Tai Pan Secure-ex Sheath

M

Mark Spark

Joined
Jun 1, 2020
Messages
158
So I bought a Tai Pan in San Mai steel from Amazon for a great price. I was worried it might be a fake or returned but it was genuine new. Fit and finish was beautiful, but the blade was dull on both edges, which surprised me for a Cold Steel knife. When I say dull, I mean it wouldn't cut paper at all. The dullness was uniform and smooth to the touch. Both edges were 15 degrees on one side, 20 on the other.
So no problem, I apexed it with a Medium diamond stone and finished it with Sharpmaker ceramics. Not push-cutting, but slicing paper nicely both sides. I figured I'd eventually reprofile to maybe 17 a side.
So I fooled around with my new toy quite a bit for a few days. Part of the time in a truck. Then I happened to test the edge with three fingers and it was no longer sticky. In fact, it was damn dull.In fact, it would not cut paper anywhere.
I now believe the fiberglass reinforced plastic sheath dulls the blade horribly. You don't need to draw the knife, just movement batters the edge. I believe it arrived dull because of riding in the delivery truck. After I carried it in my truck the edge felt just like it did when it arrived.
The Secure-ex sheaths have to be redesigned. The idea that you can't move the knife around when it's in the sheath, let alone draw it repeatedly, is ridiculous. Probably the Tai Pan is worst because of the double edge, but the others must be bad too.
I appreciate they get a light sheath from the strength of FRN. But its got to go. I would argue these sheaths are defective in materials and workmanship.
My suggestion would be to either use non-reinforced nylon, thickened correspondingly, or use kevlar-reinforced nylon. Or mold in pure nylon inserts. Anyway, I don't care how they fix it, only that they fix it.
My 2 cents.
 
I agree with the leather option. I got this Ka-BAR leather sheath for 10 bucks. I’m curious why CS rarely uses leather nowadays. They have used leather before in some of the older fixed blades.

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I've had the dulling issue on the SRK and the Recon Tanto sheaths regardless of how I draw them.
On the other hand, I own all of the Drop Forged line and none of the sheaths have this problem at least in my experience. Seems like they addressed the issue on this line or just started with a better design overall. I'm assuming all the sheaths are made with the same materials.
 
Cold Steel will just keep ignoring this unfortunatley... it's cheaper to them to sell junk they're currently selling.
 
Bumping an old thread here guys. Bought a brand new San Mai Tai Pan on Amazon and it arrived the other day.

Knife was hair popping sharp when I tested it out of the box. Between then and now, I would estimate I drew the knife from the Secure-Ex sheath approx 20 times or so. Never cut anything, just withdrawing from the sheath.

The knife will barely cut paper now. Original poster is right, no question the Secure Ex sheath dulls the knife, at least in the Tai Pan's case. Very disappointing.

I may disassemble mine and see if I can sand off some material on both sides, to allow more room. Either that, or I'm going to find a nice leather sheath.
 
I must have lucked out as when I bought my Tai Pan it came with a leather sheath, and I have not had a problem with it dulling the edge. John
 
yep. this knife deserves a leather or least a better less dulling no dulling kydex or whatever plastic is best type sheath.
 
tess_lawrie_fan said:
Secure Sex? Well... In this case, nothing is better than leather, don't you agree? 😄
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Absolutely, but I can see some environments it not being the best choice. I would pay the extra premium for it. Why not make it an option, maybe not enough people that feel like we do to make it economically feasible though. Although it should still be less than a custom one, maybe?
 
nephron said:
Absolutely, but I can see some environments it not being the best choice. I would pay the extra premium for it. Why not make it an option, maybe not enough people that feel like we do to make it economically feasible though. Although it should still be less than a custom one, maybe?
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I'd gladly learn to make my own Kydex sheaths, but I don't have that many knives, so I'm thinking twice about that. Anyway, the Tai Pan will be a drawer queen until I find a solution.

But I must mention that the SRK "Secure" sheath is doing great. 🙏
 
Does Outdoorsman have the same dulling issue? I don't know what its sharpness from the factory should be like but my brand new Outdoorsman is definitely not as sharp as any new CS folders that I have bought.
 
sharp_edge said:
Does Outdoorsman have the same dulling issue? I don't know what its sharpness from the factory should be like but my brand new Outdoorsman is definitely not as sharp as any new CS folders that I have bought.
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Is it true that the Oudoorsman does not have its own sheath, and uses instead the Master Tanto sheath?

I finally ordered one, but I'm not excited about the sheath.
 
Man with no name said:
Leather or cordura would be another viable alternative.
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I just bought an older Japanese Tai Pan on eBay for a really good price! Anyway it has the original leather sheath with it. I prefer leather anyway so it works out great. It’s very similar to the sheath that they had for the original vintage Tanto in being slim with a wrap around leather and Velcro tab that wrap around the handle. I wish they kept using these!
 
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It's a known problem with all Secure-ex sheats. They all dull your blade, very secure. Cold Steel didn't fix it and I don't even expect anything from GSM. They probably don't even know this forum exists.
Anyhow, Cold Steel blades are great. I just got myself a Master Tanto. I left the crappy Secure-ex Sheath in the plastic. Tomorrow I will drive to a custom knife maker and he will make me a fine leather sheath. Problem solved ...
 
D.Croce said:
I just bought an older Japanese Tai Pan on eBay for a really good price! Anyway it has the original leather sheath with it. I prefer leather anyway so it works out great. It’s very similar to the sheath that they had for the original vintage Tanto in being slim with a wrap around leather and Velcro tab that wrap around the handle. I wish kept using these!
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Those Japanese Sheaths were some of the best mainline production pieces, a fitting companion to the knife. I was lucky enough to buy the last few they had in stock for my knives. They said they would get more but it never happened. I believe I paid $22 each for the medium sized(Master Tanto size I think,it was a while ago).
 
I know this is an old post but thought I'd ask some questions; First of all hello fellow knife collectors. I made a few posts in past but haven't been on much because of health issues. Hello Bob K! I still need to send you that.
Anyway, I have a mint in box Cold Steel Carbon V UWK and a mint Carbon V ODA both in the secure ex sheaths and am wondering if I will have this problem also. And, I've noticed some sheaths / scabbards are marked " Cold Steel " or " Secure Ex " mine are unmarked but look legit. The sheath for the UWK is much shorter than the ODAs but still..how can you tell an aftermarket from one that actually came with the knife? I bought both mine off ebay since you can't buy the discontinued ones from Cold Steel anymore. Thanks for any help on this.
 
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