Waterproofing Leather Sheaths

C

CliffS

Joined
Sep 13, 2014
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I was wondering what folk are using these days to water/weatherproof their sheaths. I have a couple nice Barkies that are my primary carries when I'm in the woods, which is nearly all the time. I live in wet, humid Nova Scotia and want to make the leather sheaths they come with, which are very nice, more resistant to holding water. Any new materials out that are recommended? I know this topic has been addressed now and then, but the most recent post I've found on it dates back to 2007.
 
Snoseal has been a standby as has Mink oil. However minkoil can be over done easily and lkeather can lose its life. I'm liking Oakwood (from Weaver Leather Supply) right now its working well for me. Understand that you can't make leather waterprrof and keep it being leather. You're shooting for decent water repellancy.
 
Sno-seal. I got a small tub of skidmores beeswax waterproofing, it's ok. It's very oily more like conditioner. I say use what ever you use on your boots, or anything else leather and you should be good as long as you don't over do it, oils and conditioners can soften a sheath too much.
 
Somewhere I read of dipping the entire sheath in paraffin. I wonder what kind of mess that would make.
 
golfer1 said:
Somewhere I read of dipping the entire sheath in paraffin. I wonder what kind of mess that would make.
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I've done this before, dip the sheath in the hot wax or rub the wax on with a brush, heat up the leather either with a blow dryer, heat gun, or oven and reapply until happy. It's called hot waxing. The sheath came out as hard as the knife, and this requires a drainage hole because it will hold water like a bucket.
 
Heat & wax is a method of hardening leather. I'm sure it has plenty of uses, but in some cases it's just too hard and brittle.
 
Thats kinda what I was talking about and keeping it leather.
 
I use SnowSeal on all my leather: boots, knife and ax sheathes, belts, stacked leather knife handles. Melt in a coat or three with a hair dryer (check with your significant other first). It doesn't soften the leather like oils or greases. I take new sheathes apart, treat them inside and out, then re-stitch with waxed nylon thread using a cobbler's stitch.
 
I have my sheathes snosealed ( 2 different Kabar usmc sheaths) but is there a good way to get the inside where the knife is actually in contact with the leather?
 
Ask a beekeeper(if you know one) for a chunk of pure beeswax. I melt a piece (double boiler method workes well without a chance of burning) and brush it in with an old soft toothbrush. Works well for me
 
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