Kydex Questions

[J. Rosa]

Hey guys. I'm getting a kydex layout for Christmas. Well basically, a heat gun some eyelets, large plywood, foam, etc. Anyway, I had some questions. I wil be making a sheath for some knives and a sword. I am wondering what thickness of kydex you experienced kydex benders would use for a sword with a 20.5" blade. Does the thickness matter much? Also, has anyone used chicago screws to fasten the kydex in place of eyelets? Is that doable? Any info or help would be appreciated.

 

[hoopster]

I would say .080 or bigger would be fine, it's really strong stuff. You can use the chicago screws instead of rivets and they have the advantage of removing to clean out the sheath, no rivet dies or press needed. The down side is they're more expensive than rivets and you can't run cord through them.

 

[J. Rosa]

Thanks Hoopster. I was thinking of just cutting some slots in on the sides and buffing them clean to run cord through them. How hard is it to flare the eyelets with a drill press or by hand?