- Joined
- May 9, 2002
- Messages
- 12,685
It's that time of year again. We are getting the first hints of the fall weather which means that I'm going to be heading down to my step-dad's cabin clean up some of the summer growth and hike around on the trails. My daughter is getting big enough now that she really likes to take short nature walks and learn about the bugs and trees and hunt for animal tracks.
In years past I usually made due with a smaller belt knife like my Himalayan Imports Survival Knife or my beautiful Fiddleback Woodsman, but I have been hankering to carry my beloved Farm Knife for the longest of time. It's just too cool of a lopper to leave at home.
For those of you that have never handled one, a Farm Knife is sort of like a combination of a meat cleaver and a straight razor. It's a big honking bruiser of a 15-16" 32oz blade, but it has a top down profile that dives like a V from the spine to the edge making it incredibly sharp but somewhat fragile. Basically, when you cut with it, you either slice or you let the weight of the knife do the work. Don't bury it into a log and yank it sideways. It's a blade that requires more than a novice technique. Actually, that's one of the reasons I like it so much. It flat out works
However, over the last several years I just haven't had a very good way to carry it. I'm not a big fan of chunky scabbards. I tried it in a shoulder rig, but there wasn't a good way to displace the weight so that it wasn't giving me a Vulcan nerve pinch. Even a nice sheath still pulled at my stiffest of 2" wide belts. It usually just got left at home.
Then inspiration hit me last night. What if I used the same principle that tuckable IWB hybrid holster use and use a combination of leather and kydex to make a sheath system that would be secure enough to hike around with, compact enough to conceal the monster blade under my shirt/jacket, ride high and tight enough to enable me to comfortably sit down.
I took a quick and dirty sheath (actually more like a storage slip) I had cobbled together for the FK years ago and mated it to a piece of leather I riveted to a sheet of Kydex that I had molded to the rough contour of my side. I attached a couple of scrap pieces of leather to make belt loops. The kydex and leather rides about 2" in my waistband. The belt loops ride right on my jeans. Basically, it's a rig that rides high and tight and won't flop around much. The pressure of the heavy blade pressing back on the kydex in my waistband kind of pinches it in place. It's actually pretty secure. I wouldn't jump out of a plane with it, but for hiking around it's stable but still draws extra fast.
Here's a covered shot.
Here's a shot of it on my belt.
Please keep in mind that this is a total prototype. It's made of a bunch of scrap I had laying around to test as a proof of concept. I think i'm going to make a more modular rig for some of my other longer blades. It would be kind of like an Ar upper and lower where any number of knives could have sheathes made for them that would attach to the bracing pad.
Kinda fun project for a lazy sunday afternoon at work
In years past I usually made due with a smaller belt knife like my Himalayan Imports Survival Knife or my beautiful Fiddleback Woodsman, but I have been hankering to carry my beloved Farm Knife for the longest of time. It's just too cool of a lopper to leave at home.
For those of you that have never handled one, a Farm Knife is sort of like a combination of a meat cleaver and a straight razor. It's a big honking bruiser of a 15-16" 32oz blade, but it has a top down profile that dives like a V from the spine to the edge making it incredibly sharp but somewhat fragile. Basically, when you cut with it, you either slice or you let the weight of the knife do the work. Don't bury it into a log and yank it sideways. It's a blade that requires more than a novice technique. Actually, that's one of the reasons I like it so much. It flat out works
However, over the last several years I just haven't had a very good way to carry it. I'm not a big fan of chunky scabbards. I tried it in a shoulder rig, but there wasn't a good way to displace the weight so that it wasn't giving me a Vulcan nerve pinch. Even a nice sheath still pulled at my stiffest of 2" wide belts. It usually just got left at home.
Then inspiration hit me last night. What if I used the same principle that tuckable IWB hybrid holster use and use a combination of leather and kydex to make a sheath system that would be secure enough to hike around with, compact enough to conceal the monster blade under my shirt/jacket, ride high and tight enough to enable me to comfortably sit down.
I took a quick and dirty sheath (actually more like a storage slip) I had cobbled together for the FK years ago and mated it to a piece of leather I riveted to a sheet of Kydex that I had molded to the rough contour of my side. I attached a couple of scrap pieces of leather to make belt loops. The kydex and leather rides about 2" in my waistband. The belt loops ride right on my jeans. Basically, it's a rig that rides high and tight and won't flop around much. The pressure of the heavy blade pressing back on the kydex in my waistband kind of pinches it in place. It's actually pretty secure. I wouldn't jump out of a plane with it, but for hiking around it's stable but still draws extra fast.
Here's a covered shot.
Here's a shot of it on my belt.
Please keep in mind that this is a total prototype. It's made of a bunch of scrap I had laying around to test as a proof of concept. I think i'm going to make a more modular rig for some of my other longer blades. It would be kind of like an Ar upper and lower where any number of knives could have sheathes made for them that would attach to the bracing pad.
Kinda fun project for a lazy sunday afternoon at work
