First attempt at Kydex sheath for Khukri

R

Racerx2oo3

Joined
Aug 22, 2005
Messages
174
Inspired by Dan's designs I decided to try my own hand at making a kydex sheath for my 16.5" WWII by Bura. Overall, I'm happy with the results. It feels good to make something with your own hands. Having never used Kydex before I learned alot in the process. I really wished that I had a band saw and a belt sander. The sheath locks the blade up tight. There is a bit of vertical play, but even shaking the whole thing upside down the blade woln't fall out. I did 90% of the work using just my Dremel tool. Man the kydex dust gets everywhere and the stuff stinks like you wouldn't believe when cutting it with the cutoff wheel on a dremel.

It rides a bit high, but I think that if it rode lower it would bump my leg constantly and that would bug me too. It has a foward breaking draw which really makes it easy to insert and remove the blade, although right now it can be a two handed operation. I used a Tek-Lok for the attachment point. I used regular aluminum pop rivets, which I'm going to try to find some Aluminum Black to blacken them up a bit. The plan was to use Chicago Screws which would have looked nicer I think, but they are too long for double thickness .080 kydex.

It lacks the sleek look and polish of Dan's sheath's but overall I'm happy with my first attempt.

Here's the pics
IMG_7585S.JPG

IMG_7586S.JPG

IMG_7588S.JPG


Sean
 
Hey, I'm impressed, Sean. The quick-draw design is a good one.

I'm going to have to do the same for the 20" AK with out a scabbard, that I bought this week, so you're something of an inspiration.

How did you attach the Tek-lok?
 
Racer, a really nice job you did!!!! I am highly impressed as well and especially as this is your first attempt!!!!:thumbup: :cool: :D :eek:
 
aliloff said:
nice are those pop rivets?
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Yep. Pop rivets. I ordered Chicago Screws when I ordered my kydex, but didn't realize that the Chicago screws are too wide to hold double layered .080 kydex. There would have been significant gapping, I thought about backing up the screws with some rubber washers, but it really would have needed thick washers to do the trick.
 
Aardvark said:
Hey, I'm impressed, Sean. The quick-draw design is a good one.

I'm going to have to do the same for the 20" AK with out a scabbard, that I bought this week, so you're something of an inspiration.

How did you attach the Tek-lok?
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Aardvark,

It's not too difficult. My first attempt didn't work so hot so I re-heated the kydex and tried again. This time I cut blade blanks out of cardboard and taped them to the blade. I used the cardboard that I cut the blanks from as a negative image of the blade, I layed this over the top sheet of Kydex, when clamped between foam, the cardboard overlay really pushed thekydex around the blade shape.

The Tek-Lok has several mounting points which are fastened to the shealth via a threaded base. In the bottom picture these can be seen on the bottom edge, 3rd and 4th rivet.

Sean
 
Really nice work. We recently made a Kydex press. A bandsaw does cut through Kydex like butter and a belt sander with 50 grit makes short work of shaping and 120 grit for smoothing. A toaster oven is great for heating, but you need to keep an eye on it waiting for it to go floppy.
 
Sweet scabbard! :thumbup:

Looks great to me!



Sometimes I can do these things in 30 minutes....other times it takes hours...*shrug*

Love the handle wrap.


Tip: after you've heated the kydex and pressed it to shape...set your rivet points by sliding the TekLok up as high as you can before bumping into the bolster. Will help with it riding so high.

You could still adjust the TekLok mounting position on yours...



Also, 0.060" kydex molds to shape a little easier. The heavier stuff takes longer to heat up and requires more pressure to make a good fitting.



But don't get me wrong...I give yours two thumbs up! :thumbup: :thumbup:
 
Daniel Koster said:
Sweet scabbard! :thumbup:

Tip: after you've heated the kydex and pressed it to shape...set your rivet points by sliding the TekLok up as high as you can before bumping into the bolster. Will help with it riding so high.

You could still adjust the TekLok mounting position on yours...
But don't get me wrong...I give yours two thumbs up! :thumbup: :thumbup:
Click to expand...

Thanks Dan, it was seeing your Kydex work that really got me interested in trying it myself. I think I've got the Teklok up as high as I can without interfering with the bolster. It's not that bad, and I also found that I could open the TekLok and hang it off my front jeans pocket as well. I'm thinking I might make a drop down strap with a carabiner on top and a attachment point for the Tek-Lok to give me the option of wearing a little lower if needed.
 
monte70 said:
Excellent work!

Where did you get the Kydex and Tek-lok?
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Monte,

I got both the kydex and the tek-lok from Knifekits.com

For some reason the shipping on my order took several weeks, but I understand that this is not usual.

Sean
 
Tek-loks are notoriously hard to keep in-stock. I just got a batch of 50....$$$ :eek:....and they'll probably all be gone before the Blade Show...:(

Most of the knifemaker supply shops carry kydex, though...
 
Thanks for the information guys!

I also have a 16.5" sisau handle WWII that needs a kydex sheath.

Looks like I'll be riveting the sheath together as well and perhaps use gun bluing to darken the aluminum rivets.
 
monte70 said:
Thanks for the information guys!

I also have a 16.5" sisau handle WWII that needs a kydex sheath.

Looks like I'll be riveting the sheath together as well and perhaps use gun bluing to darken the aluminum rivets.
Click to expand...


Monte,

Kydex rivets look like they provide the best look, (and as an added bonus they work like an eyelet so you can pass paracord through). However, it looks like you need an eyelet flaring tool to get the rivet to rollover properly, and I didn't feel like spending extra money since I was just doing one sheath. The pop rivets work really well although in hindsight I would have put a rivet washer on the back, as I think it would have a better finished look. The downside is that you can't pass paracord through the rivets and they are not as pretty as kydex rivets/eyelets.

I thought about trying gun bluing on the rivets, but everything I've read indicates that bluing doesn't work on aluminum (in fact some bluing solutions will dissolve aluminum). Birchwood Casey makes a product called Aluminum Black.

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I've been trying to find it locally, but I may end up having to order some online. Or I may just get a black paint marker from the hobby shop and try that.

Sean
 
If you don't want to buy extra equipment for flaring rivets, I would suggest using Chicago screws instead. The biggest plus to using these is that you can easily remove them if you need to make tension adjustments, etc. to the sheath. Bear in mind, I have never used rivets, so I can't speak much for their virtues.
 
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