kydex for large knives

[damon lusky]

Hey Guys im working on a large knife. The blade is 15" and I need to make a kydex sheath. To make it even tougher the blade has some recurve as well. Heres a picture. Anyone have any tips or tricks they feel like sharing? My plan was to heat the kydex all at same time on griddle top and cut up my old press foam to make it long enough to fit the 15" blade in one press. Does it matter is theres a seem in the foam? not sure if it will show in the kydex.

 

[Storm Crow]

Good looking big blade! What alloy?

You might want to get some foam anti-fatigue floor mats from Harbor Freight to use for this project. It's stiffer than regular Kydex foam and gets crushed more, but it's $10 for four pieces that are 25 inches square. Plenty for this project and a number of others. That way you don't have any seams to worry with. Just make sure that the side with the diamond plate texture is *away* from the Kydex.

 

[damon lusky]

Its 5160. Tempered at 450. The color is from ferric chloride. After i finish the sheath ill give it a final ferric bath and wax with a beeswax cocktail. Its one of those project that turned out even better than id hoped. Thanks

 

[JGarrison Knives]

A seam in the foam might show in the kydex, try something small first to see if it does if you're really concerned about it. For larger kydex pieces I use my oven.