Earlier this week, I shared Felix Immler’s video demonstrating a pair of “hacks” one can do to the sheath to improve retention and reduce/eliminate the “battle rattle”.
If you have not yet seen it, watch it now. I’ll wait.
I agreed completely with both major complaints about the sheath documented here. The retention was good but not great, and the knife rattles like a Tenderfoot Scout on their first backpacking trip.
Both of these are simple fixes, and not exactly earth shaking. But it is always interesting to replicate what you see in a video.
Fix 1: Battle Rattle
This one is deceptively simple, simply cut a small piece of paracord, pull out the core strands, and push the outer woven portion into the bottom of the sheath.
That is all there is to it.
Guess what? It works. I used an ice pick to position the piece of cord, and the rattle was immediately eliminated.
Fix 2: Retention
I was using the Venture to cut up an onion while making salsa, and had a large pot of boiling water on the stove next to me. I retrieved a C clamp from my shop, scooped some boiling water out, and soaked the mouth of the sheath for 90 seconds.
I clamped it for another minute before running it in some cold water.
Again, this is an extremely straightforward fix. I theory, it would void the warranty, but unless you are gouging the sheath, it doesn’t leave a mark and I doubt they would ever notice if you sent it in for replacement.
You can’t see it, but I am shaking the Venture pretty hard. No rattle, and no slippage of the knife from the sheath. I probably should have done a before and after, weighing a cup of sand suspended from the pommel, but I didn’t think of it until too late.
You will have to take my word for it, but the fixes outlined by Mr. Immler both worked perfectly.
The knife is pretty slicey too, but that is the subject for another post.