I had purchased two Model 1 commando knives from Ek and they’re great weapons. But I really need a sheath with MOLLE attachments to mount onto my load bearing vest (LBV) and so I sent an email to the company about it.
Company president Bob Buerlein replied, he asked me if I wanted to test out their prototype leather scabbard that will mount onto the MOLLE straps of the LBV. I agreed to do so and it came in the mail yesterday!
I got it mounted onto my LBV last night and I took some pictures and video with my digital camera. I am having problems with uploading to my photobucket account due to bandwidth problems. I will post pics and video as soon as I can get around that problem.
The letter will give the sheath some collector interest in the future. Right now I am just glad to have a sheath that works with the MOLLE attachements on my load bearing vest (LBV).
I will be testing it out for awhile here in Afghanistan and then I will be sending a report back to Ek. Soldiers in my platoon were also interested and they wanted to share their opinions, so I am having them write a letter to send with my report to Ek.
Yo Sixgun,
If that prototype sheath was mine I’d have two main beefs with it:
-first is the cord attachment. Ek can do it way better! Yeah prototype.
-second would be the sheath material itself. Nothing wrong with leather but kydex would be ideal.
You might also want to think about a secondary retention system for your knife. Should the strap over the hand guard snap off, the sheath won’t offer any friction to keep the knife in place. This is more of a personal preference thing. But since you’ve mounted the knife with the handle in the vertical position, it shouldn’t be an issue.
Stay safe and God speed!
Most of the soldiers in my platoon wanted MOLLE attachments on the scabbard for attaching to the LBV. I got a few agree to write a brief letter stating their desire for MOLLE attachments. I will be mailing them to Ek before next sunday.
I like their WWII leather sheath because it uses friction rather than a strap to retain the blade. This means I can use the Model 1 knife that I would prefer over the Model 4 as I would rather not have the crossguard which might hang up on the various items on my LBV if I must draw the blade in a hurry. The problem is that their WWII style sheath does not attach to MOLLE and it rides up too high on the belt when wearing body armor.
Kydex would be good. Nylon would probably be the best, especially if it’s in “foliage green” to match the ACU pattern. The main thing of course is that the sheath must have MOLLE attachments.