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Leather can be treated to make it softer or "not quite so soft".
I'd rather try and keep my leather knife sheaths on the "not quite so soft" side for safety.
TR is right, beeswax is a traditional leather preservative.
One of the mixtures I use is 1/3 beeswax, 1/3 parrafin, 1/3 pure neetsfoot oil.
The sheath is warmed up to about 150 degrees F, the wax/oil mixture is heated until just liquid and brushed on the leather.
The sheath is placed in a WARM (not hot) oven at about 150 to 175 F with a good clean piece of carboard on top of the rack to pick up the wax drips for a few minutes at a time to let the wax soak in. Repeat a couple times to get good "soak up".
While the knife sheath is in the oven, do not walk away and find something else to do. Keep a constant eye on it in case the oven climbs in temp and the sheath is ruined. This is not theory.
If your wife uses the oven later any dripped wax will smoke and catch fire. I've read somewhere that she may not find humor in this.
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