I just got this finished up last night.

As I keep selling every neck knife I make for myself, I thought I'd have one last go at making a keeper.

I can't tell you much about the blade as I didn't make it. All I know is that it's Damasteel with 'vine & thorn' filework & I love it!  :D  OAL is just 5" with a 1-3/4" cutting edge. The handle is Amboyna burl, epoxied in place with epoxy 'pins'

The sheath is the cool part, as far as I'm concerned. The trouble with leather neck sheaths is that you invariably have to have a tip-down carry configuration, making accessing the knife a little awkward & virtually impossble to do one-handed unless you make the sheath overly large & loose fitting. The downside with this is that the sheath becomes bulky & not very secure. The usual alternative is Kydex, which can be made much smaller & is far more secure.
My problem is that I detest kydex sheaths with wooden handled knives. They just look wrong, fine with a modern handle material, but out of place with a traditional knife.
I've buggered about with this idea in my head for ages & I think I finally came up with a solution.

The band around the middle of the sheath conceals 6 tiny (4mm x 1mm) neodimium magnets. I punched out the leather to inlet the magnets & then epoxied them in place, covering them with a very thin layer of soft leather.
The magnets are rated to hold 4oz each & between them they hold the knife snug & secure in the sheath allowing me to carry it as I could a Kydex-sheathed necker!

Awesome!

Very nice! I agree with you and dont like the look of Kydex even though it is very secure. Great solution. Lin

Great idea!

Thats a beautiful piece of work there.Really great idea...bd

Awesome job Rob!!! I have seen some kydex that is covered with thin leather after it is formed. Just another idea to throw out!

Very ingenious Rob and beautiful work.

I like that approach, Rob!!!! Wonderful craftsmanship.

Nice work Rob. Very clean. I like your blade steel. Cool looking pattern!!!

Thats nice Rob!!

awesome!!!!  

Great looking set. I realy like the file work.

If you need a tester for this new idea send it my way. (lol)

Again great looking set.

Later.....Buzz

Rob you do some nice work with leather and steel. Good idea on the magnets.

Wow Rob, thats a great looking necker!!!

DANG!!          

saw this one today up close its a beauty   :D

Rob, beautiful work. just a little food for thought. Here is how I make my neckers. Tip up one handed operation. I'm thinking of adding some magnets in the next one for more security. Skippy

 
 
 

awesome Rob that is just awesome! Good Idea

Have you tried rawhide instead of kydex? It works really well and is certainly trad!

Beautiful work Rob, your skills are improving at a marvelous rate. You're bringing a bag of steel goodies when you come with you to TX, right?