- Joined
- Mar 8, 2008
- Messages
- 25,501
I hit on a rather interesting discovery recently, when brainstorming alternative cheap sheath materials. Kydex and good leather are fairly costly when you have a lot of tools that need covering, and the usual alternatives are cheap leather (garbage) or nylon, which is economical, but not particularly effective when using low-cost material, and because of being a woven material it's inconvenient from the standpoint of dealing with the edges. Some homebrew alternatives have been tried in the past, such as old firehose (relies on being able to source the material, but otherwise works), PVC (heavy and shatter-prone) and material from plastic containers (limited by size and shape of the donor container.)
I started looking into sheet plastics, but most stuff was too thick and too expensive. However, I found an image of a flexible-yet-sturdy black plastic sheeting encircling a bunch of bamboo plants, and with a little further sleuthing discovered that it's a material known as "root barrier", intended for preventing plants from rooting outside their prescribed zone. It's UV-treated high-density polyethylene (HDPE) which is literally what cutting boards are made of....and it's cheap and comes as a roll. To experiment with I got the thinnest and smallest roll I could, which yielded 20 square feet of 30 mil HDPE for about $18 delivered. No stitching or welt required with this stuff -- I just leather-punched holes in it and used double-head "EZ rivets" to stick it together. It's not the prettiest stuff on the planet, but it works, and works well. Every axe, knife, and machete I've got that lacks a factory sheath will be getting covered in this stuff. I just ordered a bag of 1000x rivets on eBay for $14 shipped. The cost in materials on this mask was MAYBE $0.75, but I'm pretty sure it was closer to $0.50
The material remains ductile down to -90° F and has a melting temperature of 250° F. When heated with a 240° heat gun I can get it to stretch mildly and mold a little to shape similarly to wetted leather. I'll be investing in some heavier-gauge material as well, but I think for most tasks the 30 mil is actually sufficient, despite only being about as thick as a credit card.
I started looking into sheet plastics, but most stuff was too thick and too expensive. However, I found an image of a flexible-yet-sturdy black plastic sheeting encircling a bunch of bamboo plants, and with a little further sleuthing discovered that it's a material known as "root barrier", intended for preventing plants from rooting outside their prescribed zone. It's UV-treated high-density polyethylene (HDPE) which is literally what cutting boards are made of....and it's cheap and comes as a roll. To experiment with I got the thinnest and smallest roll I could, which yielded 20 square feet of 30 mil HDPE for about $18 delivered. No stitching or welt required with this stuff -- I just leather-punched holes in it and used double-head "EZ rivets" to stick it together. It's not the prettiest stuff on the planet, but it works, and works well. Every axe, knife, and machete I've got that lacks a factory sheath will be getting covered in this stuff. I just ordered a bag of 1000x rivets on eBay for $14 shipped. The cost in materials on this mask was MAYBE $0.75, but I'm pretty sure it was closer to $0.50
The material remains ductile down to -90° F and has a melting temperature of 250° F. When heated with a 240° heat gun I can get it to stretch mildly and mold a little to shape similarly to wetted leather. I'll be investing in some heavier-gauge material as well, but I think for most tasks the 30 mil is actually sufficient, despite only being about as thick as a credit card.
