- Joined
- Oct 24, 1999
- Messages
- 782
Ok, like Clay said yesterday, Im the proud owner of one of his newly designed double balisong sheaths. When I got it from him, he asked me to let him know if I could think of any improvements. I did not do this as I got 4 form him at the same time. I love them all, really only use the neck sheath though. I use it as a retainer to keep it attached to some of my gear. I live in the Caribbean so its hard to wear something that big and heavy around my neck as its uncomfortable in the heat. Maybe Ill use it for that when I get my BM 31, assuming that it fits
But I digress, back to the double.
This is A LOT of sheath! Thats one of the reasons that it hasnt seen to much use. If your gonna wear it its gonna draw a lot of attention, unless its concealed. Again my environment plays apart here. But I know when I posted yesterday that I was going to have to attend a coat and tie function :barf: with work tonight, perfect place to try it out. I have worn it before when I was on a security detail, but I was armed with a pistol as well and was a little too busy to think much about the sheath. Anyway tonight I gave it special attention and this is what I came up with
I love it, bottom line. You have access to a bali with either hand or both at once. I think it was designed to be worn with the latches down, but it works either way. The first time I wore it I wore it latches up, tonight I wore it down. Both have merit and I leave it to each individual to decide to wear it as the best see fit. I think I like it down. It takes less room to move and less motion to get them out if its down. That makes it less noticeable to draw one or both and not draw too much attention. I thought sitting would be a problem with it down, but its not. No problem sitting in hard chairs or soft furniture either way. When it was up, though it tended to want to get caught up in my jacket getting in and out of vehicles, not too bad but something to be mindful of if you dont want to walk around with your jacket tucked in behind your balis I havent tried it yet but I think the down carry would be better for when I have a lot of other stuff on my belt like when I carry in civilian cloths. My suites are tailored to allow for all that but there is a limit to what you can stuff under there. When in the up position I was also wearing a second chance vest and I noticed that I could feel the but of the knives against the vest. It wasnt uncomfortable, but I could feel them. I actually kinda liked that aspect of it.
The knives draw easily, but at the same time are held very securely. You dont have to fight the sheath, but you have to want to get them out. Nice!
As stated on his web site the sheath features the ability to remove it from the belt with out removing the belt form around your body, thats cool, but it brings me to my only issue. I think there is too much room in the belt loop part of the sheath. The sheath attaches to the belt on both sides of the rear center belt loop. This helps stabilize thing a lot, but like tonight; I didnt have a center rear belt loop. I have two that are centered on the back about three inches apart. I can see a very logical reason for the space though. First it allows for the removal feature that I mentioned earlier. With out the space you cant have that. Tonight if I drew on bali, it shifted the sheath a little to one side, no big deal but I didnt like that. It also shifts a little as you move around. Could be this contributes to comfort but moving with you. I think it would be better it the belt loop was made to about the same size as the belt. Trouble is that makes this a pretty specific piece of gear. For me I would only use it for specific occasions so I would be willing to give up the flexibility of different belts and the easy on off feature. This is just my opinion. This is not really an issue to its usability at all. As it sits it can be used by any belt on anyone. It may be more of an issue on a narrower belt, but I tried it out briefly on a narrow belt and it was fine.
Again bottom line is this a first class piece of gear and a really fun toy! Thanks a lot Clay and sorry I didnt hit you with this earlier before I posted it. Again I would like to say that the opinions are mine alone and are just that, opinions not necessarily based of fact, just how I feel.
Check out the pics of this bad boy:
http://photos.yahoo.com/bc/gtasteel/lst?.view=t&.dir=/kydex+and+bali's
sorry this is so long...
This is A LOT of sheath! Thats one of the reasons that it hasnt seen to much use. If your gonna wear it its gonna draw a lot of attention, unless its concealed. Again my environment plays apart here. But I know when I posted yesterday that I was going to have to attend a coat and tie function :barf: with work tonight, perfect place to try it out. I have worn it before when I was on a security detail, but I was armed with a pistol as well and was a little too busy to think much about the sheath. Anyway tonight I gave it special attention and this is what I came up with
I love it, bottom line. You have access to a bali with either hand or both at once. I think it was designed to be worn with the latches down, but it works either way. The first time I wore it I wore it latches up, tonight I wore it down. Both have merit and I leave it to each individual to decide to wear it as the best see fit. I think I like it down. It takes less room to move and less motion to get them out if its down. That makes it less noticeable to draw one or both and not draw too much attention. I thought sitting would be a problem with it down, but its not. No problem sitting in hard chairs or soft furniture either way. When it was up, though it tended to want to get caught up in my jacket getting in and out of vehicles, not too bad but something to be mindful of if you dont want to walk around with your jacket tucked in behind your balis I havent tried it yet but I think the down carry would be better for when I have a lot of other stuff on my belt like when I carry in civilian cloths. My suites are tailored to allow for all that but there is a limit to what you can stuff under there. When in the up position I was also wearing a second chance vest and I noticed that I could feel the but of the knives against the vest. It wasnt uncomfortable, but I could feel them. I actually kinda liked that aspect of it.
The knives draw easily, but at the same time are held very securely. You dont have to fight the sheath, but you have to want to get them out. Nice!
As stated on his web site the sheath features the ability to remove it from the belt with out removing the belt form around your body, thats cool, but it brings me to my only issue. I think there is too much room in the belt loop part of the sheath. The sheath attaches to the belt on both sides of the rear center belt loop. This helps stabilize thing a lot, but like tonight; I didnt have a center rear belt loop. I have two that are centered on the back about three inches apart. I can see a very logical reason for the space though. First it allows for the removal feature that I mentioned earlier. With out the space you cant have that. Tonight if I drew on bali, it shifted the sheath a little to one side, no big deal but I didnt like that. It also shifts a little as you move around. Could be this contributes to comfort but moving with you. I think it would be better it the belt loop was made to about the same size as the belt. Trouble is that makes this a pretty specific piece of gear. For me I would only use it for specific occasions so I would be willing to give up the flexibility of different belts and the easy on off feature. This is just my opinion. This is not really an issue to its usability at all. As it sits it can be used by any belt on anyone. It may be more of an issue on a narrower belt, but I tried it out briefly on a narrow belt and it was fine.
Again bottom line is this a first class piece of gear and a really fun toy! Thanks a lot Clay and sorry I didnt hit you with this earlier before I posted it. Again I would like to say that the opinions are mine alone and are just that, opinions not necessarily based of fact, just how I feel.
Check out the pics of this bad boy:
http://photos.yahoo.com/bc/gtasteel/lst?.view=t&.dir=/kydex+and+bali's
sorry this is so long...
