I recently acquired a beautiful White River Hunter fixed blade knife with a CPM S35VN steel blade. It came with a nice leather sheath. I've already applied Tuf-Glide to the blade.

Am I asking for corrosion trouble if I store the blade in the leather sheath?

Ken K.

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Many will advise against storing a blade in leather, but my experience has not borne that practice out. I have a Buck 105 Pathfinder, purchased in 1972 and stored in leather sheath ever since. The original sheath has worn out and it is on its second sheath - still bright and shining.

I imagine the treatment and processing of the leather would be critical. What does the knife maker recommend?

The storage conditions play a large part in corrosion. Hot and humid will rot the leather and corrode the knife. Low humidity and warm to hot conditions and it will last a very long time.

Generally speaking, the suggestion not to store fixed blade knives in their leather sheaths comes from experience with carbon steels. Stainless steels generally have no similar problems. While high carbon stainless steels, including CPM S35VN, are not quite as corrosion-resistant as lower carbon stainless steels, I still wouldn't expect any problems with your White River. More so with you having coated it with Tuf-Glide.

It may be off-topic, but I got to say it. Every time I see "CPM," I'm reminded of the operating system.

Jeanette Isabelle

I really thought I was the only one here who used to work on CPM the operating system.