3rd Gen PVC Knife Sheath

mrostov

mrostov

Joined
Jun 24, 2003
Messages
473
Here's the 3rd generation of my PVC sheath concept.

The knife is an old Western W66 Skinner with a tempered 4-3/8" long, 3/32" thick, 1095 carbon steel blade. It's a very handy little knife which takes and holds an edge quite nicely. I much favor the older 1095 carbon steel Western knives over the newer 420HC stainless ones. I also like the full tang W66 Western Skinner and it's hardwood slab sides vs it's L66 cousin which has a 'rat tail' type tang and a leather washer handle.

The knife needed a sheath. I was about to put one together out of some leather I had laying around when I noticed that I had some 1" PVC pipe and some extra charcoal laying around, so I figured that I would give it a try.

The sheath is hand molded from one piece of white 1" PVC water pipe that I heated over a charcoal barbecue grill.

After it was shaped and a drain hole drilled in the tip, it was then covered in primer spray paint for plastic and multiple, alternating coats of OD Green automotive spray paint and clear acrylic lacquer. The only place where the paint has come off is where the handguard tightly scrapes the inside neck of the sheath. The paint job elsewhere on the scabbard body has proven to be quite durable. There are also a couple of places in the 'notches' that I filed a bit after the paint had dried as the paint had built up and I wanted the frog to have an abrupt edge of the notch to firmly secure it.

The notches were filed in the sides to facilitate the 'frog' which holds the scabbard and attaches it to your belt and/or gear.

A pouch can be attached to the front of the sheath by lacing paracord or running some nylon webbing between the belt of the frog and the scabbard body.

The sheath firmly holds the knife in all positions tightly and the knife crisply and cleanly clips into and out of the sheath and is held in place with no rattle or looseness.

1.jpg

2.jpg

3.jpg

4.jpg

5.jpg

6.jpg

7.jpg

8.jpg
 
Neat stuff! :cool: How durable is PVC compared to kydex? Is it more or less likely to split at low temps?

jw556
 
The belt clips you can find Asian made copies at gun shows.

Living in Phoenix, I'll probbaly have to do a low temp test with the freezer :)

The main advantage to PVC is that it already comes in 'tubes' and it is very, very inexpensive, especially compared to kydex. Kydex, hear tell, is actually a hybrid of PVC and acrylic. One thing about PVC is that you do have to paint it or cover it somehow to protect it from the sun's UV rays.
 
Is PVC what the production sheath makers like Spe Ops use for their liners? When I modified one recently, it got soft faster than Kydex. Since they're inside a nylon cover, IR isn't a problem.
 
Now that is just All Right!!!! :D :cool: :D
Did you put the cut out for the guard in before you started forming the scabbard? A step by step tutorial would be really helpful for those of us who don't always understand the steps from pics.:D ;)
 
Yvsa said:
Now that is just All Right!!!! :D :cool: :D
Did you put the cut out for the guard in before you started forming the scabbard? A step by step tutorial would be really helpful for those of us who don't always understand the steps from pics.:D ;)
Click to expand...

Forming the basic scabbard body: The process is in a few simple steps.

Take a length of PVC pipe, like about 3' or 4' and heat up a length of one end longer than what the sheath will be.

You take the end that you heated up, place the soft material between two boards, and then stand on the boards. If the sheath needs to be curved, always bend it before you flatten it.

When it is between the boards, pour water all over everything to solidify it.

For a sheath like the one shown, with a collar that grabs the handle, cut the open notch at this time, at least 1/4 to 1/3 of the width of the PVC. Cutting the notch at this time is pretty much the best, if not the only, way to ensure that the notch is straight.

Next, cut off the entire flat area from the pipe. There should be several inches of extra PVC past where the sheath's tip will be.

Hold the tip end with pliers or channel locks, and re-heat the PVC. The flat PVC will balloon out, attempting to become pipe again.

At this stage, remove it from the heat, stick the knife into the PVC, and with leather gloves on, form the PVC around the knife handle. At this time, also form the rest of the sheath, preferably using the boards to help get the sheath body uniformly flat and fitting the blade. Cool the PVC with water again.

At this stage, shape the tip with a hacksaw, leaving extra PVC, at least 1/2" extra material.

Then, take the cooled scabbard and stick the cut end of the tip into the coals so that it's the only part of the scabbard to become heated. Then you pinch it closed with pliers along the seam. No matter if it looks rough because you'll file it. The closed end will still pop open a bit when it cools. You then fill in the seam with PVC pipe glue and you use a C clamp to gently but firmly hold the glued sides of the seam together overnight. You then use a file/rasp to shape everything up the next day and finish it with some sandpaper.

Then you drill the drain hole in the tip and either cover or paint the sheath scabbard.
 
Good work. What kind of PVC pipe are you using? I'm only familiar with the thick walled white stuff.
 
Cliff355, yes, I used a regular charcoal grill, the kind on a stand with a flip up lid that you cook hamburgers on (I did take the grill out for this project). I also used two old pieces of scrap lumber, a pair of Husky pliers, a hacksaw, a couple of Nicholson files, and my cooling system was an old coffee can filled with water.

Bri in Chi, yes, this is ordinary, common as dirt, white, thick walled, standard 1" PVC water pipe from Home Depot. I seem to remember it being less than $3 for an 8' section of pipe.
 
It would be better to use the gray (UV stabilized) pvc sold as electrical conduit.

Also the easy way to soften pvc without blistering it is to boil it for a few minutes.
 
I'm pretty sure it was right here on BFC where I read about this similar project a long while back.:confused:
It's been quite a while ago but in addition too the PVC pipe the Rubbermaid wastebaskets/trashcans can also be used.:D
I don't know how they are at folding over to make a one piece scabbard but small pieces can be warmed enough in a regular household oven to mold to the blade I think the post read.
A fellow had bought a little Schrade Sharpfinger and taken the original handles off.
Then IIRC he wrapped it with paracord so it would be thin enough for a necker.
After he cut and molded the pieces of Rubbermaid wastebasket he used screws or rivets similar to the sort used for the kydex and put it together.
Like I said, "It's been quite a while ago." but I do remember I was quite taken with the little rig.:cool: :D
I have always liked Schrade and the little Sharpfinger has always had an appeal to me that I couldn't quite figure out.
I went so far as to buy the Wastebasket but never got around to buying the Sharpfinger and of course not making the little rig.:rolleyes: :grumpy:
Actually I had forgotten about it until the similarities of the PVC scabbard ringing an internal bell.
I had the post saved to my favorites once but when I had to wipe my hard drive I lost every damned thing.:(
Maybe I'll try a search to see if I can find it just because it was a really nice and cheap sort of way to obtain one helluva neat little neck knife like not many people would have.:D :cool:
 
Well I was about right. It is a welted scabbard. The post is so old that the pix are gone but the details are still there. You can find it here.:D
Post 18 and 19 will give you the details. The pix would be a great help because of the snap I had totally forgotten about.:rolleyes:

Edit:
Of course like so many other things I never did get a round tuit but I'd still like too. I wonder if Dirty Bob still has the pix to show its construction.;)

And maybe my memory is getting better with some things. I can't hardly believe I remembered as much about this as I did.:D ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top