Belt knife with no belt?

There are plenty of small fixed blades you can just stuff in your pants / shorts pocket in their original belt sheath. Add a handkerchief or a bandana and it will ride nicely upright at the outer or inner seam (cargo style pants or shorts, of course...).
 
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NJBillK said:
If you don't have a belt, but do have pockets in your shorts, you can have a leather pocket sheath made. Clip height can be set for pocket depth. The clip can also be hung on the waist band.
View attachment 910024 View attachment 910025 View attachment 910026

If you want to talk design, shoot me a message.
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I use that method to carry fixed blades in sweatpants and sweatshorts. Thing is to have a light thin knife to begin with and the sheath built the same. NJBillK's set up is a bit more heavy duty than what I made for myself. I use a rare earth magnet to make sure the knife stays in the sheath, thus you don't need thick leather to hold it in place.
 
Horsewright said:
Beltless Sheath. Can be used without a belt or over top of one like here. Snaps around the belt loops.
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I get my hardware from the local Tandy Leather, and the snaps come undone a lot more easily to lateral pressure than I hoped. Is there a better brand I should be trying, or am I just being picky?
 
brownshoe said:
I use that method to carry fixed blades in sweatpants and sweatshorts. Thing is to have a light thin knife to begin with and the sheath built the same. NJBillK's set up is a bit more heavy duty than what I made for myself. I use a rare earth magnet to make sure the knife stays in the sheath, thus you don't need thick leather to hold it in place.
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Good eye, I did use heavy leather (9-10 oz Hermann Oak), though the welts do show a lot.

I have some 2-3 oz. Calf skin for wallets, pocket slips, watch straps and other lighter duty goods, but I do not feel comfortable with a knife in such thin material. If I were to use 6-8 oz. or possibly even 4-6 oz. I may feel more comfortable.
 
Horsewright said:
Yeah some are better than others. we get em from Sailrite. However I've switched from snaps to those brass studs, Sam Browne studs or posts they are called as this sheath design has evolved. Tandy carries those too. Like on a bowie sash sheath. B BitingSarcasm
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Thank you! Graciously sharing your knowledge has spared the universe numerous swear words as I make my bumbling beginner mistakes.
 
NJBillK said:
Good eye, I did use heavy leather (9-10 oz Hermann Oak), though the welts do show a lot.

I have some 2-3 oz. Calf skin for wallets, pocket slips, watch straps and other lighter duty goods, but I do not feel comfortable with a knife in such thin material. If I were to use 6-8 oz. or possibly even 4-6 oz. I may feel more comfortable.
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Your rig looks nice and solid, good work.

I used lighter weight leather than some would for my in the pocket sheath, but supposedly "holster leather". I only lined one side and used deerskin, processed by an Iroquois at a museum my sister worked at, but did have a good welt of the holster leather. I wanted it light weight, the knife is very thin and narrow, like a Loveless City knife that's about 1/2 as thick. It was made by Mike Franklin in the 90s. The magnet in the sheath helps keep the knife in and keeps it flat when resheathed. I stole the magnet idea from Don Cowles who made a pocket sheath for me, his are pouch style, mine is pancake. He's been doing in-the-pocket sheaths with magnets for years.
 
It may sometimes result in problems if I at public places carry a knife in my belt. Particularly my Cold Steel Trail Master seems to be provocative. So, I generally carry my knives in bag.
 
though you would have to modify the sheath whether leather or Kydex take a look at the Ulticlip . I am currently using one to clip a fixed blade to my pocket . I opted to attach to the sheath (Kydex) using two sided Velcro strips .
 
I never understood how the Spyderco clips got so much positive feedback in knifeworld. It's too small. The hole distance is too small and pawned/modified from a gun concealed holster clip to a knife clip but not consistent with standard molle 'mil-spec.' I think it's 1" instead of the typical 1.25".

So, it doesn't really fit anything at all except a Spyderco sheath or a concealed holster. It was also so tiny and didn't clip well. Go for the Esee clip. It's the gold standard to those molle clippie things.

Maybe, that's what Sal wanted it to be. Hmm..
 
I think if a sheath was designed with a clip like the old Alessi talon holster, one could easily carry a fixed blade safely without a belt. The clip was made to attatch very tightly to the waistband. It locked on tight and wouldn't break loose during a draw. Many people didnt understand the concept and would place the clip over the belt. When carrying, you still had the option of wearing a belt on the outside to pull the weapon in tight.

I found this photo, that I'm sure is mine when I did a goggle search. It's amazing how well this clip worked. I don't know where on could find a clip like this to make a sheath. The metal clips just don't work well.

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Dr Rez said:
How do you carry your "belt knife sized" knives when you don't have a belt on? Im not talking a Mora or BK11 sized knife but one of at least 4-5 inches with a full grip handle. Typically since I live in a hot moist climate I do not have pants or shorts on with belt loops. The only solution i have used so far is a Spyderco G-Clip on the kydex sheath for my BK16, however the GClip never seems to line up at the correct angle on most kydex sheaths...
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I include an AB-3 belt-clip with my UKE 2.0 and offer it with my Strongarm extensions as well, holes are spaced 3/4" o.c. just like a tek-lok and it can easily clip to a waistband or a pocket:

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The UKE works with the spyderco G-clip as well:

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You can also make a kydex clip-plate and use a NiteIze eCLIPse:

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Dr Rez said:
How do you carry your "belt knife sized" knives when you don't have a belt on? Im not talking a Mora or BK11 sized knife but one of at least 4-5 inches with a full grip handle.
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A sheath with a rifle sling stud/Sam Browne post is a good solution IMO.
I made the below Q&D sheath to test sash carry and IWB.
It works great.
Sash carry with a belt is shown but works great IWB.
Again, just a quickly cobbled together sheath to test a carry method for a then new coffin handle Bowie.
MUwBqEg.jpg
 
wensynch said:
I never understood how the Spyderco clips got so much positive feedback in knifeworld. It's too small. The hole distance is too small and pawned/modified from a gun concealed holster clip to a knife clip but not consistent with standard molle 'mil-spec.' I think it's 1" instead of the typical 1.25".

So, it doesn't really fit anything at all except a Spyderco sheath or a concealed holster. It was also so tiny and didn't clip well. Go for the Esee clip. It's the gold standard to those molle clippie things.

Maybe, that's what Sal wanted it to be. Hmm..
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A tad OT but....

Assume you mean G-clips.

Because they work just fine.
I have a shedload of TekLoc clips and even in the smaller version, they are still bulky.
Dont get me started on the bigger ones.
The simple elegant unobtrusive small(-ish) G-clip is a blessing.
Very good clips which work just fine.
 
ponykid said:
Chiral where do you get those Niteize metal clips?
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Did they stop making them? The early eCLIPse were all metal, I guess the new ones are a "carbonfiber composite" *shrug* you can probably pick up the black metal ones some places still, I know that the "spectrum" ones are available on the river website.
 
If I am doing laid back farm work, I just slip my knife in my back pocket. If I know I'm gonna be very active, I use my belt.
 
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