Impacts to Kydex when cold

Information provided by the manufacturer indicates Kydex is significantly less impact resistant at extreme low temperatures:

http://www.kydex.com/Technical/FAQ.asp#Question11

(Sorry if this duplicates information in Cliff's review, which I can't access at present.)

I believe this is pretty typical for most plastics. So I guess the only question I have is why anyone would assume otherwise?

Dave
 
The General said:
Perhaps a Kydex/kevlar laminate would help?
Click to expand...

The Kydex/Kevlar IS tough as nails. I love this one that Andrew made for me quite some time ago. It is great and survives the cold in Maine winters well, so far.
 
Thanks for this one Cliff! I have often wondered about kydex versus the cold.

Years ago a friend took a combat knife that I made him to arctic survival training with him and I asked him to flex the kydex because I was worried about this. It held up fine.

Again...great info!
 
Just don't leave Kydex sheaths in your car on a hot summer day. :( It gets hot enough to make them go soft and lose their memory.
 
ArchAngel said:
The Kydex/Kevlar IS tough as nails. I love this one that Andrew made for me quite some time ago. It is great and survives the cold in Maine winters well, so far.
Click to expand...

Thanks bud! I've only made a few kyvex sheaths and that one holds a special place in my heart! That combined with the knife was hard to send back ;)

BTW, due to time and facility problems (going to college) I'm nearly stopping kydex work for the time being.
 
The main physics server went down for an upgrade this weekend, it seems to be back up now.

Thanks for the link Dave, I'll update the review with this information shortly.

As for why anyone would think otherwise, it is mainly because of the hype about said material, some makers like Andrew and Carl (and lots of others) realize it has its limitations, some of them don't.

-Cliff
 
It's easy to second guess someone who is doing tests while I sit home sipping beer, but...
The impact speed of a weight dropped from 5 feet may not be representative. You might do better with a heavier weight dropped a shorter distance. It would have been nice to try the test first on sheaths at room temp to see how much difference the chilling caused.
 
At room temperature it should be far tougher, I may do some testing later on just getting some pieces of Kydex, or some really simply "sheaths" as in a simple box folding, and then hit them with progressive heavier weights and examine the difference between room temperature and the freezer, it would be informative to put normal fridge conditions in there as a mid point reference.

Regarding the impacts, I used 5 lbs at 5 feet to put the impact in perspective because it seemed to be an easy frame of reference for most people in terms of weight and height, most people have some idea of what 5 lbs "feels" like in hand. For this actual test a 25 lbs weight was used from one foot. I thought I had that in the review, just fixed it.

At some point of course it stops being an impact and just starts being a slow load. Both are issues of interest though, really heavy hits from short distances and small ones from a height. Both should be looked at in detail for completeness. Something else to think about.

-Cliff
 
I've had one kydex sheath fail on me. Back in 94, it was one I got from the cutlery shoppe - wish they still offered them. We were assigned an air insertion on AP Hill- in july. We came in on a UH1 and did 3 false landings. Time in air was around 90min. When we hit the ORP; I dropped my ruck and was suprised to see my Kabar still in the sheath next to it. My best guess is that the sheath broke due to the constant pressure and flex from its contact to the jump seat in the bird. I would suggest testing the # of flexes at a given teperature vs the amount of impact at the same.
Oh the Cutlery Shoppe did square me away with a new sheath at a discount. Good folks.
 
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