Sheath and knife should be stored separately??

D

DavidW3

Joined
Dec 20, 2003
Messages
69
Hi all:

My camillus CUDA CQB's information sheet says: "Sheath and knife should be stored separately when not in use". But, what does that mean? When I carry my knife out in the field, it's definitely in the sheath when I'm not cutting anything with it. It's not good for the knife?

I heard about not storing a knife in its leather sheath when it's not gonna be used for a long time because the leather will do something to the steel (don't know what it is though and why), what about if it's sheath of some other materials?

Why store knife and sheath separately?

Thanks in advance for responding.


David
 
The leather sheath has moisture which can rust the steel over time. It doesn't have to be in the sheath, it can be in the same box or drawer and you can get rust. I learned the hard way.
 
Back in the days of carbon-steel blades, this was a real problem. Leather was "tanned" with tannic acid, some of shich remained in the finished leather; acid + moisture + carbon steel = rust.

These days, there are better ways to tan leather, that leave the sheath acid-free. Plus, modern stainless steels aren't nearly as susceptible to sheath staining as they used to be.

So, why is Camillus still repeating this advice? Probably just playing it safe. Maybe some guy left his CQB in the sheath on his salt-water boat, found it stained, and demanded a full refund. I mean, we live in a society that requires legal warnings like "Do Not Iron Clothes While Wearing Them" to protect fom yahoos!!
 
"...So, why is Camillus still repeating this advice? Probably just playing it safe."

Probably, given that CQB actually comes with a Kydex sheath while I only heard of suggestion against leaving the knife in a leather sheath for storage. These days, some knives comes with sheaths of other materials though. So I wonder if that advice still stands for those sheaths.


David
 
Ive never used anything with a carbon steel blade and I usually use nylon sheaths anyway. Ive never heard of this problem before... as long as your knife has a good stainless steel blade you should be fine.
 
I've heard of knives getting very wet and this advice just gives the sheath some time to dry out. I often don't even with carbon steel and leather sheaths but I do give them a wax coating first.
 
I store all my knives in leather sheaths high carbon or otherwise and I've never had a problem with rust.I keep my sheaths well oiled and dry so that might be why.
 
While I haven't had steel react to a leather sheath, I have had brass turn on me.
Note the green surface discolouration on the bolster of my big Scandahoovian knife here; it's actually a soft, waxy substance that comes off easily with a thumbnail, but underneath the brass is tarnished.

This happens after being stored in the leather sheath for a couple of months.

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