Anyone tried rolling back the lip of a kydex sheath?

Matt Shade

Matt Shade

Joined
Nov 24, 1999
Messages
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I've only made a couple sheaths now and have been carrying them alot to see how they work out and what I need to change.
So far my main trouble is that neither of the 2 knives I've been using have bolsters, and the handle material is starting to show wear right were it contacts the mouth of the sheath. One knife is rosewood finished with danish oil, the other is black linen micarta. Nothing real soft, but not extremely scratch resistant.

I was wondering if I could fold the top edge over towards the outside of the peice, and then mold it to the knife. That way you have a rounded lip at the top. What do you think ?

As a side note, when you guys make a 2 peice sheath, do you mold both halves? Thats what I've been doing, and it gives a nice tight fit. But theres that little shelf where the shape makes the transition from handle/bolsters to the blade. The point on my knife occasionally sticks this going in. It doesn't actually get caught but it makes the inside of the sheath pretty rough at that spot.
 
A pointed point that's sharp and pointy will catch almost anything
it touches just got to be careful sheathing the Knife I'd say.
On the handle you can use tape while molding
to make a buffer zone
(A space) between the handle and the Kydex, you can always line it with powdered velvet..:( :)
 
A lip sounds like it would work to me. On the other, you might fill in the front of the scales/bolsters with modeling clay, make it like a ramp. After molding, just knock the dry clay out, and clean the blade up.:confused:
 
Hey Matt...

I'll try and help you out with this...

*Edit*

Ok..Matt..Try this before you do anything below...

Go to Meijers and buy a can of Snap silicone spray....
Shake well and spray a shot on your finger..Wipe it inside the mouth of the sheath, shake out excess..
If your finger doesn't fit,,spray on a Q-tip,,dab off excess and wipe...

Warning!!!

Unless you know what your doing,,Don't and I repeat Don't spray inside the sheath....

It can make a tight fitting knife slide right out of the sheath,, and you'll NEVER get rid of it... The sheath will be Worthless...

Ok,, Read On....

On a side note just to get started,, I've sheathed knives with just about every handle material known to man,, and if the sheath is made properly,,you will have Very little handle material wear..

I have a dozen or so knives with Kraton or other forms of it,, and they show very little wear,,and each has made probably hundreds of sheaths..
The only one that is getting worn out is my Fallkniven FI, and this is because I so it so much and is in an out of the sheath a lot...

Now onto your problem...

Now don't take this the wrong way,, I only want to understand where you are coming from..

What do you think a rolled edge is going to do for you ?

Drawbacks :

#1. Looks like $hit
#2. Hangs up on things
#3. Looks like $hit

A solution....

Instead of rolling the edge,, creat a funnel of sorts, more flared out at the top, so the knife will be guided into the sheath..

I see sheaths all the time where the maker has left little to no material at the top, and the knife has to be more or less centered into the sheath before it goes in..
Kind of hard to explain..

Flare the mouth of your sheath slightly, so when the handle starts entering the sheath it will be funneled into it,spreading the material away and finally finding its seat and locking into place.

As far as the cutting goes...

When you resheath the knife, let the knife find its own way in instead of forcing it in..
you are putting the knife in slightly twisted, and the edge is catching the plastic on the way home...

It happens to all sheaths.. This may be the problem,,or it may be something in your design..
It happens sometimes to mine and is a normal occurrence . If its happening a lot it should be looked at, and your process may need some tweaking.

When I re-sheath a knife that is on my belt in the vertical position, I take the knife by its spine, the tip of my finger touching the tip of the knife and I feel for the opening of the sheath.

I then let the knife slide down into the sheath slightly,,letting it find its own way in,,then seat the knife until it locks into place...
Works for some and not others...

On a horizontal belt sheath, I have a slightly different approach, that sometimes sticks the knife into my thumb..:)

Hope that helps..

ttyle

Eric....
 
Hey Mike...

Mike Writes...

"you might fill in the front of the scales/bolsters with modeling clay, make it like a ramp. After molding, just knock the dry clay out, and clean the blade up."

This won't work,,and I don't mean to sound like a dick or anything but,, its a Very bad idea for several reasons...

#1 Molding with real molding pressures will blow that stuff apart
#2 Could quite seriously damage the handle material.
#3 Will most certainly embed clay into the sheath,clay = Grit = Scratching!
#4 Will distort the outside of the sheath and will look like $hit

Creating a ramp or funnel after the sheath is molded properly is much easier to handle then mucking with it before hand. Do you final fitting after the sheath is molded and 99.99% of the work is done...

The "final fit" on a sheath is one of the most important steps in sheath-making and is Majorly overlooked a lot of times for the sake of speed and cost...

It doesn't leave my shop unless it fits the knife...

Rant Mode

*OFF*

ttyle

Eric...
 
Thanks guys

Normark
The sheath overlaps about an inch of the handle and is pretty much fitted right up to the edge.The way the handle is shaped makes it slide in easily but gives the sheath a good section to grab at. The first rivet on either side is about an inch below the mouth and well off to the side so that the top of the sheath can spread to accomodate taking the knife out and putting it back in. Seems to be about the right amount of grip, so I guess I need to just try loosening the very top edge just a little.
So far all my sheaths are 2 peices and each peice starts out as a rectanlge until after things are molded and riveted together.I figured I could take the front peice thats causing wear on my knives, and fold about 1/4" over and press it in a vice (while its flat) so it had a tight flat seam.Then mold it normally. I figured that would make a much smoother edge than just the cut edge of a single layer. If its done right I don't think it would look like ****, probably wouldn't even show up much other than the top 1/4" would be smooth instead of textured. I'll mess with tapering the mouth first though.

The tip catching really isn't causing a problem, I just thought it might be some premature wear that someone had figured out how to avoid. My knives seem to go into the sheath pretty easily, I don't think I'm forcing them in crooked or anything. We'll see how much more wear I get out of the ones I have done so far.

Thanks for the help.
 
Hey Matt..

Cool..

Let us know how it turns out...

You ever think about making pouch style sheaths ??

A hell of a lot easier to work with,, I'll tell you that...

ttyle

Eric....
 
First sheath I tried was a pouch/fold over. It was beyond fugly, didn't even hold the knife that well. I was a little too conservative in cutting out the pattern. I did do one more that way for a gerber multi lock that turned out pretty good, but haven't messed with one like that since. I'm not sure if the neighbors have forgotten the large cloud of profanity drifting out of my shop that day yet :D
 
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