Adjustable Shoulder Harness

Adjustable shoulder harness system: an alternative method to carrying your large knife. Get it off your hip and conceal it under a shirt or coat.

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To add long wearing comfort to the shoulder pads on all harness rigs. I'm now hand sewing an extra thick, premium-grade and natural golden color sheepskin wool pad. Here we have a shoulder harness built for a Wild Boar Hunter with a deluxe sheath, all dyed a rich mahogany color.

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For the cowboy owner of a guest ranch in British Columbia, Canada, a large knife is a daily companion. He carries a Bowie-style blade from the Western Knife Company. The leather sheath that came with the knife carried the knife below the belt line where it flopped around and was in the way all the time. In a saddle all day and every day, Nate asked for a secure, out-of-the-way carry method for this large Bowie knife. We built him a strong, yet comfortable over-the-shoulder harness rig that carries the knife upside down. To keep the heavy blade in place, we added two keeper-straps to the deluxe style sheath with a rattlesnake skin insert.

Hi Jay,

I went to pick up the mail today and found that my Western Bowie made it home! When I got home I opened the parcel to find one the of the most beautiful sheaths I've seen in my lifetime. I did a lot of looking around for someone who makes the sheath and shoulder harness in leather. There are a lot of places a fella can get a shoulder harness but everything these days is made out of nylon or kydex. You are the only guy I found that still makes the harness completely out of leather. I'm a bit traditional and still find leather to be the best material to use for harness work. After putting it on, the harness and sheath exceeded all my expectations! I asked for a rugged sheath and harness, boy was that an understatement! The rattlesnake skin inlay is absolutely gorgeous! I suggest that anyone looking to get a shoulder harness for a Bowie or any other big knife look nowhere else but to Jay Maines! As I mentioned to you I'm in the saddle from dusk till dawn and the shoulder harness method is by far the best way to go! A thousand times better than my belt sheath! Thanx again Jay, and I will pass your name along to a few other cowboys looking to change their carry methods for their knives! A pleasure doing business with you! Cheers!

Nate

Black harness shown below as an over the left shoulder, tip-up, back-carry, for a right-handed draw.

Hello Jay,

Wearing the underarm strap under my left arm firmly balances against the right hip belt loop attachment point. However I think that balance is an additional benefit, and not the main benefit. Worn this way, the underarm straps' main purpose is to stablize the height of the knife sheath positioned on my back. This is why I attach the metal clasp of the underarm strap to the top "D" ring of the knife sheath. I did try it under the right arm, but with less favorable stability.

While wearing the strap under the left arm I experienced some slipping of the main harness strap off my left shoulder ONLY when driving my car. This is because leaning back against the knife removes the weight from the harness (much like a woman setting her purse down on a bar counter while the strap is still over her arm). After getting out of the car, it was a minor movement to reposition the main strap onto the shoulder and set the underarm connection point to the bottom of my sternum. The leather shoulder pad didn't move from its position on the main strap and so I just reset the pad onto my shoulder and reset the underarm strap to the bottom point of my sternum.

I quickly grew accustomed to checking the position of the rig by a subconscious reach to the underarm strap attachment point at the sternum. Unless the shoulder pad becomes loose enough to slip along the main harness strap, I think this setup will remain stable.

Like I say, I use the underarm strap mainly to stabilize the height of the knife's height position on my back (it prevents the weight of the knife and sheath from rotating the main harness strap through the right hip belt loop pindown point). The shoulder pad also resists the same rotation. Worn this way I know that:

1) If the shoulder pad is atop my shoulder,

2) and the underarm strap connection is at the bottom of my sternum,

3) then the resultant height of the knife handle is correctly positioned on my back so that I can draw the knife easily with my right hand.

I've not noticed any tendency for the main harness to slip off my left shoulder due to an absence of wearing an underarm strap under my right arm. If I did, I would request a second strap. However a second strap would make removal of the rig more complicated than the simple unsnap of the right hip belt pindown point and lifting the rig up and off.

I would definitely keep both the underarm strap and shoulder pad. I may consider a way to pin the location of the shoulder pad to the main harness strap after I have completed the "break in" period. I have a surgically implanted screw through my left clavical and a large sensitive scar along my left shoulder from a motorcycle accident 30 years ago. Even so I do not find the shoulder pad uncomfortable as is. I would not want any of the additional padding that you have mentioned if it would impede the natural ability of the leather to adapt to the natural form of my shoulder. Simple is often best. However if I pin the pad through the main harness someday, a piece of leather to shield my shoulder from the hardware may be necessary. This may be food for thought in your future design considerations.

I suspect that an individual's body weight and mass characteristics may have a lot to do with how well the harness can serve them. I weighed some 40 pounds heavier back in 1984. If I still had that extra weight moving under the harness, perhaps I would have difficulty stabilizing the harness. But even then the blame couldn't be cast upon the harness.

I hope this information is helpful to you. Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have additional questions.

Sincerely, Raymond J. Raupers Jr.