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JPK Sheath - Individual made or ?


bayonetman
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bayonetman

I recently purchased this sheath at an estate sale of a long time USAF helicopter crewman. It had a Camillus JPK in it dated 1968, but that is not to say that the sheath dates to that time. As he served for 22 years (1965-1987) it could have came from anytime in that period. It does show normal signs of use.

 

It is obvious that it is not an issue sheath, but my question is has anyone seen another one like it? It runs in my mind that I have seen one or two on ebay over the years, and I am wondering if it is possible that more than one was made by someone either in or out of the military, or if this is a purely "one off".

 

The leather is very heavy, more so than the issue sheath. It is a good but tight fit for the knife. The belt loop is the early loop style, and is much shorter than the issue item. The grip retaining strap is quite low. The sharpening stone pocket is also heavy leather. Overall reasonably well made, especially the care taken to provide a holder for the stone. Just does not appear to be "homemade".

 

Comments please.

 

post-66-0-42445100-1433370046.jpg

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Gary I don't think your imagining things. The first thing I thought when I opened this thread is "I've seen that style sheath before", with JPSK's, on Ebay, and I believe more than once before. Just never paid close enough attention to the details before since I knew it wasn't original.

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Here's another current auction on the bay with what appears to be a similar sheath. It comes with a Western brand knife, 4.5" blade, date coded from 1979. I don't believe this is a sheath that Western originally provided with any of their knives.

 

post-17422-0-10997800-1433371584.jpg

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It does resemble a Randall but most I have seen are marked for model and lenth on the backs.Early brown button scabbard made by Heiser have the Heiser embossed buttons.

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bayonetman

The one on the ebay sale certainly appears to be the same one, so it is not one of a kind. Now if I can figure out who made them and for what knife.

 

It does resemble a Randall except for the retaining strap and the quality of the workmanship is not up to Randall standards.

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I agree with y'all--seen the style before. When I get a chance, I need to look through my collection; I may even have one.

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My first thought is it looks just like the sheath for a Schrade Uncle Hendry 153 hunting knife like I had back in the 70's just my opinion

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Sgt. Swigart

I recently purchased this sheath at an estate sale of a long time USAF helicopter crewman. It had a Camillus JPK in it dated 1968, but that is not to say that the sheath dates to that time. As he served for 22 years (1965-1987) it could have came from anytime in that period. It does show normal signs of use.

 

It is obvious that it is not an issue sheath, but my question is has anyone seen another one like it? It runs in my mind that I have seen one or two on ebay over the years, and I am wondering if it is possible that more than one was made by someone either in or out of the military, or if this is a purely "one off".

 

The leather is very heavy, more so than the issue sheath. It is a good but tight fit for the knife. The belt loop is the early loop style, and is much shorter than the issue item. The grip retaining strap is quite low. The sharpening stone pocket is also heavy leather. Overall reasonably well made, especially the care taken to provide a holder for the stone. Just does not appear to be "homemade".

 

Comments please.

 

attachicon.gifSheath Pair small.jpg

 

It looks hand sewn, not done on a machine. It is double stitch that is done with a needle on both ends of the thread. The thread is a thicker type that is typical of machine sewing. Could have been re sewn by hand after the original machine sewing came out. It definitely looks hand made but I guess that does not mean "homemade". I make holsters and sheaths. Hand sewing one like this takes a long time. Really impossible to do on a commercial level but who knows in past times labor was cheap and technology was expense instead of the opposite being true now.

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It does look familiar, at first I was thinking Randall, but Schrade made similar ones too. SKIP

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bayonetman

My first thought is it looks just like the sheath for a Schrade Uncle Hendry 153 hunting knife like I had back in the 70's just my opinion

We may have a winner here. The photo is from a web search, and the sheath does look very much like the one I have. Looks like the aircrewman may have re purposed a commercial sheath he had.

post-66-0-47822400-1433452642.jpg

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bayonetman

Found another very similar one on the loose on ebay, the seller doesn't know what it is either. Not identical but close.

 

post-66-0-26131900-1433726817.jpg

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  • 3 weeks later...

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