Kydex as a handle liner??

[cgebhard]

Hi,

I'm in the process of making my first knife. It will be a full tang drop point with purple hart wood slabs and brass pins. I also have some black Kydex to make a sheath from. I thought the leftover Kydex might make a nice contrast to the purple hart, if used as a handle liner.

Anyone try this with Kydex? Any reason why it would be a bad idea?

Thanks

 

[DAMNENG]

When I put grips on my knives I use 30min Epoxy and at least two pins. When I use liners they have always been of liner material so I'm know sure about Kydex. If I may be so bold, I suggest you cut yourself a couple slabs of hardwood about an inch wide, a half inch thick and a foot long. cut a piece of Kydex about 4 inches long and glue the two pieces of wood together with the 4" Kydex strip between them (i.e. you have 8 inches of wood, 4 inches of wood Kydex sandwitch and 8 more inches of wook. After the adheasive cures stick one end in a vice and see how well the glue joint holds. If you can break the glue joint with one hand, I would suggest using a different material. If you hand sand the surface of the Kydex with 100 grit or such paper it will give you a lot more surface area to bond to. Before you glue, clean all surfaces with denatured alcohol or a solvent that won't disolve Kydex.

Jim Arbuckle
Maker

 

[Daniel Koster]

imho, the biggest problem would be if you happened to leave the knife on the dash of your car on a hot day...the kydex would likely deform, or at least compromise the stability of your handle.

That said, why not try it on a cheap-o test knife and see what happens?

 

[tmickley]

I tried gluing kydex with a lot of different kinds of adhesive, nothing sticks very well. there is some pvc pipe glue that supposedly works but I could never find it.