I wanna try some Kydex but...

[Stratmeister]

... I could use some hints, tricks of the trade, gotchas, etc. I have foam on two pieces of plywood and clamps to use as my press, some thin Kydex, some eyelets, a drill press, and handtools.

So I know I wanna heat the kydex in the oven until floppy, fold it over my knife, and put in the press until hardened and cool. Then trim to shape, drill holes for the eyelets, maybe file/sand the edges until smooth, and initially use some paracord to form the attachment, eventually moving to tec-loks probably.

But along the way, what types of problems/issues might I encounter as a beginner? Overheating could be an issue I'm sure. What else should I look out for or be aware of? Placement of eyelets? Cutting too small after forming?

And what are any shortcuts, or tricks to make a nice pro looking sheath as I progress?

I searched around and found a few demos, seems almost too easy to do. I'm sure it's not... are there more advanced articles I can read that you can point me to? Tutorials that are especially good? I've seem some sheaths with fancy clips, thumb openers/spreaders, extra holes for some unknown reason, just different things that I don't really get at this point.

Thanks for any help or advise. I know I just have to try things to get started, but I'm also sure there is a lot of experience here that might help me on my way.
Strat

 

[Sithus1966]

I have made a few neck sheaths for folders and found out the hard way when making a fold over sheath, the stuff is slippery! If you don't get the knife in there just right you will have to start over again. The knife can move around and slide to one side. It might take a little trial and error but Kydex can be forgiving so if you mess up you can warm it up and start over. Also a toaster oven works great for heating the stuff up, pick up a cheapy at Goodwill or Salvation Army store.

 

[Phatz]

One of the mistakes that I made on the first few was related to understanding what's needed to wind up with a good lockup on the knife, while keeping it easy to re-sheath.
I kept cutting away too much of the area around the handle.
You need to consider how the knife spreads the kydex as it's inserted. The knife needs to insert between the two sides easily, and only after it's in 3/16 or so, begin to bind and spread the kydex. In other words, you don't want the handle to butt up against a flat edge and have to muscle past it in order to begin spreading the two pieces.I hope this makes sense to you.

Another thing that I learned the hard way....after forming, it's best to leave the kydex alone for 24 hours before installing the eyelets.There's been times when the kydex tightened up after a day if I installed the eyelets right after forming it.Then I had to use a heatgun to loosen it, and lost some definition as a result.

Good luck. I really enjoy making multiple sheathes for my fixed blades. It was well worth learning the process.