Jack -

http://www.rmkcollector.com/archives/the-randall-collector/a-johnson-sheath-footnote-part-iii/

I wrote this a couple of years ago. You can find some "Heiser" history there.

Heiser as we know it no longer existed. It was a different company and really only a part of a larger one. It would appear the company had changed direction to some extent. So how interested was the remnants of the H.H. Heiser company in continuing the relationship with RMK? No one has considered the view from the other side of the equation. We only talk about Bo looking for a local maker.

The auction of those sheaths is being portrayed as the litmus for the Heiser/Johnson debate. We don't really know who the original owner was, what the true extent of his involvement of HKL was, i.e. how long was he with them? What kind of territory did he have? What was he selling? How did he come about the sheaths?

A question would be what would the "salesman" need RMK sheath samples for when H.H. Heiser had already been making sheaths for RMK for 15 plus years? Just to show an RMK stamp? Bo could have done that in Orlando if he wanted to see how the stamp looked on leather. To show to other knife makers? Unlikely in my opinion.

I know of no reason why the HKL company would not use the stamp they had at the time to indentify their leather products but make a switch to an RMK stamp unless they were asked to do so by Bo. It doesn't seem that is the case.