- Joined
- Feb 4, 2015
- Messages
- 122
I made this for my daughter for Christmas (at her request from a picture she furnished) and I thought it might be of interest to someone. She wanted a handle down sheath, but I was very concerned with positive retention in the interest of safety.
There are 4 neodymium magnets embedded in the sheath - unfortunately, you can clearly see where they are. I could have concealed them better by using thinner magnets, but that wasn't strong enough to satisfy my concerns so this is how it came out. The retention is absolutely positive but without making it hard to draw the knife.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1b8M278EaMmg7RtAtCQQN1zyPqFFwTM7_/view?usp=drivesdk
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Q9jsQL_4Ma4562ZU8nASEJuSC66c0eM5/view?usp=drivesdk
As usual, there are a couple of things I would do differently if I did it again. I used a modified Forstner bit to drill a flat-bottomed hole in the sheath for the magnets - leaving a thin layer of leather between the magnets and the blade. I am a little bit worried that the thin leather will wear through prematurely. I would probably make a liner out of thin kydex next time and bore all the way through the leather sheath - or bore almost through from the inside. BTW I skived (thinned) the leather cover strap with a sharp block plane - worked great.
Anyway, it really does work quite well and maybe someone will improve on the idea.
The knife is 1084 with ironwood - heat treated by Peters.
There are 4 neodymium magnets embedded in the sheath - unfortunately, you can clearly see where they are. I could have concealed them better by using thinner magnets, but that wasn't strong enough to satisfy my concerns so this is how it came out. The retention is absolutely positive but without making it hard to draw the knife.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1b8M278EaMmg7RtAtCQQN1zyPqFFwTM7_/view?usp=drivesdk
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Q9jsQL_4Ma4562ZU8nASEJuSC66c0eM5/view?usp=drivesdk
As usual, there are a couple of things I would do differently if I did it again. I used a modified Forstner bit to drill a flat-bottomed hole in the sheath for the magnets - leaving a thin layer of leather between the magnets and the blade. I am a little bit worried that the thin leather will wear through prematurely. I would probably make a liner out of thin kydex next time and bore all the way through the leather sheath - or bore almost through from the inside. BTW I skived (thinned) the leather cover strap with a sharp block plane - worked great.
Anyway, it really does work quite well and maybe someone will improve on the idea.
The knife is 1084 with ironwood - heat treated by Peters.
