Question

[mfaster7]

Greetings fellas:

I wonder if anyone has used fur to line a sheath. I have read of and seen scabbards lined with different furs. I got some rabbit pelts and was planning to use them for lining. I know that leather can damage a carbon steel blade. The question is will fur damage a blade, either by holding too much moisture or due to some chemicals used in the tanning process.

Thanks for any help

[mack1]

You've answered yer own questions.

There was a Thread wandering around about Kydex marks on blades, and what to do about it. I recently re-handled a Bark River Copperhead, and made a Kydex sheath for it. I lined the sheath with moleskin, and used Chicago Screws to hold the sheath together if I needed to change the moleskin.

However, even as thin as it is, moleskin will hold moisture as well. And the chemicals used in tanning can effect a blade, especially Carbon Steel.

[bootstrenf]

also, fur and other types of linings will occasionally get debris stuck in it....dirt, gunk, etc.....as you sheath and unsheath your blade, this debris can scratch the crap out of your blade...

[leatherman]

Good advice in this thread. :devil1: Fur is a problem waiting to happen, the biggest of which is the fur coming off and getting impacted in the bottom of the sheath.

The old frontier sheaths with the fur lining that I have seen have it only on the upper part of the sheath. I'm not sure of the reason they did this other than it might be a retention aid?

[mfaster7]

I was thinking that if I shaved the rabbit fur it would remain pretty clean and help with the retention while protecting the blade. I know that the Tibetans used fur or sheepskin and I think that medieval scabbards used shaved fur.

I have noticed a few rifle scabbards lined in fake fur to reduce moisture. I guess the key word here is fake but I do not know for sure that fake is good and real fur is not.

[sarkdide]

Used shaved wool inside a sheath about 12 years ago. The flesh side was oiled with neatsfoot. It kept the blade pretty scratch free, from moving around while still giving space to wick moisture, and lasted a fairly good time.

I think any type of heavily pressed felt made from wicked hairy animals (but not those!) would work a little better though.

[mbhanzo]

As long as you have a way of opening the sheath up for a good cleaning a lining may be cool on some of the more traditional type trade knives...

[leatherman]

Unless you really like sewing, I'd not open up a frontier style sheath very regularly. Between the glue and stitching, you'd take up the better part of a weekend at it.