Tai Pan Secure-ex Sheath

[DuffyG1970]

I just thought of something. Didn't Cold steel make the R1 military classic knife that came in leather sheath with stone? The ODA is basically same style knife. Wish they would of used those sheaths over the double secure ex sheaths.

 

[nephron]

I know this is an old post but thought I'd ask some questions; First of all hello fellow knife collectors. I made a few posts in past but haven't been on much because of health issues. Hello Bob K! I still need to send you that.
Anyway, I have a mint in box Cold Steel Carbon V UWK and a mint Carbon V ODA both in the secure ex sheaths and am wondering if I will have this problem also. And, I've noticed some sheaths / scabbards are marked " Cold Steel " or " Secure Ex " mine are unmarked but look legit. The sheath for the UWK is much shorter than the ODAs but still..how can you tell an aftermarket from one that actually came with the knife? I bought both mine off ebay since you can't buy the discontinued ones from Cold Steel anymore. Thanks for any help on this.

Pictures would be a help I think.

 

[D.Croce]

Those Japanese Sheaths were some of the best mainline production pieces, a fitting companion to the knife. I was lucky enough to buy the last few they had in stock for my knives. They said they would get more but it never happened. I believe I paid $22 each for the medium sized(Master Tanto size I think,it was a while ago).

It would be absolutely worth it to have a custom leather sheath made for this knife! The Tai Pan is a beautiful knife (even the newer ones are top notch quality although I do prefer a Japanese made blade but Taiwan does make some great knives!) and it deserves a quality leather sheath as opposed to the faux kydex garbage that Cold Steel is using these days! I would rather have what Schrade (some kind of glass filled nylon I believe) uses for a lot of their knives as it doesn’t interfere or touch the blade and therefore will not dull the edge!

 

[Benjamin Liu]

You might want to check for the year CS started using Secure-Ex. If it was after 2007 then the Secure-Ex sheaths probably did not come with the knives.

Carbon V went out of production when Camillus went out of business in 2007, or maybe Camillus stopped making it in 2006 when they were already having problems.

In the 1990s CS would usually use leather or nylon sheaths and some Kydex, and IIRC they started using Concealex in the early 2000s.

My 1999 Kobun has a Kydex sheath and early 2000s SRK has a Concealex sheath.

 

[jdog417]

So I bought a Tai Pan in San Mai steel from Amazon for a great price. I was worried it might be a fake or returned but it was genuine new. Fit and finish was beautiful, but the blade was dull on both edges, which surprised me for a Cold Steel knife. When I say dull, I mean it wouldn't cut paper at all. The dullness was uniform and smooth to the touch. Both edges were 15 degrees on one side, 20 on the other.
So no problem, I apexed it with a Medium diamond stone and finished it with Sharpmaker ceramics. Not push-cutting, but slicing paper nicely both sides. I figured I'd eventually reprofile to maybe 17 a side.
So I fooled around with my new toy quite a bit for a few days. Part of the time in a truck. Then I happened to test the edge with three fingers and it was no longer sticky. In fact, it was damn dull.In fact, it would not cut paper anywhere.
I now believe the fiberglass reinforced plastic sheath dulls the blade horribly. You don't need to draw the knife, just movement batters the edge. I believe it arrived dull because of riding in the delivery truck. After I carried it in my truck the edge felt just like it did when it arrived.
The Secure-ex sheaths have to be redesigned. The idea that you can't move the knife around when it's in the sheath, let alone draw it repeatedly, is ridiculous. Probably the Tai Pan is worst because of the double edge, but the others must be bad too.
I appreciate they get a light sheath from the strength of FRN. But its got to go. I would argue these sheaths are defective in materials and workmanship.
My suggestion would be to either use non-reinforced nylon, thickened correspondingly, or use kevlar-reinforced nylon. Or mold in pure nylon inserts. Anyway, I don't care how they fix it, only that they fix it.
My 2 cents.

IMPORTANT PSA: NEVER PUT YOUR KNIFE IN A COLD STEEL SHEATH!!! For my Master Tanto 3V, the weird retention is accomplished when the widest part of the blade enters the sheath and, by design, the spine and THE EDGE are pressed against the glass reinforced polymer thus dulling the edge. WHO TF THOUGHT THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA?!? Love the blade, design, grind, balance (courtesy of the guys forty years ago who apparently knew something). This "Secure-Ex" sheath is a crime against humanity.