The Marvelous New Second Gen BK02 Sheath System

[willworship]

Thank you for checking - to verify, yours is a gen 2 correct? I had this same problem with my gen 1 sheath damaging a large portion of the edge, but all the metal I've removed in trying to solve it has helped somewhat... certain areas still make contact and ding up the edge, but I guess it's not as bad as it used to be. It's sounding to me like the "added retention" and "lack of rattling" in the gen 2 sheath came at the cost of an overly tight design that's nicking the edge. Maybe the trade-off is acceptable for most, but I'd personally prefer a bit of rattle in my sheath than a design that dings up my blade.

Yes, it's gen 2. It's not the retention that's the problem, but the width of the sheath interior when the blade is fully inserted. If you twist the knife (with the spine held tight against the interior on its side), you can hear the edge sometimes rubbing against the interior of the sheath. I'm about to go to town with some sandpaper and see what happens.

 

[willworship]

I just spotted your post, willworship: don't know how I missed it earlier.

That's good information. I don't have the new sheath yet, so I can't duplicate your test, but it sounds like a good way to check. Where is it contacting the sheath? Just at the throat, or for the entire length of the sheath?

I agree: this is a critical area to fumble in, and I'd bet dollars to doughnuts that KA-BAR would like to know what's causing it.

First, I put some light in the empty sheath to see if there were any marks from contact, and I noticed that there was one small (<1 cm) spot on the belly part of the sheath, and about a 3-inch part along the flat portion of the edge that were making contact on the interior of the sheath. I think the space for the blade is just a hair too narrow.

 

[willworship]

As a follow up, I just finished re-sharpening my BK-2, and that may have done the trick. As Toooj mentioned in PittRules55's thread, there are slight differences in every blade, mine (in comparison with my gen 1 BK-2) was slightly wider. After sharpening it up (extra coarse stone to slightly reprofile it, then double bevel grind), it's all good, and it's not touching the sheath anymore. That could be some of the problem that people are dealing with.

BTW, the Tek-Lok fits amazing on the gen 2 sheath. Thanks for the suggestion, Bladite!