Leather Sheath Break In

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What are some the techniques you use to break in your leather sheaths? I picked up a Bark River Gunny with red C-Tek handle, from thrillhill the other day. Awesome feeling blade. Can't wait to go camping and see what it can do. Came with a really nice leather sheath, just needs to be broken in.IMG_1685.JPG
 
Maybe a little leather conditioner? Not sure why a sheath needs to be broken in. It shouldn't be flexing a lot or anything. I'd slap a little somehting on it quickly and then use it. Oh, by the way, that's a sweet knife.
 
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Maybe a little leather conditioner? Not sure why a sheath needs to be broken in. It shouldn't be flexing a lot or anything. I'd slap a little somehting on it quickly and then use it. Oh, by the way, that's a sweet knife.

Thanks, I really like it. Maybe broken in was a bad choice of words. Its really stiff drawing and resheathing the knife. I know that it should be stiff enough to securely hold the knife but it's a lot tighter than that. It is getting better the more I work it but was looking for some ides to speed the process up.
 
Thanks, I really like it. Maybe broken in was a bad choice of words. Its really stiff drawing and resheathing the knife. I know that it should be stiff enough to securely hold the knife but it's a lot tighter than that. It is getting better the more I work it but was looking for some ides to speed the process up.

Take it fishing. Flip the kayak. Dry out leather. Then use an oil or leather conditioner. Then itmis broken in! Thst is kinda what I do to fishing hats. They aren't decent until they have been under water, dried and sweated on a tad bit.
 
Leave it alone and wear it in. Conditioner will soften the leather. Soft leather is not what you want on a sheath or holster. There is not strap to secure it, so you need the retention to hold the knife in place.
 
Leave it alone and wear it in. Conditioner will soften the leather. Soft leather is not what you want on a sheath or holster. There is not strap to secure it, so you need the retention to hold the knife in place.
I tried to leave mine alone. But it was so stiff, between the dangler loop, and the retention strap squeaking, I almost threw the sheath away. I soaked mine in coconut oil. It got softer, and stopped squeaking and was treated with something that was good grade so I don't need to worry about skinning something with it if need be.
 
Mink oil or linseed oil. I always used mink oil on my baseball gloves to break them in.
 
Guys, listen up. NOT ALL LEATHER SHOULD BE SOFT. Baseball gloves? Yes. Furniture? Yes. Holsters? No. Sheaths? No.

Don't treat a holster or sheath like a ball glove unless you want a loose rag hanging from a belt. If you have a retention strap you can get away with more, since the strap is the retention. Without the strap, the stiffness and rigidity of the mouth of the sheath is the retention. When that goes the retention goes at some point.

If you want a bit more room and don't want to wait on wearing it in, insert a piece of paper in the sheath and insert the knife over night. It will slightly stretch the leather and loosen up the retention without making the leather soft.

But hey, your gear, your call. I'm just the guy handling leather daily.
 
[QUOTE="I'm just the guy handling leather daily.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the advice. Not gonna argue with a man that makes a living working with leather. I'll try the paper trick.
 
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