Man..those are sweet blades!! I really like that sheath too...good job getting it to work out right for ya.

Here's a shot of the blown seam.



Oh and the sheath came with a sharpening stone in one pocket (probably wont use it). But the two pouches will fit an Altoids tin. Thinking FAK and Fire kit.

Sethro, is there much chance of having the blade work it's way out of the end of the sheath?

My experience while out in the woods de-limbing felled trees with my KDSH for firewood was pretty much exactly what those two pictures show. The big difference is I was not pulling on my hawk with my hand, nor was I aware that in the midst of my labors bumping into and stepping over logs, half of the very sharp edge was sticking out like the first quoted shot above. The head did not come completely out like the second shot. Let's just say if I had been moving my hand a little faster while feeling for the strap I would have required stitches and maybe had a useless hand for a little while. It was a very alarming close call. Once I get the pictures up, I will show the difference between safe design and potential harm when you least need it, though it is not much different from your shots already up. The difference for me is I was wearing mine facing backwards on the same side so my left index finger would have been the first victim, or my wrist/forearm if I had bumped into it. Please be careful is all I am saying.

Both the Busse shop and Eric at Mashed Cat are aware of the issue after I sent both companies pics of the design flaw. Eric is willing to stand behind his product if it is an issue. This may just be unique to my two sheaths, but your pictures indicated otherwise and I just don't want to see anyone get hurt where saying something could avoid it.

Well I just experienced the exact same thing. I was out for a hike and took the KDH along. I was wearing it backwards on left side. I had just started my adventure and had been adjusting things; hawk, gun, knives, etc. Was good to go and noticed my right hand was covered in blood. While trying to figure out where I cut myself I noticed my left hand had even more blood on it. Looked at my left hip and the KDH was sticking halfway out and I had sliced my left pinky on it.

So the KDH won't drop out of the sheath but it will come a nasty halfway out. I will be emailing Busse as well about this. For now the Hawk won't be attached to me.

Ouch that sucks man. So do you guys think the second strap will prevent this or does it need something else?

Sad to hear you were cut. Hopefully not too badly and you heal quick.

I still have not heard back from Busse, which is very odd. Since Eric was very quick in getting back to me, I did work out a deal to exchange the two Mashed Cat KDSH sheaths for a couple 1311 ones as I have never had an issue with his knife sheaths and I will continue to support good customer service.
These are the pics I sent to both Busse and Mashed Cat.





That said, I am now down to just two Buy Brown sheaths for my KDSH's and they are much safer, but I would still check them periodically. The strap is in the proper place and instead of the mouth of the sheath being wide open like on the MC, it is clamped down for extra retention. If you really try hard, you can get about 3/16" of the blade to come out when strapped, but I can't duplicate it in the field. The BB sheath without the strap fastened provides about the same amount of retention as the MC with the strap fastened. You can however get the spike to come out, but that won't cut you. I tested it to see. For maximum retention, two straps are the best solution, but I am comfortable wearing the KDSH with the BB sheaths as is.

Here is a comparison pic. BB on left, MC on right, taken before I shipped the MC's back to Eric.



Again, I am still very happy with Mashed Cat sheaths for knives and am not knocking him for a design flaw that he is willing to correct on these KDSH sheaths. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />
I will say that as the initial release versions of the KDSH sheath go, Buy Brown did a much better job with retention & safety as well as using four screws on the tek-lok instead of just two for more strength.
Frankly, David Brown has been doing the kydex thing longer and the experience shows in a side by side comparison, which is definitely worth a few bucks more for quality that won't cost you doctor's bills or downtime. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbup.gif" alt="" />
The biggest disappointment at this point is the lack of a reply from Busse on the issue after more than two weeks. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbdn.gif" alt="" />

Didn't cut myself bad but is in the crease so it will take some time to heal. I think a strap like this may work. (Electrical tape used as a representation)



With just the tape the spike can come out (with much difficulty) but I think a real strap would keep that in place better too.

I am going to work on a strap retention solution for this sheath to fix a potentially hazardous accident as the one above. I hope to get this information out quickly and have resolution to the issue soon!

Eric Lind
Mashed Cat Inc.

If you have rivets I see a simple solution. Put a rivet at the edge of the beard and retain the back strap.

I will show you how I did it with my sheath for the rattlehawk. It doesn't show the retention strap in place.

It has to tilt and the spike comes out first so it will only rotate out one way. I know Mashed Cat has way more experience with building than I but it has worked for me so far.

Uhhhh i guess i need my sheath fixed!!!

This is definitely a major bummer....

I really like the sheath the way it is now, but I guess I like having my fingers and toes more at this point..... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />