Necker sheath dulling demo by Virtuovice

lukeeson111 said:
I ran across these videos by "Virtuovice" and thought I would share them with you concerning the EsKabar Sheath causing the blade edge to become dull from the type of plastic used. From his testing its pretty convincing that the sheath material is the cause of the dullness, and he noted that this happens with his BK2 sheath as well. If this is a repeating issues maybe its time for a new sheath material.
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lukeeson111, thanks for the heads up, but there's a thread on the same thing just a few threads down the page. I'm going to combine threads.
 
I thought I noticed the same problem the first day or two of carrying my Eskabar. But then I just did as several others have mentioned and now I take an extra second when drawing the knife and make sure the spine is against the sheath, not the blade. That solved the problem. I noticed Others complaining that rattle has dulled their knife but mine doesnt rattle or at least not enough for me to noticed. And after hearing that and seeing that video I was curious so I pulled out my Eskabar which I had accidently fallen asleep w/ it around my neck and between my shirts. It cut paper still just fine and I would think me sleeping on it would have caused it to rub if it was going to but who knows. It is still fairly new only had it for a couple weeks so I hope it doesnt wear to much and get a prob w/ rattling and dulling. Oh prob obvious but when re-sheathing ya have to take an extra second then as well or you prob will have a dull blade.
 
Virtuovice posted a part 2 video following up on the theory. He took a Kydex sheath, an ESEE plastic sheath and a Becker plastic sheath - took the blades of 5 knives and ran them over the surface of the each sheath 3 times then tested with a paper cutting demonstration. The Kydex and ESEE sheaths came out with no issues but 3 swipes on the Becker plastic sheath left none of the knives with the ability to cut/cleanly cut the paper.
 
A link was posted here, so I will go ahead and imbed.
[youtube]lmVNyKFiuQw[/youtube]
 
I don't understand why a company that is respected worldwide for their quality knives would make sheaths out of a material that can be used to strop a knife. How could a sane person even think of GFN as a sheath material? Some people would probably say that you don't need a paper cutting edge on a hard-use knife, but I think Beckers are more than that. We've seen that in the February and March contests. There has to be a material that isn't as expensive as kydex, injection-moldable and at the same time less hard than the steel of the blade.

Don't people check stuff before throwing it on the market anymore?
 
I think the material is less hard, but if one sharpens to a keen wire edge, it can be vulnerable to being dulled by 'soft' materials, and is especially vulnerable in this case due to the design of the sheath. This is how I like my edges however, so I would definitely prefer different sheath designs. The problem would be the same with kydex too if the sheaths were also these strange sandwich jobs that contact the edge. It's not so much the materials, it's just the way whatever sheath contract company this is has chosen to make the sheaths.
 
I blame Moose.
But then I pretty much blame him for everything.
 
So that's why I can't keep my necker sharp. Argh. This is ridiculous; I thought I was just sharpening it wrong (I convex all my knives). So much time wasted trying to profile the edge correctly so it would stay sharp, when all this time it was the damn sheath.

What a waste. I've stopped carrying my necker because of this, and now I've changed my mind about wanting a BK2. Ka-Bar needs to do something about this. A knife should not need a custom sheath in order to function correctly.
 
I don't think anyone is having the same problem with a BK2. BK2 is an excellent value, and so is the BK11/14. Yes the neckers need a better sheath, but I don't think it's worth disregarding the whole brand.:confused:
 
Seems to me when you strop a blade your going to get a very fine microscopic wire edge that would get knocked down when you cut anything harder than paper anyway. so whats the difference if it's the sheath knocking it off or your first pass of the blade through something harder than paper? I'm no expert so be nice.
 
Idaho Guy said:
Seems to me when you strop a blade your going to get a very fine microscopic wire edge that would get knocked down when you cut anything harder than paper anyway. so whats the difference if it's the sheath knocking it off or your first pass of the blade through something harder than paper? I'm no expert so be nice.
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Stropping removes the wire edge, brother, or at least its supposed to. I can agree that a sheath that dulls a knife has its flaws. I also know that a sheaths basic functions are to keep the knife with you, and keep you safe from the edge. In that regard, they work well.

There are fixes that you can do yourself, a small mill file, some para, if you like. I can agree that some knives you buy and pay much more for, don't even come with sheaths. I know. I usually make sheaths for them.

The world isn't perfection, and the sheath you get with the knife, is the sheath you get with the knife. I still us my standard, factory issue with my BK14, and yes, it takes the "hair popping" edge right off after a couple of sheathings. But no one in this world would call it dull, I assure you. Most knives in the world will work with signifigantly less "edge" than we put on our knives. Some of the hardest working knives I've ever seen, get sharpened with a coarse bastard file or a stone from the side of the road.

To disregard the quality and value of a BKT knife, based on a sheath flaw, seems to be a little over the top, but, to some, it might be enough.

Moose
 
It just seems to me that by removing a knife twice from plastic sheath and having it dulled would be caused more by a wire edge being knocked over than by the sheath it self "dulling the blade". but again...new guy here.
 
He was purposely dragging the edge to make it dull and prove a point. Dragging the spine while drawing will minimize dulling.
 
I'm not a giant fan of the necker sheaths because they rattle but for such a high value / low cost knife - I can't complain. If it were a bigger deal, I'd pony up for kydex or leather.

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Beckerhead #42
 
Yeah, really not that big of a deal. Just sheathe and resheathe carefully. I thought that was a general rule of knife use anyway.
 
I just realized that my BK2's sheath have the same problem. I used a saw blade to cut a shallow groove in the sheath, then I used a thin flat file to smoothen it out and the BK2 is fine now. Phew!
 
To say that a knife brand "is crap" because of a sheath is foolhardy. MANY a good knifes come with cheap import sheaths. Be prepared to pony-up some more money if you want a great knife with a great sheath. I think the price point is important here. IMHO, MANY people would not want to pony-up the $150-$160+ i have invested in each of my BK7 & BK9 knife/custom sheath combo's. I still say BK&T kicks butt in the knife world. Also IMHO, if you like your knives so much, you should reward them & yourself with a custom sheath. Most cost more than the knife itself, some cost MANY, MANY times more than the knife itself. To have one made to your personal specs is priceless. It's like knife nirvana everytime you use it or wear it. Many factory sheaths can be greatly improved upon by the owner with just a few simple mods. I just feel the rant in the video's were greatly exagerated via the BK11's price point.
 
TwinStick said:
To say that a knife brand "is crap" because of a sheath is foolhardy. MANY a good knifes come with cheap import sheaths. Be prepared to pony-up some more money if you want a great knife with a great sheath. I think the price point is important here. IMHO, MANY people would not want to pony-up the $150-$160+ i have invested in each of my BK7 & BK9 knife/custom sheath combo's. I still say BK&T kicks butt in the knife world. Also IMHO, if you like your knives so much, you should reward them & yourself with a custom sheath. Most cost more than the knife itself, some cost MANY, MANY times more than the knife itself. To have one made to your personal specs is priceless. It's like knife nirvana everytime you use it or wear it. Many factory sheaths can be greatly improved upon by the owner with just a few simple mods. I just feel the rant in the video's were greatly exagerated via the BK11's price point.
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I watched the video over again and he said the sheath is crap, he didnt have issue with the knife. It is an interesting feedback on the type of plastic used by Becker that dulls all the different knife. But Izula's plastic sheath didnt nor the Kydex. Perhaps Ethan can look into this and keep improving on the sheath. Over the years, the sheath on BK2 has improved and I hope the Taiwanese factory will find this information helpful in the future.
 
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