Covered previously on Part III was the 1958 acquisition of Lichtenberger – Ferguson Saddlery by the  Heiser – Keyston Company to form Heiser – Keyston – Lichtenberger, or HKL, the final incarnation of H.H. Heiser to supply sheaths to Randall. No one knows exactly how the transition was made, but the sheaths supplied for the next several years for the most part remained true to the familiar Heiser look. So one can surmise that equipment and probably employees remained intact for most of that period. It has been noted though, it seems there was a slight degradation in the quality/finish seen in some examples towards the end of their involvement, with the last shipment of sheaths arriving to the Randall shop from HKL during mid-1962.

One characteristic of the H. H. Heiser sheath lineage is the back of the belt loop that is folded over and sewn with a ‘butterfly” stitch pattern, is more square or blocky in appearance versus the tapered style generally found on Johnson sheaths. The Heiser width fairly consistently matches the width of the belt loop on the front of the sheath. I have not heard this brought up prior to the writing of this article, 

Gary Randall’s account in Gaddis details the “discovery” of Johnson Leather in Maitland, Florida, after he graduated from college. Maurice Johnson began making sheaths for Randall Made Knives around mid-1962 coincidentally coinciding it appears with the last shipment of HKL sheaths. Johnson was given some HKL sheaths as examples and told to copy them. He did so, to include copying HKL Randall stamp orientation on some early examples, possibly serif letter model and length markers, (some examples appear to exist) and center keeper snap location. What is unclear with Johnson, is the use of model and blade length stamps on his brown button sheaths. It appears he did and didn’t use them. Some examples of stamped sheaths are in collections. The issue is, what was the timeline if he didn’t stamp his earliest examples to when he did?  A few weeks? Months?  Was their initial use  intermittent? 

The other side of the coin though, was his sheaths were still different on several fronts. Die cut, leather used, and sewing machine/stitching to name a few. In other words, they were not “exact” copies as though there was no distinguishing characteristics between the two makers, because we know there were. No mystery, no conspiracy, only a harness leather worker in a small shop in Maitland, Florida, giving the art of sheath making a go. 

So what you have is Johnson making a “copy” of a known entity and it is reasonable to assume he made every effort to do so to include what may seem like minor details including logo stamp orientation and keeper snap location. His sheaths came into their own in short order with some changes to include logo stamp orientation, model and  length stamp style or font, keeper snap location, and in the end the type of snap. This brown button period for Johnson was short lived, probably encompassing a six to eight month period at most based on extant examples. Gaddis states the switch was made by Johnson to the Baby Dot snap in late 1962 to early 1963, so we can see that actual Johnson made brown button sheaths are not as common as one may have originally thought. 

I now believe during Maurice Johnson’s short brown button period, his style of manufacture further distinguishes his sheaths from the previous maker by making subtle changes as previously mentioned, like RMK stamp orientation, and model/length stamp fonts. When evaluating these sheaths, we must take into consideration right or wrong, that historically and even to this day, many collectors still identify any sheaths with an RMK logo as Johnson made. Some time has passed since the last installment of this series and I hope this article will persuade collectors to reference these sheaths as what they actually are, Heiser – Keyston – Lichtenberger, or HKL. 

The list below is how I see the 1962 Hesier/HKL and Johnson transition went down in a somewhat chronological order. 

1)Hesier – Keyston officially ceased to exist under that name in 1958 after the second buyout in a decade.

2)Heiser – Keyston – Lichtenberger (HKL) was the new company

3)Bo Randall was looking for a local sheath maker

4)Jimmy Stockman made a small number of sheaths from around 1958-59 to 1961-62.

4)HKL sheaths are stamped with the RMK logo beginning probably in 1959-60 but maybe earlier

5)First RMK stamps on HKL sheaths are horizontal in orientation same as H. H. Heiser.

6}No sheaths are logo stamped in the Randall shop – ever

7)HKL continues use of existing serif number stamps of H.H. Heiser

8)Second RMK stamps on HKL sheaths are predominately ‘R’ up (west)

9)No Stockman sheaths to date exhibit an RMK stamp.

10)Gary Randall “finds” Maurice Johnson in the spring/summer of 1962 upon graduating from college.

11)Last shipment of HKL sheath arrives in the shop in 1962

12)Johnson uses examples of HKL sheaths as a guide to make his sheaths. 

13)Johnson has dies made for his sheaths

14)Johnson is up to full production in approximately 6 months

15)Initial Johnson RMK stamp orientation is ‘R’ up (west and few examples) same as HKL

16)Johnson uses center snap location same as HKL

17)Johnson initially uses no model/length stamps on his earliest examples.**

18)Johnson changes brown button keeper snap location to edge of sheath for improved holding power and to avoid interference of stone pouch 

19)Johnson second RMK stamp orientation is ‘R’ down (east)

20)Johnson apparently used serif stye model and blade length stamps on very early examples, but this still is not 100%.  

21)Johnson switches to “modern” model/length stamp font. 

22)Johnson sometimes uses no model/length stamp, sometimes length only, sometimes model only, and sometimes both.

23)Johnson switches to baby dot snap late 62 early 63

Some popular models of HKL sheaths were used up quickly like model 1 and model 3 sheaths, the two most popular at that time, while less popular models languished. Thus, you would expect to see more Johnson brown button sheaths of those models  provided versus Johnson brown button sheaths of other models. It is not coincidence that many of the sheaths used as photo examples in this article happen to be those two models. 

Johnson baby dot sheaths are included at the tail end of the transition period and are ancillary to the discussion, as the transition from HKL to Johnson had for the most part already taken place by the time Johnson introduced the baby dot snap. HKL was no longer a supplier to RMK by the time the Baby Dot snap was in production although some HKL sheath models were still available from existing stock.  

In summary, I have provided both a cogent visual display and light commentary about Heiser/HKL brown button sheaths and Johnson brown button sheaths during the 1962 transition period between the two makers. While there is overlap and sheaths from both manufacturers were available simultaneously for a period, the distinctions between HKL based “Heiser” brown button sheaths and Johnson brown button sheaths are readily evident and identifiable.