Heads up on kydex eyelets

TLR

TLR

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Oct 5, 1998
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Update- I just spoke with someone from USAKnifemaker and they are taking care of me as expected. I very much appreciated their willingness to call me back on a Saturday. I am sending them back the rivets I have and they are going to check their current stock as well. Great customer service from them. Still disappointing but I realize these things can happen in manufacturing. I would encourage you to check any recent orders.

Original post-
I know in the past there have been issues with bad batches of kydex eyelets. In June I placed an order for black s-61 eyelets from USAKnifemaker. I've tried some out of 5 different bags of a hundred and every single one has split multiple times no matter what I do. The longer ones and a nickel eyelet from an old order worked fine so it isn't an issue with my press or technique. I called and left a message with the company. We'll see how it plays out.

Not trying to bash USAKnifemaker, I'm sure they will take care of me. More just wanted to let anyone know to check recent orders so it doesn't put you in a bad position.
 
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I had problems from knifekits with a order. All colors I ordered besides black would split and paint would come off. I fixed the paint problem by putting a thin cloth sheet on the bottom die but splitting was still a problem if I did not baby it. So I don't use them any more for that. But I do use them as set up eyelets to hold the 2 halves aligned while grinding and shaping the profile.
 
Updated original post - I just spoke with someone from USAKnifemaker and they are taking care of me as expected. I very much appreciated their willingness to call me back on a Saturday. I am sending them back the rivets I have and they are going to check their current stock as well. Great customer service from them. Still disappointing but I realize these things can happen in manufacturing. I would encourage you to check any recent orders.
 
I have the same problem they split like 50% or more . Problem with me I mixed them in with the others I had left so I'm stuck with them.
Never had any problem before.
 
I'm a pretty big USAKnifemaker fan, and it's not surprising they're taking care of you. I've had nothing but excellent experiences with them over the past few years.

I've always gotten my eyelets (and kydex) from Index Fasteners and never had any problems at all.


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Man, I wish I had read this earlier! I've had the same problem. At least a 50% split rate even with their eyelet tool. Can get a bit irritating. Gonna contact them immediately. Thanks for posting about this issue.
 
Are you guys all pressing them or are any of you hammering them?
It's odd, but I can press the ones from knife kits and they won't split, but the ones I bought from us a knife maker I have to hammer.
I still get an occasional split, but not as much.
Plus I oil the eyelets and the dies.
 
I have tried them from USA knifemaker, Index Fastners, Knife Kits and Knife kits are a lot better all the way around, they do not split and the finish is much tougher.

All vendors got some bad eyelets awhile ago and it was terrible. Even when everyone has their best for sale, Knife kits for me have been the best by a mile.
 
Josh- I'm using a hand press.

Avgil- I had some issues with the knife kits eyelets splitting and so went with usaknifemakers which were fantastic the last batch I got.

I ordered red new ones from index fasteners. Hopefully they will work better. At the least they are using a different supplier. Kinda feels like Russian roulette.
 
TLR said:
Josh- I'm using a hand press.

Avgil- I had some issues with the knife kits eyelets splitting and so went with usaknifemakers which were fantastic the last batch I got.

I ordered red new ones from index fasteners. Hopefully they will work better. At the least they are using a different supplier. Kinda feels like Russian roulette.
Click to expand...

It is like russian roulette at times. It seems some bad material got into the supply for many awhile ago.

I know knifekits got it corrected, When I ran of of eyelets from Knifekits I bought some locally, I know they came from Index Fasteners which is local as well. While the eyelets are fine, I do notice after setting them the bluing is not as tough and wears off easier then the knifekits eyelets.
 
I do my eyelets by hand (on a mini anvil with a hammer/die) and the USAKM ones are the only ones I have found that work well for this task.
 
I use a press for mine. The ones that don't split can be installed with any amount of force or speed. The rivets that split, do so with any pressure or speed. Gonna try some from knifekits.
 
I press mine to . And it can be a pain when you have to drill them out. Like one being drill out 3or 4 times straight to get one not to split.
But there's bigger problems in life than that .Next order with get new one and just toss the old ones .
 
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