my leather carry sheaths, I use beeswax on both inside and out. You should check hobby stores for thin stock. You can layer a few sheets of veneer. It's cheap, and wood says are way easier than working with leather in my opinion.
 
Just opened the knife drawer in the kitchen and counted. Got eight in leather sheaths that I made, (made some of the knives too). Some high carbon blades and some stainless and a couple of Japanese knives that are san mai so a bit of both. None of the sheaths are sealed on the interior. Nor do I seal the outside. Ya can't make leather waterproof and have it remain leather. Don't put em away wet and its not an issue. Some of these guys have been stored that way for 10-15 years. I'd think lard would be a bad idea. Wouldn't it go rancid?

Lots of help for leather work over in Sheaths and Such. In fact this topic of sealing the inside of sheaths was just discussed a few weeks back. Some guys did and some didn't.
 
I’m interested in this as well. The only sayas I’ve made have been wood. I saw the knives and sayas you are speaking of Paul and they are gorgeous!
 
Barbwire does:

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Horsewright said:
Just opened the knife drawer in the kitchen and counted. Got eight in leather sheaths that I made, (made some of the knives too). Some high carbon blades and some stainless and a couple of Japanese knives that are san mai so a bit of both. None of the sheaths are sealed on the interior. Nor do I seal the outside. Ya can't make leather waterproof and have it remain leather. Don't put em away wet and its not an issue. Some of these guys have been stored that way for 10-15 years. I'd think lard would be a bad idea. Wouldn't it go rancid?

Lots of help for leather work over in Sheaths and Such. In fact this topic of sealing the inside of sheaths was just discussed a few weeks back. Some guys did and some didn't.
Click to expand...


Thanks, this is just the type of info I was looking for. I honestly completely forgot about the "Sheaths and Such" sub-forum since I've really only been over there a handful of times over the years.

Seeing that you don't seal either inside of the outside of your sheaths, may I ask how you finish the outside of your leather? Again, I'm not too familiar with and the different techniques or even the terms, but does this mean you don't use any wax on them at all? I actually have a little tub of sno-seal that I planned on using on the outside of my sheaths, at least for the non-kitchen knives. Do you this could be a problem on a kitchen knife saya? I did some researching on it a while back and I believe I remember reading that it's non-toxic, but I can't be sure.

From the bit of reading I've done over the years about leather work, treating leather almost seems to be a bit more subjective regarding what people like to use on their own.

I appreciate the help! :thumbsup:

~Paul
My YT Channel
Lsubslimed
... (It's been a few years since my last upload)
 
After the sheath is finished, I give it a very light coat (heavy on the light, easy to over do it) of warm pure neatsfoot oil (not the compound, the pure stuff). I have a dedicated crockpot that I use to warm the oil. I'll usually let the freshly oiled sheath sit overnight and then I give it a coat of Fiebings BagKote as a finish. Here is a tutorial I did that you might find helpful:

https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/pancake-sheaths-and-how-i-go-about-them-pic-heavy.1262927/

Click on the Instagram link in my signature line. There's quite a few examples there of leather finished this way
 
I was going to ask this in "Sheaths and Such", but seeing as how it's a conversation we're having here, as I'm making a couple of sheaths now, my question is, would it make sense to coat the inside of the leather sheath with enough cameila oil so that the blade gets a new coat every time it's pulled out or pushed into the sheath?

The only drawback that I see is that if you put too much, it may soak through the leather and affect the color. But I'm no expert...

as always
peace and love
billyO
 
store the blade in vci paper actually works very well...do not store in wood saya or leather saya, just use that for traveling.
 
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