Hello dogs, rats, and others

I'm the proud parent of a brand-new Swamp Rat Ratmandu after blade show west. Since the Rat Chat admin. hasn't verified my profile yet, I thought I would make my introductions here first. I've been lurking around for a while, and thought that now that finally have a proper knife to my name, I should become a member of both forums. Of course I own other knives, but this is my first foray into the Busse family of knives (it was love at first touch for me) My ratmandu is green with G10 scales (pics soon) and I'm carrying it around in the sheath of my SOG seal pup until I can buy it a proper home. I also hope to soon acquire a knife from Scrap yard, once my pocket-book recovers from the Ratmandu. Now, so as to give this thread some direction, I have two questions.

1. As I see it, there are three types of sheaths: Cordura/nylon, Kydex, and Leather. Which do you prefer, and why?

2. I know you all love fixed blades, and especcialy scrap yard knives, but what folders do you use to compliment your fine straight knives? mine is a benchmade griptillian with a sheepsfoot blade.

P.S. If either of those questions are dealt with fully in another thread, a link would be great.

Welcome to the yard!

1. I prefer leather myself. Just feels right to me for my knives. I do have two kydex sheaths, but seem to reach for blades that have leather pants more often.

2. Spyderco is the ones I have been carrying lately. I have a couple of them around, however I usually have an endura 4 or police model in my pocket

Most things have been covered at one time or another, however always nice to see new views from new members!

Welcome to the Yard!!

I have all three kinds of sheaths, and I generally determine my sheath material by the knife's use, more than the knife itself. I have a few kydex sheaths for my knives that I'll be using w/ the military. My Dogfather chopper supreme is in a beautiful yet rugged leather sheath. Some of my EDC's are in leather, others are in kydex. The knives that I have that came w/ nice cordura sheaths, I've generally just left alone. But I doubt that cordura will ever be my "first choice" for a sheath.

I carry a RAT3 for EDC. My main folders are a CRKT M16-SFA, a Bechmade CQC7, and Cold Steel Voyager.

Welcome, and congrats Cloakndagger! I may have seen you yesterday at Blade West!

1) We have several sheath makers here on the forum so you can probably get the most expert opinion from them.

Cordura/nylon is the least expensive and can be found with pouches for storage on the sheath. Usually they have a plastic liner that allows them to fit many different blade types. I prefer to store my knives in at least a cordura sheath versus the card board sheath that the Busse knives typically come with. With a good size choice, retention can be good. They work fine but are not as light nor form fitting as a good Kydex sheath.

Kydex is the all weather miracle. Easiest to clean and maintain IMO. The Tek-lok gives a variety of mounting positions. Kydex is my all weather "go to" choice. Kydex can scratch the blade coating/satin finish however.

I love leather sheaths. I prefer leather sheaths for their beauty, individuality, and comfort. A nice leather sheath just feels great, a lot more comfortable for me than Kydex because the leather gives as you move. You can get leather wet occasionally and it's no big deal. If you're going to be out in wet weather a lot I would consider Kydex. I know Troy (360 Joules), the guy you bought your Ratmandu from, prefers Kydex for the Pac NW weather.

2. There was a big thread on this recently. Sorry but I can't remember the keyword to find it. I have a bunch of pocketknives that I carry in a random rotation, everything from an old Benchmade miniAFCK, to a Camillus Heat, to a Benchmade Osborne 940, to a new Benchmade miniSkirmish.

Again, welcome to the Yard!!

Welcome CloaknDagger! I love the RatManDu. My RatManDu sits in kydex as do most of my sheaths. I prefer it because it's waterproof and works. I have a few nylon sheaths mostly Spec Ops suvivial sheaths and the like and they too have their place. What I do not own are leather sheaths. I don't really know whay I don't own any, I just don't.

Nice to greet you CnD! Hope you enjoy the yard <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I would say kydex for me, because you can have it set up so many ways (neck wear, pocket, belt-vertical-horizontal-diagonal) but leather is a close second, it does look and feel so nice!

I also have the grip-sheepsfoot (luv it) but I carry my BM 710 D2 to compliment my fixed blades; the 710 is such a great blade for use, look and size.

That Ratmandu sure is sweet, good score there!

Welcome to the yard cloakndagger. I think you will like this forum. Even if I never had a Scrap Yard knife, this is my favorite forum. Congrats on the Ratmandu. I love it. I have two of them. In that size knife, I like it better than the Dumpster Mutt, but both are great knives. I am a Scrapper 6 fanatic and just scored another one in tan thanks to a kind forum member. That is one of the things I love about the folks here; they will voluntarily help each other out. Sometimes you don't even have to ask. There is a wealth of knowledge and experience here, and I have learned a lot from the dogs. I'll see you over on Rat Chat, but I spend more time here in the yard.

Welcome to the yard Cloakndagger, and congRATulations on the RMD. I own one in sage and tan and I really love it. I carry my RMD in a $4.00 leather sheath that was made some Ducks Unlimited fund raiser a few years back. Fits fine and works well.

I carry a $24 Smith and Wesson Exreme Ops with a tanto blade as my full time folder, if I am not carrying a Rat Trap. The S&W works well and is cheap enough that I am not going to cry if I misplace it somewhere.

Thanks you all for the warm welcome and the advice. I'm leaning towards kydex for my Ratmandu, but a SPEC OPS survival sheath would also fit my needs nicely. Speaking of SPEC OPS, i may also need to pick up one of their belts, mine also roll and sag under the weight of my Ontario RTAK-II. Anyway At Blade West I talked to Brian Wagner, the guy behind Okuden knives and sheaths (wonderful fellow, very knowledgeable) and he apparently has a Ratmandu on loan from Swamp Rat for use as a template for sheath making. I was super impressed with his products and may order from him. Oh, one last question. I seem to recall that the ever-helpful Andy Wayne (I think it was him) made a thread to explain how to post pictures. I looked for it, but never found it. Anyone have the link? Thanks.

My Okuden sheath for my Busse BATAC is top notch - I can't recommend it highly enough.

Not sure where Andy's thread here, however here i one I had thrown together:
http://www.scrapyardknives.com/ubbthread...ge=12#Post33986

Alright, just got the picture mechanism figured out, so here are some pics of my main knives.

My folder (the griptillian), my well-loved RTAK-II, and my brand new Ratmandu



and then my two favorite fixed blades