River City Sheaths Drawpoint

Defensive Concepts

    I met Mike Sastre back in '98 at James Keating's Riddle of Steel. I learned that,

among other things, he has a company that designs and makes sheaths from concealex

(high tech polymer, sorry that is about as technical as I get, I'm an operator, not an

engineer). He showed me some of his wares and I was really impressed. Well made,

rugged and KISS simple. Definitely grunt's perspective stuff.

    Fast forward a year or two. I had started making a serious study of Keating's

Drawpoint system of reverse grip knife fighting. Since the Grypon M10 was no longer in

production I started looking around and found the Bud Nealy Escort. The grip is a little

small for my hand but I like the knife. While the carry system worked for some things

(like clipped inside my leather when I was ridin' or inside a suit coat when looking more

respectable) when it came to an inside the waistband carry ala Drawpoint all I could say

was OUCH! I called Mike, explained what I wanted. He told me that he has just the

sheath. I ship the knife and in short order get it and the sheath back. I've carried and

trained with it now for over a year. Here's what I found.

    Appearance wise the sheath is a fine looking bit of equipment. Black with grey

texturing. It's held in place with a rubber strap that is adjustable to belt width. The strap is

attached with a screw and is reversible and angle adjustable to the operator. The strap

secures with a one way snap. There are two other eyelets in the sheath that could be used

for lashing it elsewhere (neck carry, bedpost, rucksack, whatever). It sits low in the

waistline and without the knife in it most people don't even see it. In fact, with a black

shirt and a little judicious shielding with your elbow most people won't see it with the

knife in place.

    The knife is held securely and a solid click can be heard when it's sheathed. Unless

you plan on jumping from a perfectly good airplane, white water rafting or doing

something equally extreme the knife will be there when you need it. This is a speed rig.

While it is secure it is not designed with the aforementioned activities in mind. If that is

what you are looking for, call Mike and he can suggest something else.

     The sheath is everything it is supposed to be. (I will digress for a moment and

presume that you have your legal ducks in a row for an armed self defense situation)

It makes concealing a knife both easy and comfortable. You can literally forget the knife

is there until you need it. Lest we be thought of as mere bloodthirsty rogues, the Nealy

does make a nice small utility knife. This is important especially in the day and age we

live folks. Yes, it is possible to carry a full sized Bowie concealed on a daily basis. This

setup, however, doesn't scream 'weapon'.

    Speed of draw is impressive, no snaps, straps or combination locks. The only time I

fumbled any draws was after a series of them when my shirt pulled out and bunched

slightly, my fault, not the sheaths.

    So, if you need a good sheath at the right price give Mike a call or e-mail him through

the link provided. Tell him you heard about it at Spike's World.

www.rivercitysheaths.com