First Kydex Attempt

sketchbag

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Oct 1, 2007
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Well here she is, there are some deficiencies, but all in all its a pretty decent sheath, and the retention is excellent.





Learned a lot on the first run, hopefully the next ones will be better.
 
Looks great. I just made my first leather sheath. It's a great feeling looking at a your own finished creation.
 
That is really, really good! Did you get it as a kit from Knife Kits or somewhere? How hard was it?
 
Not bad! Good job!
 
Didnt get the kit, just shopped around for everything I needed.

It wasnt THAT hard, took about 4-5 attempts where I had to reheat the plastic and start over, and on the final one (what you see here) I forgot to put on gloves before I took it out of the oven, so it was like playing hot potato when I slapped it together (hence the blade being at a slight angle).

Having a proper press would have worked better than 2 cutting boards and my ass.
 
Sketch,

Looks great, I was looking at a kydex tutorial recently. It's something I'd like to try sometime... I tried leather work and decided that I wasn't very good at it.
 
.

Having a proper press would have worked better than 2 cutting boards and my ass.

I don't know about that. I made a press with a bench screw and it takes to long to tighten up. The best system I have found so far is to stack 2 80 Lbs dumbbells on it, or put the boards on the floor and step on it.
 
hopefully the next ones will be better.

That one looks pretty damn good to me. My one and only attempt at kydex was to try to improve the retention on the waaay loose sheaths that came with the original talonite talons and even starting with a ready made sheath yours looks much better than mine. Nice job!
 
With all due modesty, I've gota say the retention on this sheath is perfect.

It's tight enough that i can hold the tip of the sheath and snap it around trying to fling the knife out, and it doesnt budge. My girlfriend was struggling trying to get the knife out, so it's semi woman resistant, but its not so tight that it gives me a wedgie removing it when its on my belt.
 
Great job! If I can't find a kidex sheat for the F1 I intend to purchase soon... I will probably give it a try and buy all the stuff to do it myself. That is not going to be easy either because here in Spain Kidex is not so popular.
Mikel
 
BAM!!! Just finished my second sheath, it's for my Fallkniven F1.
The firesteel loop holds it super tight, aint never gonna fall out! Also, you cant really tell, but the end of the firesteel loop is flared so you can still get it in easily.
Mounted the belt clip at an angle this time, last sheath rode way to high and was awkward to get at the knife, I plan on wearing this on my left side, tilted forward so I can draw/replace with my right hand easily.

It could be sanded down a little more, but it's pretty compact as it is.





What do you think?
 
beautiful F1 sheath. you inspired me to look into making my own kydex sheath for my KA-BAR USMC with the black handle. i saw yours in the picture with the F1. do you think youll ever make one for the KA-BAR? if so tell me and post some pictures!
 
What howto's did you read? Where did you get your supplies?

How much have you spent so far? I'm interested in doing this as well at some point.

L
 
Excellent work! I've looked around too at the knife supply places and priced out everything I's need, but I've procastinated so far, focusing instead on leather.
 
"Having a proper press would have worked better than 2 cutting boards and my ass."

LOL !!!

You did a better job than the factory that made the original. Good job.
 
Nice sheath
My Rule of Thumb is that if the knife falls out when it upside down and I can shack it then it not good enough.

Bruce Zawalsky
Chief Instructor
Boreal Wilderness Institute
boreal.net
 
Excellent work! It's always great when something you make turns out so nice.:thumbup::thumbup:

TWBryan
 
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