Storing high carbon in leather?

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Peakbagger46

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My primary hunting blade is an Esee 3hm in 1095 steel. The sheath it came with is leather. Would storing the blade in leather cause rust?

It stays in my truck or pack. Currently I keep it in a homemade kydex sheath, but retention is poor.

If it makes a difference, I live in a low humidity high desert climate.
 
JParanee said:
I would not store a collector piece in Leather but a user yes

Treat the blade with Tuff Glide and it will be fine
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I’ve thought about Tuff Glide but I’m not sure if I want to expose elk steak to chemicals.

I’ve found that rubbing venison tallow on the exposed steel works wonders after the field work is done. Obviously not for extended storage though.
 
Give a light coat of mineral oil and you should be fine if the leather isn't chemically tanned.
Maybe just store it In the kydex and use the leather when carrying it.
 
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I make leather lined Kydex sheathes for all my small fixed blades. The leather is hot wax treated and I can carry carbon steel IWB through the Summer without rust of any kind. Wiping completely dry helps as well.

Wax treating the leather has proven to be a solid improvement on all my leather sheathes.The tighter the fit the better.
 
I bought three 1790 british naval cutlasses, all in a leather sheath/scabbard.
Somebody made the scabbards years ago. 2 of the cutlasses were almost perfect,
but one had some very slight corrosion on both sides, about 6 inchesfrom the tip.
No problem, polish the corrosion off, coat in fine oil, put back in scabbard.
A few weeks later, the corrosion was back, same place, so repeat the polish etc.
The cutlass stopped being marked/corroding only when I left it out of that scabbard, so something
in the leather is corroding the blade - which is very annoying because it obviously affects the look and value.
The other two blades are fine in their scabbards. I guess each situation re blade/sheath is different.
 
stickwhistler said:
I bought three 1790 british naval cutlasses, all in a leather sheath/scabbard.
Somebody made the scabbards years ago. 2 of the cutlasses were almost perfect,
but one had some very slight corrosion on both sides, about 6 inchesfrom the tip.
No problem, polish the corrosion off, coat in fine oil, put back in scabbard.
A few weeks later, the corrosion was back, same place, so repeat the polish etc.
The cutlass stopped being marked/corroding only when I left it out of that scabbard, so something
in the leather is corroding the blade - which is very annoying because it obviously affects the look and value.
The other two blades are fine in their scabbards. I guess each situation re blade/sheath is different.
Click to expand...

Are the scabbards original, or from the same period? If so, would be worth finding out what is going on with that sheath and repair, if possible. Depending on whether it’s been stained by chemical or blood, could be an easy fix, or near impossible.
 
Peakbagger46 said:
My primary hunting blade is an Esee 3hm in 1095 steel. The sheath it came with is leather. Would storing the blade in leather cause rust?

It stays in my truck or pack. Currently I keep it in a homemade kydex sheath, but retention is poor.

If it makes a difference, I live in a low humidity high desert climate.
Click to expand...

Is the blade coated? Kydex can be heated and reformed to better retain the knife. Otherwise I’d agree with above and store in kydex but use the leather while carrying.
 
Tanning acid remains in the leather. Acid makes steel rust easier. I'm sure the oil/grease/wax that the leather has been treated with after tanning also affects the situation, but leather can absolutely cause steel to rust under the wrong conditions.
 
I have an old Western L48A fixed blade that my Dad gave to me ~ 45+ years ago. I also live in the dry desert southwest, and have kept the knife in it's leather sheath that whole time. No issues with the blade itself, which is high-carbon, non-stainless; maybe plated. But, there was always one small spot of verdigris on the brass guard, where it was in continuous contact with the leather. I'd periodically take the knife out, clean up & polish the guard, and put it back. I lived with it like that for all of that time.

Just recently, I finally committed to trying something I'd read on the web, about dealing with leather-induced verdigris on brass. I took the knife out of the sheath and enclosed it in a gallon-sized Zip-Loc bag, filled with enough baking soda to completely fill & cover the leather sheath. I just left the sheath stored that way for several weeks, maybe a couple months. Finally took it out and rinsed the baking soda out of it, using only running tap water. Let it air-dry for several days or a week, then put the knife back into the sheath. Since then, no more verdigris issues on the brass guard, for the first time in decades. It's fixed for good. :)
 
I take my leather sheaths apart and melt two or three coats of SnowSeal in, inside and out, then re-stitch with waxed nylon thread using a cobbler's stitch. That completely seals the pores to prevent the sheath from absorbing moisture, and stiffens the leather. No problems with rust as long as long as the knife is put away dry. A bit of CLP BreakFree on the blade also helps.
 
I seal the blades with wax before storing them in or out of sheaths. I do prefer cardboard sleeves to leather for storage but if cleaned then waxed and stored dry the knives should be fine. I have some stored for 2-3 years with no problem. When I check them I take steps to not get fingerprints on them just in case. The salt/acids in that will cause trouble in some cases.

Joe
 
Using a knife in a leather sheath is no problem. Storing a knife in a leather sheath for long periods is not a good idea if you don't know what the leather was tanned with. Chrome tanned leather is common and has salts in it that will attack steel over time.
 
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