Here's a knife I purchased for myself back in the late '70's when I was a Boy Scout. I've always had it in the tool bag in my various vehicles over the years. I used it the other day and decided to clean it up a bit.

It's a Western L66c, and for some reason in my youth I had spray painted its handle all black, and also sprayed its original sheath. The sheath was also trashed, having been sliced and carved-up. It wasn't worth saving.

I lightly sanded the paint off the handle, and scrubbed the blade a bit to remove about 40 years worth of neglect. The edge wasn't in too bad a shape surprisingly, and it's sharpened-up fairly well. I used multiple coats of Sno-Seal on the leather and really like how it turned-out.

Looking for new sheaths, I found this nice Bark River one on-line. I love the styling and detail of it. They look great together.

Glad to have this old knife cleaned-up.

Todd

Classic!

I recently inherited the very same knife, my wifes long deceased father had it as a boy scout.
It was also sadly neglected being in a long forgotten box of stuff. I got his scout handbook too!
I've been going over it with a scotchbrite wheel a little at a time, don't want all the patina gone though as a little character is a good thing in my mind.
I like the Snoseal idea, did you melt it on? I was going to use a few coats of Lexol but waxy stuff may be more durable.

I did melt it on with a hair dryer. I mostly used it since I didn't have any other conditioner around. It soaked it up nicely and has a nice texture now.