One of the most overlooked items in designing, manufacturing, or purchasing a functional knife is the sheath. Our new book will have a large section devoted to this topic. But for my faithful readers, whoever you are, I want to offer a little bit here on sheaths.
If you bought and worked with over 200 fighting knives you would begin to develop likes and dislikes. Some knives don’t balance well, some are too heavy, too long or short, and so on. It is the same thing with sheaths. Back when kydex was still in its infancy I bought an expensive semi-custom tactical tanto from a very reputable company. I loved the knife but……. The sheath was supposed to be a high tech, “operator’s” dream. Well the damned knife wouldn’t stay in the new fangled plastic sheath. I emailed the designer and his response was, “haven’t you ever heard of duct tape?” WHAT! I am supposed to duct tape my new knife in its sheath! Well I sent the knife off to Blade-Tech who made me a wonderful sheath for a fair price. Problem is I had already paid for one sheath that was totally bloody useless. I still have the knife and the original sheath is lost somewhere in a closet. How many times have you seen this advertisement? “Knife new in box with the usual kydex scrapes.” Wow that’s just what I want, a pre-scuffed custom knife.
Beside scuffing up a blade or losing the knife out, a sheath is supposed to have other functions. As a practitioner of Iaido I appreciate the good fit of a sword and saya. The saya (sheath) is a functional part of the sword package. It is the delivery system that you launch the sword from. The sword should exit the saya smoothly, effortlessly and without gouging up the blade. Why do we expect any less from a custom fighting knife and sheath? Your knife must ride comfortably, at the correct angle, and allow an uninterrupted flow of the blade from an at-rest position to fully deployed.
I have some kydex sheaths that require two hands and a major struggle to extricate the knife. This is not only unhandy, it is downright dangerous. Too many times I have seen people nick or cut themselves when tugging on a knife as it suddenly pops free. Then there are the floppy oiled leather sheaths that look like a beached jelly fish once the knife is pulled. You would not accept this in a holster would you? When I designed the Cobra I spent a lot of time cogitating over how I wanted it to be worn and how the sheath should be designed to enhance the knife and getting it into action. The result is illustrated here. It’s very simple. The knife is tensioned by your belt and the fit of the knife in the sheath. There are no straps, snaps, kydex popping etc to fight with. Your little finger indexes in the finger groove and the knife literally flows out of the sheath due to the FBI style cant. There is no “up and out” draw, only a forward movement slick as a striking snake. Yes leather sheaths will wear out over time and kydex may not. It is no big deal to have another sheath made. Spend some time with your favorite knife and see if it draws smoothly and comes out on target. If it does not, don’t buy a new knife just find someone to make you a new sheath that will work, hand in glove, like a katana and saya, or, if you insist on a new knife buy our Cobra.
PS this Puma knife was a radical design for its time and very exciting. But, the sheath will be given the dubious honor in our coming book of the worst sheath ever. It is made of cordura and plastic with the strap already broken from fatigue.
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