My theory is that perhaps the true NAH156 in sambar stag were all stamped with the "NY" and the ones without are all actually a different, but very similar, bone stag SFO. I'm wondering if this is another way to quickly ID the sambar examples.
Nope! I was wrong on this one. Sadly (for me anyway) the knife pictured above was re-homed to another but things have a way of working out. I really wanted to use the above knife but the drop in value kept scaring me off.
I've been able to replace it with a used one and it's more fun than the safe-queen. This one will continue to be used. I changed the blade profile a bit so that the cutting edge goes all the way it can towards the handle and put a shaving-sharp edge on it.
The sheath was original but the thread had been cut and it was falling apart. When I looked at the welt I could see that the original line of stitching had missed it completely where the blade was sitting and the blade had cut all the threads. The threads had all fallen out where they attached the belt-loop too. The sheath was in tatters.
I took out all the thread and removed the rivet and went about fixing it. This was my first "saddle-stitch" effort but it's not brain surgery and I encourage anyone out there to give it a try and fix their own sheaths etc. I used some thick nylon waxed thread. When I removed the rivet I was a little sloppy and I didn't have a replacement anyway so I decided to modify the sheath into a "pocketable" blade-protector-only style so that I could have this belt-less option.
I was only concerned with function so I just held it together while I drilled a better line of holes free-hand. I made an extra circle at the top where the stress is the greatest and to tighten up the grip of the sheath on the knife. When I was done I "hot formed" or "wet formed" it. I used water that was a little hotter than I could keep my hand in and submerged it until it was shapeless and supple (60 seconds?).
I then drained out the water and sheathed the knife. I used only my fingers to squeeze it into shape. When I was happy I removed and dried the knife and left the sheath to dry for a couple of days.
It worked great! Retention is awesome. I can hold the sheath upside down and shake for all I am worth and that knife goes nowhere. My next effort wasn't on a Schrade but I'll include a couple pics as more encouragement for folks to do this stuff themselves and to show how it looks if you try a little harder to be neat.
The original machine-stitching on the black sheath wasn't tight enough and the blade had nicked the threads out. A machine can't do true saddle-stitch and hand-stitching is much stronger. I removed all the original thread and re-stitched. It's tight as a drum now and should last forever. I'm gonna bees-wax hot form this one for my stag Grohmann #4 Survival knife.
Try saddle-stitching and wet forming sheaths if you have to or just because you want to. There is nothing to fear! While you are at it, score yourself a Little Finger if you haven't already. Great pattern!
Russell #4 sheath:
