Well, I decided to make my own sheath rather then buy one. It was fun and easy to do and it saved me some money. After reading the thread about making sheaths out of pvc I went ahead and gave it a shot.
I cut a pvc pipe 3/4" longer than the blade. I melted it down evenly with a blow torch. (cover your nose and mouth so you don't breath in the toxic fumes) Once it was ready to go, I pressed the pvc down a bit using two pieces of heavy duty tile. (the pvc was sandwiched in between the two pieces) until it formed an oval; then I slid the blade in.
With the blade now properly sitting in the pipe, I pressed down all the way and flattened the pipe. Standing on the top of the tile, I waited a couple minutes for it to cool a bit. Make sure the handle is off the edge of whatever you use to flatten the pipe with.
Then I heated up the end of the pipe and melted the two walls together by standing on the tile, sandwiching the pipe. I waited for that to cool down.
I had a nylon sheath from my fishing pliers lying around so I decided to attach that to the pipe. I visualized the height at which I wanted the handle of the FFBM to be at and then went ahead and drilled four holes into each side of the pipe. I used paracord to thread the nylon sheath onto the pipe. I had to heat up the ends of the paracord to stiffen it up and ease the process of threading. I also used a nail to help open up the holes in the nylon sheath. I tied a knot at each end of the paracord and melted the paracord to itself to prevent the knots from coming undone.
I put epoxy in the sheath, over the thread, so the blade won't cut it on insertion. You will see what I'm talking about in the last pic. So far its working out good.
At the bottom of the pipe I drilled two holes for a leg strap.
In the end, the sheath exceeded my expectations. The sheath feels very secure and comfortable. The knife fits like a glove, although it took me two tries to get this. The first attempt at melting the pipe was not successful because I did not heat up the entire pipe evenly.
Here are some pics, let me know what you guys think!!
I cut a pvc pipe 3/4" longer than the blade. I melted it down evenly with a blow torch. (cover your nose and mouth so you don't breath in the toxic fumes) Once it was ready to go, I pressed the pvc down a bit using two pieces of heavy duty tile. (the pvc was sandwiched in between the two pieces) until it formed an oval; then I slid the blade in.
With the blade now properly sitting in the pipe, I pressed down all the way and flattened the pipe. Standing on the top of the tile, I waited a couple minutes for it to cool a bit. Make sure the handle is off the edge of whatever you use to flatten the pipe with.
Then I heated up the end of the pipe and melted the two walls together by standing on the tile, sandwiching the pipe. I waited for that to cool down.
I had a nylon sheath from my fishing pliers lying around so I decided to attach that to the pipe. I visualized the height at which I wanted the handle of the FFBM to be at and then went ahead and drilled four holes into each side of the pipe. I used paracord to thread the nylon sheath onto the pipe. I had to heat up the ends of the paracord to stiffen it up and ease the process of threading. I also used a nail to help open up the holes in the nylon sheath. I tied a knot at each end of the paracord and melted the paracord to itself to prevent the knots from coming undone.
I put epoxy in the sheath, over the thread, so the blade won't cut it on insertion. You will see what I'm talking about in the last pic. So far its working out good.
At the bottom of the pipe I drilled two holes for a leg strap.
In the end, the sheath exceeded my expectations. The sheath feels very secure and comfortable. The knife fits like a glove, although it took me two tries to get this. The first attempt at melting the pipe was not successful because I did not heat up the entire pipe evenly.
Here are some pics, let me know what you guys think!!
