Custom sheath for my Saigon Sidekick (RR1093)

Sheath 1

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Inspired by the blade etch

As I mentioned, the sheath that comes with the Saigon Sidekick is an excellent sheath. It did have one draw back. It wouldn't fit on a standerd size web belt. My first thought was alter the sheath to allow it to attach to a web belt but then I got carried away. I figured if Brian Wilhoite could be inspired by the Tom Brown Tracker, I could be Inspired by his blade etch and his already terrific sheath. I took what he had done and then went to work.

There were a few things Mr. Wilhoite's sheatch could do that I wanted mine to do. Then there were a few thngs the Tracker sheath could do that I wanted mine to do. And then finally there were a few things neither of the sheaths could do, that I wanted mine to do. Finally, I wanted my sheath to compliment Mr. Wilhoite's knife and the inspiration for the name, the Vietnam War.

Heres what I came up with:


Sheath 1

The sheath remains a large recatangle so that an internal scabbard can be rotated allowing left or right hand carry. The internal scabbard is canvas lined (inside and out) foam board held together with glue and rivets, Final protection comes in the form of waterproof book binding tape. Before you laugh, I've used the material for years and it has stood up to many trips in the swamp, snow, rain, etc.

The obvious choice for the external material was something Tiger Striped, I settled on acovering canvas with a poly-cotton light tiger stripe material. The Tiger Stripe pattern is my favorite and really is the iconic pattern of the Vietnam Conflict.

You'll note the Recondo Tab and the Jump Wings. Those are personal touches. While I did not attend a Vietnam era Recondo School I have some other attachments to Recondo from my College days. I did earn jump wings. The real Recondo School has been described as the toughest training ever devised. It must've been, You were awarded the tab until you went on and completed an actual combat patrol!

sheath 2

I was going to use canvas (cotton duck) straps but gave in to nylon for ease of use. The D-rings are brass. The snaps are stainless steel. I debated using velcro but snaps are quieter and more reliable. Not the web belt hook on the top of the sheath.

The sheath is in two parts, actually. For sake of simplicity, I'll call the part the knife goes into a scabbard, and the belt attachment a frog. As you can tell, even when the frog is detached, their is still one tie down on the sheath. I felt this was important. It was also essential tha tthe frog be detachable. If I couldn't detach it, it would complicate some of the carry options.

The back side of the view shows the numerous straps that allow for various carry options. The long straps are not parrallel for a reason. The top d-rings (right) are used to secure the frog to the scabbard. You'll also note to nylon straps on the back of the frog. These are used to secure the frog to the sscabbard. Thus, the scabbard and frog are attached by four securing points to make sure the knife isn't lost by accident.

The Tom Brown Tracker allows for horizontal carry accross the back!

Same with my sheath Just remove the Frog and strap it to a web belt.

Of course you could also hang it from a belt using the d-rings.

The scabbard tie down keeps the knife secure when horizontal.

The Tom Brown Tracker also allows you to swivel the sheath and carry it diaganolly. You can thread the scabbard's back straps to allow diagonal carry on a belt or use the d-rings to allow lower diagonal carry. A seperate leg tie down will secure the knife any way you want.

The frog is wide enough to accept a web belt.

Or you can hang it from a belt.

Or remove the frog and thread th scabbard to the belt.

In all. I'm very pleased with the sheath. It's versatile, functional and does everything I wanted it to do. Oviously it is not as polished as the factory sheath but it is pretty tough and durable. Perhaps over time I'll get better at hand stitching and learn to draw a stright line. For now, It looks cool and i think it compliments and even cooler looking knife.

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