All these threads about knives lately has me wondering what the best method of care is for leather handle knives like K-Bars and British stillettos?

about once a year I rub some mink oil into the handle of my K-Bar.

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Regards, Ron
USASA 1965/69

I use that on holsters. My only complaint is the white residue that shows up after a while.

I generally don't even like leather washers for handles. Only one reason, my fathers antique knife from 1925, a Marbles, finally started to fail. The leather washers just deteriorated over time. Who knows, I owned it for maybe 25 years and didn't touch it, and now for the last 9 or 10 my son has been worrying about it. I do know how to fix it, but I'm too sorry. You just take off the nasty washers and install new ones, then sand/grind them down to a size that seems to work.

I've never heard of mink oil. I'm thinking it stinks. Or is that skunk oil. Thinking about old leather, I've got a pile of various age H H Heiser holsters, and the way to keep them going is to rub in some Black Rock leather "EnRich" or whatever. I'd think that would also work pretty well. It sure revitalizes the holsters. Just something to consider.

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Dick Burg

Kiwi neutral shoe polish will take good care of it. Oils aren't really the best thing for finished leather goods, perhaps except for waterproofing cheap boots. I've not used Blackrock but I understand it's basically carnauba wax, which probably isn't all that different from Kiwi, and a lot of guys recommend it.

Long story short, a good wax will preserve your leather knife handle just fine.

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SWHF #448

-db- is right. Shoe polish is the answer. In fact, that's what the folks at Randall knives recommend.

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Pack light and cinch tight.

Ok then,time to wax. Works for boots and shoes which are leather, so it makes sense to me.
Btw, I have an old knife of my grandfathers that I kept in my safe with a dehydrating rod and it dried it out to the point where it shattered. It was a leather handle. Take heed to all those who store their leather goods in a place where they are used.

Speaking of knives, this is a 50 year old Shrade-Walden I got with S&H green stamps when I was around 10 or 11. I remember going down to the store with my Mom to pick it up. What a great day that was. It originally had imitation stag handles which long ago deteriorated and fell off so I fashioned a handle from a walnut blank I had. Made the sheath from my old Army boots later. It's ugly but sharp and I use it every year in deer camp.
I polished and cold blued the rusted pitted blade about 10 years ago.

Any idea why leather washers were used to begin with?

Couldn't get both to post before
Don't worry all, I do this just for me, not commercially! Lol

I guess it's a good grip surface

Mink oil is not good for leather, as it will deteriorate the leather over time. There are various leather dressings available, check with Tandy leather.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

Thanks for that advice. I started using mink oil based on an old girlfriends advice for a pair of Fry(?) boots.

keep them away from porcupines!

The boots are long gone as is the girlfriend.

The leather washer handles are best in a hammer or axe handle, IMO. Nothing else is as comfortable to me for long hours of work. In a knife, I just like the way they look and feel; I have a Ka-Bar and an old Marbles hunter.

I haven't needed to treat either one, but I would be inclined to use Proofide (for Brooks bicycle seats), or more likely just Sno-Seal, which is beeswax.

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Not in jail.

Anyone use Renaissance Wax on leather?

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Oh well, what the hell.

Mike, I've used it on my old leather handled Randall as well as on leather holsters and a couple of Estwing hammers after the lacquer wore off. Seems to work great. It might not leave as thick a coating as the Kiwi neutral shoe polish mentioned before but it is long lasting.

I've also used it on bone handled pocket knives and it leaves a nice sheen for a good long while. I've used it on carbon blades I want to keep shiny.

It's good stuff. I've used it in the shop too on some of my nicer hand tools. Heck, used it for most everything but a salad dressing.

Bo Randall switched to stacked leather knife handles because they are not slippery when wet. Stag was very popular but expensive and inconsistent in quality
I believe he started to use leather during WWII. He need to produce alot of knives for our soldiers
Model 1 Fighter was on high demand. Randall recomends neutral shoe wax.