Non-kydex/concealex neck sheaths?

[doggyknife]

Does anyone know if there are any makers of non-kydex/concealex sheaths? I saw one a few days ago - leather, with the knife tip pointed down. I didn't get a good look at it though. I think I've also seen similar non-kydex neck sheaths oriented the conventional 'handle-down' way, but kept in place with a snap button type strap. Seems really convenient for backpacking because it is easily accessible (don't need to twist and turn to get at a fixed blade strapped to your pack).

 

[R.W.Clark]

I know that Native Americans carried small knives in neck sheaths all the time. They were always tip down and were suspended by a strap of what most likely would have been senew.

Upside down while backpacking would bother me. With no way of holding the knife in other than a snap, chances are high that you would lose you knife. I carry my pack knife attached to my left shoulder strap. Have also been toying around with carring it horizontal on my gut strap. With the formed Kydex it will take so much pressure for it to be pulled loose by a branch or other hazard, you would be sure to notice.

 

[doggyknife]

Actually, the leather-type, tip-down neck sheath I saw a while ago was being carried by a Native American (Chumash I think).
A conventional non-kydex handle-down neck sheath is 'iffy' to me as well.

As much as I like kydex sheaths (when done well) I have found kydex sheaths a relative pain when backpacking. Strapping a fixed blade on my pack is not only irritating to reach, but a pain to unsheath. I've also tried lashing it to my suspension belt, shoulder strap, arm-band, etc....but due to the force often needed to unsheath, these strapping points have not worked very well. So far, the kydex neck sheath has been most convenient.

I've been thinking about the more traditional style of neck sheaths used by some Native American tribes, and how similar leather neck sheaths might be adapted for today's knives. A lot of fixed blades we use now incorporate a integral finger guard of sorts into the blade or just behind the blade, often used as a 'locking' point for kydex sheaths. A neck leather sheath (tip-down orientation) could use this 'locking' point as well in the form of a slit for the guard, and a strap above the guard to secure it in place.