First homemade kydex sheaths for beckers!

mountainmist

mountainmist

Joined
Jun 12, 2013
Messages
2,238
Hey guys! I was inspired by the thread "My perfect combo!" too make a kydex piggyback sheath for my bk9/14. I was given some kydex for Christmas and didn;t have the ambition too do anything with it 'till now.
My workmanship is put too shame by 710 and azwelke but it's better then the factory sheaths (IMHO) especially since my bk9 sheath ripped earlier today.

Enjoy!

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I wish the sheath went up about 1/2'' more up the handle, it would really help with the retention, although I can hold it upside-down and shake it moderately hard.
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The belt loop is a bit flimsy but it works
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Tomorrow I'm going too attach the bk14!

Thanks for looking and constructive criticism is welcome!
 
Those look pretty good! I have several sheets of 0.6 Kydex that I need to mess with...

How did you heat it? Did you use glue? or just the rivets?
 
spydercobenchmadekai said:
Those look pretty good! I have several sheets of 0.6 Kydex that I need to mess with...

How did you heat it? Did you use glue? or just the rivets?
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When we moved too the new place ot had a 18'' stove, thats wayyyyy too small for our family but perfect for kydex! And I just used revets.
 
Good start. Now you need to build a press so you can put even pressure on it.
 
Mountainmist, take a look at Bob Doziers wilderness kydex sheaths. I really like how they fit onto a belt. Basically, the belt part is a nylon strapping that are riveted between two flat pieces of kydex. It is a separate piece of kydex riveted through the back of the regular sheath. Don't ask me how he does that, but they work well.

Just looked closer. He uses two pieces of kydex that are riveted onto the regular sheath. He must use longer rivets for these. I could take some pictures and email them to you if you are interested.
 
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mountainmist said:
I have a press. :(:(
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You may need better foam. Sheath making supply stores have a really high quality heavy foam - a lot of people use foam from sleeping pads and such, and it doesn't do a very good job. I spent some time looking for a great tutorial on it and couldn't find it - if I end up finding it I'll send you a link. A good press with good foam will make the Kydex form fitting, and it's hard to get bad results if you get your heat cycle right and transfer the material quickly.

Also, I haven't made knife sheaths, but .60 seems really heavy. I always like .50 for pistols, and I think you could even use .40 and get a good holster. The lightness is part of the draw - not so much in weight, but the thinness of the Kydex gives it a real good break, while maintaining good retention. I know people that say .60 is too heavy for guns.
 
A Justice said:
You may need better foam. Sheath making supply stores have a really high quality heavy foam - a lot of people use foam from sleeping pads and such, and it doesn't do a very good job. I spent some time looking for a great tutorial on it and couldn't find it - if I end up finding it I'll send you a link. A good press with good foam will make the Kydex form fitting, and it's hard to get bad results if you get your heat cycle right and transfer the material quickly.

Also, I haven't made knife sheaths, but .60 seems really heavy. I always like .50 for pistols, and I think you could even use .40 and get a good holster. The lightness is part of the draw - not so much in weight, but the thinness of the Kydex gives it a real good break, while maintaining good retention. I know people that say .60 is too heavy for guns.
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I don't think it's the foam so much as I'm putting the kydex in the press wrong, I need to work on precision. I think that .63 is a good thickness for knife sheaths, I don't think using anything thinner would be a good idea, retention would be weaker me thinks.
 
Your off to a good start, keep going!

I am sure my first attempt will look worse.

Jeremy
 
That's a start! There are lots of great YouTube vids for doing that kind of stuff. I am by no means an expert, but .060 (BTW, .63 would be a little more than half an inch thick!) is about the thinnest you want to go; more typical is .080 and .093 (I'm pretty sure that's what my azwelke sheath is). I've found that getting the kydex up to temp and making sure it's heated all the way through, having your setup ready so you can work fast and get it clamped down, and getting the foam warmed up with a heat gun all help. I'm still working on lots of the detail stuff. A drill press really helps with the rivets/eyelets, both for drilling the holes and pressing them in. I use the cheapo manual/hammer setup chucked into my unplugged drill press with the anvil dropped slightly into a piece of hardwood that I drilled with a forstner bit. Works way better than on the bench with a hammer. You can even reheat that 9 sheath and do it all over again, even with the rivets in, and see if you can get it to seat a little deeper. Anywho, so far so good...and the only way to learn is to try it and pay attention to what worked and what didn't, then see if you can fix what didn't.
 
A Justice said:
You may need better foam. Sheath making supply stores have a really high quality heavy foam - a lot of people use foam from sleeping pads and such, and it doesn't do a very good job. I spent some time looking for a great tutorial on it and couldn't find it - if I end up finding it I'll send you a link. A good press with good foam will make the Kydex form fitting, and it's hard to get bad results if you get your heat cycle right and transfer the material quickly.

Also, I haven't made knife sheaths, but .60 seems really heavy. I always like .50 for pistols, and I think you could even use .40 and get a good holster. The lightness is part of the draw - not so much in weight, but the thinness of the Kydex gives it a real good break, while maintaining good retention. I know people that say .60 is too heavy for guns.
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I've never made gun sheaths but IMO .060" is to thin for knife sheaths. When I first started working with kydex I bought a bunch of .060" and to be honest I hate the stuff since it feels flimsy and cheap. I like .080".



Mountainmist, those sheaths aren't bad at all for a first attempt. Keep going and you'll have it mastered soon...
 
The foam makes a huge difference. First I was using some foam from one of those neoprene foam stadium seats. It worked well. Then I used the foam they make for kydex, and it works better, and here's the best part, at lower temperatures.

Here is my first sheath:

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Here is my most recent sheath:

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The differences are tremendous IMO and the ease of making it was in large part due to the improvement in foam.
 
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firm foam is key. you also need enough heat.
0.63 is fine. I use both 0.63 and 0.95", or whatever the 3/32" equiv is.
 
I use the .093" stuff and I find it works well for almost everything. The bigger the knife, the thicker I would get the 'kydex' in, but really it comes down to personal preference. JV3 has an excellent thread on making kydex sheaths over on the ESEE forums in the DIY section. It is definitely worth reading as he covers it in depth and provides lots of pictures.
 
Thanks guys! I'm happy with the foam I have (for now) but I need to work on transferring the hot kydex from the oven to the foam quickly and not have, for lack of a better word, ripples in the kydex. I rivet flare would be nice too! (I'm just crushing the rivets with a hammer :o) I also need a tek-lok.

Thanks Derek! I'll go check that out!
 
mountainmist said:
Thanks guys! I'm happy with the foam I have (for now) but I need to work on transferring the hot kydex from the oven to the foam quickly and not have, for lack of a better word, ripples in the kydex. I rivet flare would be nice too! (I'm just crushing the rivets with a hammer :o) I also need a tek-lok.

Thanks Derek! I'll go check that out!
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How are you pressing your kydex? Show us your press.
 
Correct heat, foam, and a well made press are key to forming the sheath.

Keep at it and learn all you can.

Some of mine.

 
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That foam looks like it's not nearly dense enough to make a nice clean form. I'd check out knifemaker stores and grab some foam from them that they specifically sell for kydex forming.
 
That looks like open cell foam - it would be a good idea to get the foam made specifically for thermoforming, as mrn8 suggests. Also, that particle board bends like crazy, so I'd also either put a strongback on the foam or rebuild it using something stronger, like 3/4" plywood, double layered would be even better. A hinge helps, too, as it means you don't have to try and line up the press while you're trying to hold the sheath and the knife together. Trust me, I started out with something similar to what you have, MM, except when I ordered the kydex I got the foam, too, and I've still got a LOT to learn. Looks like you'll have it nailed after a dozen or so sheaths. Definitely get yourself an eyelet setter, even with one it's hard sometimes to get them in clean.
 
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