Splitting sheath

Skeletor

Skeletor

Joined
Aug 31, 2002
Messages
544
Ok, what should I do? The sheath for my 18in WW2 has a 1in split in the leather, just enough for the edge of the kukri to poke out. Is there anything I can do to fix it or do I need to send it down to the Sarki shop? Also, do you guys know of any kukri sheaths that wouldn't have this problem? Like a sheath that is just made of thick leather or canvas?
 
Talk with Terry Sisco. The Sarky Shop is what you need. I also had a splited scabard and he made a great job

Teo
 
Skeletor,
When I repair the sheath I carve the inside a little to give the blade more room. Then I glue the sheath back together with epoxy and recover with new leather. The epoxy makes it quite a bit stronger.
I charge $40+sh. for a repair and recover. I will need the khukuri to fit the sheath properly.
I can also make all leather sheath too. The leather sheaths have a thick welt between the front an back pieces of leather which keeps it from cutting through the stitches.
God Bless.
Terry
 
EDIT:
Doh, got distracted...see above! the expert posted while I was messing around.

a couple of thoughts--

When the wood was parted, you've seen how easy it was to penetrate the outer leather. Of course a properly made sheath of heavy leather shouldn't be cut easily, but it will probably have to be considerably thicker leather than that used to cover a scabbard. I think it would weigh more than the scabbard. The wood also probably protects the blade from corrosion than being in contact with leather, if your blades spend a lot of time sheathed. From only canvas? I don't see how, maybe someone else does.

As far as I can tell, the scabbards are made by carving two clamshell like halves of softwood and sewing on wet leather, which shrinks and holds everything together. A few tacks are used to finish the construction around the top. Sometimes the wood warps, or gets split, allowing the blade to slip through.

If you've got a new, softer leather scabbard, you might try something like below. Some older scabbards have leather more like rawhide, and that probably can't be reused.

You might be able to dissasemble the stuff at the top, soak the main sheath in water and pull out two wood pieces. Some of the upper stitching will need to be removed. The two wood pieces can then be dried, glued and/or wrapped so they don't separate again. Or new ones can be made and glued up. They could be wrapped, taped, or constructed with dovetails for extra strength. Then the leather is soaked again and stitched back on. Or new leather is used. If it was me, I try to patch the old leather by gluing on a piece of leather inside and stitching around it before I soaked it and tried to get it back on. Then while the leather is pliable, any remaing gap could be stitched up from the outside.

From the prices I've seen here, the Sarki Shop has very reasonable pricing. That means it's not worth the hassle to mess about yourself, or there's a great reasonably priced backup if/when you screw up your current scabbard. Depends how you look at it.:)

Uncle's expedient solution is just to lash things up from the outside where the cut is and be done with it.

Terry of the Sarki Shop will probably correct if I've pointed you wrong, he's the expert. I've seen pix of his scabbards and sheaths (without wood). An lots of excellent reviews.
 
Would the wood be likely to split again after the repairs? Do you use the same water buffalo leather that HI uses or do you use cow leather? And what do you think about maybe covering the sheath with canvas?
 
Skeletor,
I use high quality cow hide. The wood won't split again after repair,I always carve the inside a little to make extra room for the blade so it won't do this. Canvas will generaly slide around unless you glue it. Then it dosen't look right. the glue bleeds through to much
God Bless.
Terry
 
Ok, I think this is my last question. Would the leather on one of those quickdraw sheaths corrode the kukri? And what would happen if a normal repaired sheath or a quickdraw sheath stayed wet for any amount of time? And last but not least, how loud is the snap on one of those quickdraw sheaths?
 
Skeletor,
The leather it's self wouldn't corrode the khukuri. I have heard sheaths made from oil tanned leather will cause knives to rust though.

The quick draw sheaths are made from wood and leather. But any sheath left wet would cause the knife to rust severly.
The snap on the quick draw sheath is not very loud at all. I can also make them with a brass stud like the original had. These makes no noise at all.
I hope this helps.
God Bless.
Terry
 
Thanks alot Terry, now I have to decide whether I want to fix my sheath for $40 or have a quickdraw sheath (w/ brass stud) made for $75 (right?). I think I will probably go with the quickdraw but if I do it will have to wait until I get a bit more cash. Either way you will be hearing from me again.
 
Hi Skeletor. You could tack a strip of copper or brass to the edge of the sheath. These metals will not damage the khuk edge, but will prevent it from coming out. You couudl make your own kothimoda sheath, if you decorated with more metal and etched it!

Keith
 
I'll probably just tie something around it and proceed with caution. When I get another $40 I'll get one of those quickdraw sheaths. I think the extra capability is worth the extra $30 compared to just repairing my sheath. I should have the money 2 or 3 weeks from now and then I'll email you Terry.
 
When my M43 scabbard split I glued it and wrapped it tightly with 1/32" stainless wire. Then I sent it to Terry for a nice cover.
 
Wire wrap is my favorite easy fix. I like to use copper wire -- looks sort of nice if you do a neat job.
 
You might find that a winding of copper wire, as Bill suggested, would nicely off-set the brass bolster, and the black leather. A small spool from Radio Shack should easily do the job,and "customize" your sheath for you.

But then I have a tendency to want to "make them my own" when I have things I like...knives, motorcycles, old guns.


Kis
:rolleyes:
 
I'll wrap it with copper wire then and when I have the money I'll get one of those quickdraws. I was interested in getting one even before my sheath split.
 
I just remembered, I have one more question for Terry. Where do the karda and chakma go on the quickdraw sheath? Does it have a place for them and if not, where do I keep them? I saw something on your site that looked like a seperate sheath just for the karda and chakma, is that included with the quickdraw?
 
If you wire wrap in two or three places up and down the scabbard and use the same number of wraps the scabbard looks like it was designed that way and it hides the "down and dirty" quick fix look.
 
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