Benchmade 162

[sabre cat]

I just picked up a Benchmade 162. Love the knife, hate the sheath. I can see what everyone has been complaining about.

What changes, if any, have you folks made to your 162 or it's leather sheath? Any other feedback about the 162 would be nice also.

Cheers.

 

[rummels]

I’m not sure that much can be done to improve the 162’s sheath.

I contacted a company that makes sheaths and emailed them the image below and told them I wanted an identical sheath made for a 162. I indicated the leather color I wanted based on some of the sheaths I saw on their website.



They made the sheath for me, and when I got it, it looked identical to my example and was very well made. The 162 fit in the sheath perfectly. If you are interested, email me at torchlakeroad@yahoo.com and I will send you the name of the company that made my sheath.

Note that I then made a plastic "liner" for my new sheath like the one that comes inside the Benchmade 162 sheath. I did this by simply cutting a plastic container with a scissors. Plastic containers that hold windshield washer fluid, vinegar, etc are often the same thickness as the plastic used by Benchmade for the same purpose.
rummels

 

[hiwa]

Sand the sharper corners of the handles with 400 grit wet/dry to smooth the handle a bit. Also , I made a pouch style and traditional style sheath for mine. The 162 fits in a Spec-ops small sheath meant for 4 1/2" blades , but the plastic liner it comes with is about 3/8" too short, so I made a kydex insert for mine.
Now I have 4 sheath options ,lol

 

[Lost Cosmonaut]

I clipped a Maxpedition keychain to mine to make it a proper dangler. It's a great knife, a little on the spendy side for a bushcrafter, but it is S30V as well and most competing bushcrafters are some form of carbon steel.

 

[hiwa]

S30V isn't typically the norm for a "bushcraft" steel , but as far as this knife goes , it has by far excelled at anything I've put it to. Diamond sharpening tools speed up the process dramatically with this wear resistant steel , but you won't be doing it very often , and the spine is a spark shower thrower.

It's not too hard to make a sheath for this knife with basic tools if you don't like the factory one. Even a leather dangler strap for the factory sheath from an old belt or piece of leather is a 10 minute job. You just need some screw posts ( I used 1/4") or a rivet or two and a hole punch or drill.

I think you can get a kydex holster from Benchmade now for this knife , but I honestly prefer leather or the Spec Ops small sheath.