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Does Kydex scratch titanium?

Death's Head

Death's Head

Joined
Jul 26, 2005
Messages
2,027
I have a Ti-Bot from Deryk Munroe. It came with a kydex sheath. I know that kydex sheaths can scatch my guns, that is why I don't regularly use them. I may get a leather sheath made for my Ti-Bot.
p32800071nz.jpg
 
On this planet there is sand everywhere, and sand is mostly quartz, and quartz is harder than anything knives are made out of including titanium, and it can embed in kydex and scratch your knife.
 
Part of it would depend on the finish I' d imagine. I have a heavily blasted Dozier made Ti skeleton necker that is finished with a hard anodized coat. I have carried and drawn it from its kydex quite often. The result is only very subtle surface scuffs which are barely visible. On the other hand I have a Mission MPU Ti skeleton with a nicely polished finish. It has been carried and used less than my Dozier made. But the light surface scratches are obviously visible. I don' t know if it has any other coating finish.

N.
 
J85909266 said:
I would like to add that I have no idea what that thing is, but I want one.
Click to expand...
Here are pics of the T-Bot which is slightly different than the Ti-Bot. It is made from mostly G10. The pics speaks for itself in regards to its function.

p32500039zl.jpg

p32500022jq.jpg
 
I don't think kydex will scratch Ti, but as was already said, I am sure that dirt will. Keep the sheath clean and you should be fine.
 
Like Cougar said ... even a tiny grain of sand or other grit lodged between a kydex sheath and knife is bad news. Same thing as with the unlined plastic gun cases manufacturers started using some years ago (I remember a beautiful new $650 Colt marred by grit I couldn't even see on the first trip back from the range.)

The good news is grit doesn't tend to embed in Kydex, so keeping it clean and as oil-free as you can should help.
 
Kydex will mark up Ti, but in the case of Ti, the marks can be erased with a white pencil eraser. I have S30V HAK's and Titanium ones, and the marks come completely off the Ti with an eraser, but not off the S30v with a similar finish. Frontsight said this at one point and it's true. Weird eh?
 
Kydex will scratch everything. My Spyderco Mouse has wear marks all over it and its a new sheath and knife
 
What if the Titanium is heat colored like the Ti-Bot in my pics. If kydex can scratch it, that means the color will eventually wear off an the part that fits into the sheath right?
 
Kydex itself will not scratch a knife. I beg anyone here to make a kydex knife and try to scratch one of my steel bladels with it ;). As has been mentioned, particles (dirt etc.) that are trapped in the kydex will scratch it. The good thing about kydex is that it's not porous, it's dry, and smooth- not very good living conditions if you're a malicious grain of sand looking to foul up someone's nice bottle opener/jaw cracker, you know? Leather won't scratch your knife either. Although I have tried many times to make some nice leather folders, I just can't seem to get them to take an edge and they don't cut very well at all. Unfortunately for people who like leather, although kydex was able to convince the aggressive, cruel dirt that there was no room in the inn, leather- relatively porous, is much better at trapping moisture, and is soft enough to allow grains of quartz to settle in. Not good!

Kydex can scrape off some finishes (more so on knives because when the kydex is sliced during resheathing and small lips are formed they can have very sharp edges. But then I should also say that if you're willing to slightly damage its finish by popping bottle tops, you shouldn't worry too much about the finish anyway. Titanium is pretty soft, and you'll either have to keep it safe and never enjoy it or use it, enjoy it, and not be bothered by the wear.
 
yuppers. If there's something hard inside the kydex (like sand) it'll scratch through the annodized finish which isn't that thick anyway.
 
I have three Ti knives of various classifications....beadblasted, anodized and polished. Of these, the polished is the toughest, followed closely by the anodized and far, far behind is the beadblasted.

This is hardly a surprising result...I have two other beadblasted knives that I can remember off hand, at least. One is my spyderfly, which has been pretty tough, I suppose, but it does show very strange scratches. Of note, these are SS and not Ti on both knives, and thus these should be tougher than the Ti knives...this is also what I observe. The other one is a CRKT STIFF KISS and even on the steel, the kydex does show mild scratches on it...with no sand in it, I'm reasonably certain.

But my Bump's anodizing is pretty tough. It shipped with a couple very minor dings, but they haven't gotten any worse and I carry it 3/4 days now.
 
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