Ontario knife sheath modifications - some alternatives

B

bdcochran

Joined
Jan 2, 2012
Messages
211
Sure I bought Ontario knives and discovered problems in the sheath designs. Unfortunately, I could not locate suitable, replacement sheaths or modifications. The alternatives appeared to be 1. ship me your knife and I will custom make a sheath for you; or, 2. buy a $150 grommet snap tool and install your own with a desired snap closure.

Came up with a range of solutions to replacing non-functional velcro straps on an Ontario sheath. Or, if there was a snap closure, but you wrapped the scales and now the original snap closure was too tights.

The best alternative is to replace with a snap on closure and a piece of webbing material, but who has $150 for the proper tool?

I have used 550 paracord with paracord stops, but ohhhhh.... It works. However, you might fumble a bit on opening and closing the restraint.

So then I tried metal buckles with webbing, but too bulky.

Now I am going to use a piece of 3/4 inch webbing with a plastic buckle that has a built in emergency whistle in the buckle. From Strapworks. Of course, I will have to sew the material onto the buckle and then the unit to the existing Ontario sheath. A bit bulky. However, the restraining buckle arrangement will be flexible to allow a wrap of paracord on the scales if later desired.

I spent hours researching if some entrepreneur had come up with a replacement sheath that would be as functional as the Ontario sheaths. However, there weren't even any off-the-shelf sheaths that I could find.
 
Good for you, BD. I guess it doesn't have to look good if it works.:rolleyes:

Paul
 
Are you talking about a grommet setter? If you don't mind actually using a hammer, grommet setting tools are extremely inexpensive. I have never seen a $150 model, but basically it's a shaped base and a shaped 'punch' which you smack with a hammer to get the grommet pieces locked together. Should be available at wally world, tandy leather, and many other places for a couple bucks, 10 at most for a kit.

C
 
Even my big setting press wasn't 150.00.

Hobby Lobby has a nice little beginner set, the price eludes me right now but I do remember it being very reasonable. As is the kit at Walmart mentioned above. :)

If you need some extra length on the strap, Jo Ann's and Hancoks both sell the material by the yard and if you ask nice enough, by the foot! A needle and thread and your off and sewing! Dont forget to melt the ends.

All in all you will end up with a better looking and functioning sheath. :)

Adding: assuming Ontario's sheaths are similar to, say Cold Steel's nylon sheaths, the keeper strap is sewn on. If that strap needs replacement you simply need to cut the stitching, carefully. That way your not adding bulk.
 
Thank you. :thumbup:

Today, I received a short spec-ops sheath. It did fit the Ontario air force (I guess SP2) knife.

I had been staying away from the Tandy punch approach only because some people had written that their experiences hadn't been as satisfactory as they had wanted. Because you have indicated that you have had good results, I will also try that approach.

The next projects are to salvage an Ontario Rat 7 sheath (the two velcro (generic term, no offense meant to Velcro) straps failed) and the Ontario Air Force sheath.:thumbdn:
 
Update

1. My Ontario Falcon factory sheath doesn't work. I played with putting the Ontario knife in other sheaths. It fit nicely into a ZT 170 sheath, so I ordered one.

2. I received in a cheap ka-Bar 1217S leather sheath. I ran some tests. An Ontario Blackbird worked. A Ka-Bar Becker 17 worked as well.

3. A number of Ontario SP1 and SP2 knives would work except that the leather restraint is a tad too tight. So, I looked closer. The restraint is what you would expect. It is a piece of leather run through the sheath slits and with a snap at the end. Ok. So, you would or could order a longer piece of leather and put on your own snaps. I also looked at the attachment to the sheath. I would defer to more experienced people as I have not literally worked with snaps. A small snap is placed through the center of the sheath and into the leather restraining strip. I would think that you could remove it, work with the same or larger hole and simply replace with a slightly larger snap.

4. If you were good with cutting slits, you could cut a second pair of slits further down on the sheath, allowing you to put in a lower restraint strip and even more knives could be handled. The tolerance on the interior diameter of the sheath is so tight that none of the blades that I tested (including those that were too short for the present restraining strap/slits) would rattle. When you can pay $7 delivered for a decent quality leather sheath, you have a winner.

5. I received in a couple of Spec-OP sheaths and they worked fine. One required putting a couple of sponge ear plugs in the sheath to kill any rattle.
 
bd: I'll offer you a deal. If you will send me your Ontario knife, I will make you a custom sheath free of charge (that even beats the $7 deal), not out of "decent " leather, but top grade, top grain leather. Then you can better judge what fit really means. It will be made to fit your specific knife and not intended fit any other knife you may have now or in the future. It will not have any metal (rivets, screws, staples etc. any where in or on the sheath except for the Sam Browne stud used to secure the retention strap. The stud is one solid piece and there is nothing to wear out or break. The sheath will be fully leather lined so even that one stud will be covered and cannot contact the knife. It will not shake, rattle or roll and no foam ear plugs will be necessary unless you plan on target shooting while wearing the knife. It can have any degree of embellishment required, but yours will be plain vanilla, but then again it's free. This sheath would cost between $100 and $200 ordinarily, but it's worth it to me to introduce you to a sheath that really fits a specific knife, and looks good while it does its job.

This is a legitimate offer and its not done to embarrass or belittle you. I just think you need to have the tools to do a real comparison.

Paul
 


bdcochran, take the offer. Dont think on it, dont wait, dont hesitate. Things like this dont come along, EVER.
 
Wow! :surprise: I love this forum. Sheath makers especially. Generosity abounds!
 
I'd definitely take the offer. After all the modifications that you mentioned, the sheath would still have the very thin plastic liner that resembles coke bottle plastic. I like their knives but the sheaths they come with are disappointing. That's a very fine gesture
sheathmaker and I applaud you for it.
 
Paul, I'll take your offer if you want a free review when it's done. I'd love to have a decent sheath made for my Ontario, but my leather skills are currently dismal, and would love to see the difference a proper sheath would make.
 
sheathmaker said:
bd: I'll offer you a deal. If you will send me your Ontario knife, I will make you a custom sheath free of charge (that even beats the $7 deal), not out of "decent " leather, but top grade, top grain leather. Then you can better judge what fit really means. It will be made to fit your specific knife and not intended fit any other knife you may have now or in the future. It will not have any metal (rivets, screws, staples etc. any where in or on the sheath except for the Sam Browne stud used to secure the retention strap. The stud is one solid piece and there is nothing to wear out or break. The sheath will be fully leather lined so even that one stud will be covered and cannot contact the knife. It will not shake, rattle or roll and no foam ear plugs will be necessary unless you plan on target shooting while wearing the knife. It can have any degree of embellishment required, but yours will be plain vanilla, but then again it's free. This sheath would cost between $100 and $200 ordinarily, but it's worth it to me to introduce you to a sheath that really fits a specific knife, and looks good while it does its job.

This is a legitimate offer and its not done to embarrass or belittle you. I just think you need to have the tools to do a real comparison.

Paul
Click to expand...



This forum absolutely rocks
 
BD, one month today since I made the offer. Since you did not reply I assume you have no interest, therefore the offer is withdrawn. Good luck!

Paul
 
Before I read your generous response, I went to the Tandy shop in the San Fernando Valley, Ca.

The staff was exceedingly knowledgeable - and I walked out with all the tools and a cow hide (which I really didn't want to buy; however, a good buddy is Chuck Stapel who makes knives for the Hollywood movies and he could take the unused portion of the hide from me.)

After the usual learning curve, I fixed up a bunch of factory sheaths. This meant replacing worn/shrunken restraints on used sheaths, adding a second snap restraint in some instances, converting velcro restraints.

I have a couple of discontinued Ontario swords. The sheaths are of crummy cloth material that is damaged when the swords are inserted! I saw an old video on how to make leather sword sheaths and came up with variations/attachments for an across the back and attach to a pack carry. Darn, another project!!

I wanted mention another project. I obtained a 10 inch new Old Hickory Butcher knife and a couple of used 10 inch Victorinox butcher knives (couple of blade nicks that cleaned right up with light filing and a Spyderco sharpening unit). I put them in the 10 inch proprietary Machete Specialists machete sheaths and they fit perfectly. Great camp knives and safely available.
 
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