Chiral's New UKE!

Silver Needle

Silver Needle

Joined
Jul 14, 2014
Messages
5,802
Chiral was gracious enough to let me be a guinea pig in trying his new Universal Kydex Extension, and it is pretty great.

Here is a link to his give away thread with a lot of information and better pictures than I was able to take:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...quot-Universal-Kydex-Extension-quot-Give-Away!

Here she is! Note the addition of the extra holes in the top of the extender that make the drop down clip possible in place of the dangler.

Everything is well put together. Precise. Sturdy. All the edges on the kydex have been smoothed and rounded.

Here is the drop down attachment with my 3.5. Great height. Also, the clip design makes it possible to get it on and off the belt without having to take the belt off.
]

A little closer in. The clip is about 2.25 inches deep, so you could fit it on a pretty wide belt.


Dangler. Very comfortable. I could sit and stand comfortably. Since I was only wearing a 3.5 I actually forgot I had it on as I walked around the house.




Chiral, thanks again for this opportunity, you are quite the craftsman! I will update or post again when I have bigger models to attach.

If anyone wants to see anything that I didn't touch on yet, let me know!
 
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Pretty cool stuff! The optional clip is great. It's a pain putting a knife on your belt when you're a lefty!
 
Thanks Chiral and Silver! I'll definitely be getting one of these.
 
Hmm... Silver actually mounted the clip differently than i expected, I would have put it on the outside of the extension, mounted similar to this piece i made for the Gerber Strongarm:

Dlni0f6.jpg


I also usually mount the dangler with the knots against my waste rather than sticking out, but to each their own! That's the central idea of the design - accommodate as many users, each with specific preferences - as possible.

The clip isn't my creation, it's the AB-3 from Armory Plastics, LLC. I designed the central vertical holes to mount that clip at various height-options, and I decided to offer the clip along with this new extension so users felt less restricted by the belt-loop.

The central horizontal holes are for use in conjunction with the corner-holes for mounting a small tek-lok or spyderco G-clip. When i get the opportunity, I'll take some pics of this to demonstrate.

The corner holes (with eyelets) are for mounting a large tek-lok, the leather belt-loop, or tying a dangler-cord.

You can use the belt-loop for the dangler or you can also use a G-clip or tek-lok:

S3_j_0D6ar5QwpAHIb2gB0Do_8-FnAhB65gLq8i9leM=w782-h1042-no


Again, the goal is to provide THE MOST VERSATILE attachment accessory at an affordable price. The UKE is designed to fit EVERY Survive! sheath - it is not model specific - and can be used on a lot of other sheaths as well, though you might need to drill a hole in that sheath to better accommodate the attachment. The UKE allows the user to adjust the height (you can use your own cord, i just include some to give folks the idea) AND angle of carry, so it works for people short and tall, horizontal or vertical or cross-draw, dangler or drop or just a little lower than the standard S!K clip.

I still need to put this new single-layer design through the paces with some larger blades like the GSO-10 (which works better using a UKE mounted along the spine rather than the edge) to test durability, and right now I have only been able to acquire .125 kydex in black, so no other colors. I still have some bi-layer black and OD-green UKEs, and I'll make some bi-layer ones in coyote-brown and FDE once my order arrives...

But yeah, anyone interested in the old model or this new one, just drop me a line, I can usually get these out the next day (though USPS took a lot longer getting Silver his package than i expected *shrug*), and PLEASE suggest it to others whom you think may be interested in something like this, whether it be for a S!K or a Busse or an ESEE, etc.


Silver, thanks for posting some pics and please update us with any observations, criticism, etc.
 
Ha! I knew I should have read your email closer. I will put the attachment on without being an idiot this time. I noticed I did the paracord backwards, but got lazy...


Chiral, any thoughts on the molded plastic ESEE 6 sheath? I was going to try it out last night, but since there are no slots on the sheath, only one screw lines up. This may be a drilling situation like you mentioned. The ESEE comes with a nice drop down, but your design would make a very affordable dangler option.

I don't know anything about kydex material and labor costs, but I wonder if Kiah or Guy would ever consider making the belt clip a drop down. It would be more material and maybe labor, but usually the only thing reviewers ever complain about is how high the sheath rides in standard configuration. For some it is something that must be immediately modified before use.
Guy is already providing an incredible value and I'm sure if there was an easy solution he would have already done it.
 
Silver Needle said:
Chiral, any thoughts on the molded plastic ESEE 6 sheath? I was going to try it out last night, but since there are no slots on the sheath, only one screw lines up. This may be a drilling situation like you mentioned...
Click to expand...

Yes, the ESEE-6 factory sheath has holes spaced 1.5" o.c. so you'd need to drill a hole (7/32-1/4") right in the middle at 3/4" o.c. to attach the UKE... but then you're good to go! Drop, dangler, angled, clipped, etc. And it costs less than the ESEE clip-plate! :cool:

Silver Needle said:
I don't know anything about kydex material and labor costs, but I wonder if Kiah or Guy would ever consider making the belt clip a drop down. It would be more material and maybe labor, but usually the only thing reviewers ever complain about is how high the sheath rides in standard configuration. For some it is something that must be immediately modified before use.
Guy is already providing an incredible value and I'm sure if there was an easy solution he would have already done it.
Click to expand...

I will be sending Guy a couple of samples as well to try and convince him that this is the design he wants to promote ;)
I'm not in it for the profit, I don't make sheaths or anything like that, I just came up with this design because i couldn't find one that suited my needs. I wouldn't have bothered making more than one or two, but enough folks were complaining about sheaths riding too high, i figured I'd try to offer a more universal solution than having a custom-sheath and accessory made at great cost.
 
Yo chiral, I am in need my Wisco brother. Can you shoot me an email at cootshooter [at] pc-renew [dot] com and let me know what you need from me to get one of these things ASAP? Thanks.
 
Silver Needle said:
I don't know anything about kydex material and labor costs, but I wonder if Kiah or Guy would ever consider making the belt clip a drop down. It would be more material and maybe labor, but usually the only thing reviewers ever complain about is how high the sheath rides in standard configuration. For some it is something that must be immediately modified before use.
Guy is already providing an incredible value and I'm sure if there was an easy solution he would have already done it.
Click to expand...

There is a design on the drawing table that should debut with the new models, assuming everything goes to plan. I'm not sure what details Guy would be ready to share so that is all I can say right now.
 
SURVIVE! Ellie said:
There is a design on the drawing table that should debut with the new models, assuming everything goes to plan. I'm not sure what details Guy would be ready to share so that is all I can say right now.
Click to expand...

:eek::eek::eek:

Wow, this is amazing news! Definitely don't feel pressured to say anymore. You two always have some surprises up your sleeves! :thumbup:
 
I ordered a UKE from Chiral and he shipped it out faster than I could change the order. hehe

I found it to be a bit too long for my liking, so luckily there was another set of holes about 1 1/2 inches down from the top that I could utilize by dremelling off the top and attaching the belt loop down lower. It works PERFECTLY for the GSO 4.1.

ChiralUKE1.jpg


ChiralUKE2.jpg



Thanks Chiral!
 
CootShooter said:
I ordered a UKE from Chiral and he shipped it out faster than I could change the order. hehe

I found it to be a bit too long for my liking, so luckily there was another set of holes about 1 1/2 inches down from the top that I could utilize by dremelling off the top and attaching the belt loop down lower. It works PERFECTLY for the GSO 4.1...
Click to expand...

Yeah, sorry about shipping so fast. :o

But dude, rather than cut the head off the extension, you could have just mounted it lower on your sheath and achieved the same height... Still, it's yours to modify, so good job :thumbup: :D

I did intentionally design these to be as long as they are, I had problems with extensions from other makers that were too short to keep the handle of various knives from bowing away from my side in dangler-carry. My first prototype had that problem:

IMG_0481.JPG
 
I ordered two UKEs from chiral last Friday, and they arrived Monday. One will be set up for the 10, and the other will be set up for the 5.1 or larger. No time to even open the package yet, but I hope to have some pictures of my preferred setups when I have time to play around with them. I have a couple of Tek-Loks lying around that I am thinking about using in the mix, at least for the 10. I hope to report back here my results.
 
The UKE has me re-thinking how and what GSO knives I deploy and for what tasks. As I have previously stated, I have always considered the GSO 10 to be a pack only knife. Of course I have always considered it so because of the stock sheath setup. The UKE has me getting pretty excited about possibilities of when I might consider carrying this knife on a belt. Clearly the GSO 8 (when it arrives) will have even more carry options given the UKE and the flexibility surrounding it. I have in my collection many blades that are in the 4 to 6" range, and I never felt that the 5.1 was too terribly cumbersome on the belt with the stock sheath. But I must admit that for belt carry, I often would have one of my other 5" to 6" knives in a leather sheath, at least on weekend chores around the house. So I impose this question: Has the use of the UKE expanded which GSO knives you carry? If so, can you explain?
 
I'll reply with something worthwhile eventually, but for now... am I the only one who thinks "yook" any time you see "UKE"? :p
 
Ok, I had a chance to mount the two UKEs. I got one of chiral's new single piece UKEs for RH carry that I mounted on the GSO 5.1 by mounting on the knife edge side of the sheath. I elected to mount the new plastic clip instead of the dangler on this knife. I did put it on the belt, and I like the way it hangs very much. I walked around some, sat down some and deployed the knife some. So far I like everything about the way it feels and works. The only thing I am not sure about is if a dangler will work better when driving.

I also got what is designed as a LH two piece old style to mount on my GSO 10 for RH carry. This is accomplished by mounting it on the knife spine side of the sheath. I am currently using the dangler, and I also got the leg strap. I was thinking of mounting this one with a Tek-Lok, but I think the dangler will work better sitting while strapped to the leg. Additionally, I noticed that Tek-Loks are made in China, and I did not want to contaminate my 100% made in America setup. I will revisit the Tek-lok after using the current dangler setup for a while. Pictures to come soon.
 
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