- Joined
- Aug 15, 2005
- Messages
- 1,297
Greetings everyone,
Here are a couple of sheaths that I just finished up for a knife I made. One of the sheaths is a leather pouch sheath. The other is made from Kydex. I came up with a new belt clip design for the Kydex sheath (new to me anyway) that I thought might interest you guys.
I prefer the look of the fold-over Kydex sheaths over the two piece versions. However, I was never happy with the belt mounting options. Since there is only room for holes/rivets along one side, most people seem to just attach a clip to that side and allow the other side to float free. That always seemed like a weak point to me. You could leave a tongue on the backside of a fold-over sheath, but that forces you to have the clip right at the top of the sheath, which may or may not be a problem, and the tongue also gets distorted by the knifes handle when you squish the whole thing in a press. Anyway, here is what I came up with to add the kind of clip I wanted.
On my first attempt, I folded some thin cardboard (a piece of a Manila folder) around the sheath to figure out the angles. Then, trying to conserve my sheet of Kydex (a mistake), I made a two-piece wrap around clip. I first fitted a Kydex band around the already molded sheath, transferred the hole locations from the top two holes on the sheath, then attached a belt clip to the band using brass grommets. I got the kind of clip I wanted, but I wasnt comfortable with sending the knife off with just two grommets holding the whole thing together.
I decided that trying to save a few extra bits of Kydex was being a penny wise and a pound foolish. The knife took a lot more effort and is more valuable than the Kydex sheath. Therefore, I remade the band and belt clip as a one-piece unit. That ended up being pretty easy. Since everything was Kydex, I just reheated the first band and clip and let them return to being flat. Then I traced the unit and holes onto a single (and thicker) piece of Kydex.
I heated the Kydex in a toaster oven and molded/pressed the new band/clip around the pink Kydex sheath, with the knife in place. Then I used a heat gun to mold the clip around a two inch wide piece of steel. Once I had the new clip all molded, I slipped it off to round the edges and sand them. Then I reinstalled the clip. I think the new design worked out well and it seems quite strong. As an extra precaution, I used purple thread locker on the top two screws.
In case anyone is wondering, this is what the knife looks like. Yes, I know the handle is pink, but I made it as a present for a woman (whose name I wont reveal in case she sees this post).
Here are a couple of sheaths that I just finished up for a knife I made. One of the sheaths is a leather pouch sheath. The other is made from Kydex. I came up with a new belt clip design for the Kydex sheath (new to me anyway) that I thought might interest you guys.
I prefer the look of the fold-over Kydex sheaths over the two piece versions. However, I was never happy with the belt mounting options. Since there is only room for holes/rivets along one side, most people seem to just attach a clip to that side and allow the other side to float free. That always seemed like a weak point to me. You could leave a tongue on the backside of a fold-over sheath, but that forces you to have the clip right at the top of the sheath, which may or may not be a problem, and the tongue also gets distorted by the knifes handle when you squish the whole thing in a press. Anyway, here is what I came up with to add the kind of clip I wanted.
On my first attempt, I folded some thin cardboard (a piece of a Manila folder) around the sheath to figure out the angles. Then, trying to conserve my sheet of Kydex (a mistake), I made a two-piece wrap around clip. I first fitted a Kydex band around the already molded sheath, transferred the hole locations from the top two holes on the sheath, then attached a belt clip to the band using brass grommets. I got the kind of clip I wanted, but I wasnt comfortable with sending the knife off with just two grommets holding the whole thing together.
I decided that trying to save a few extra bits of Kydex was being a penny wise and a pound foolish. The knife took a lot more effort and is more valuable than the Kydex sheath. Therefore, I remade the band and belt clip as a one-piece unit. That ended up being pretty easy. Since everything was Kydex, I just reheated the first band and clip and let them return to being flat. Then I traced the unit and holes onto a single (and thicker) piece of Kydex.
I heated the Kydex in a toaster oven and molded/pressed the new band/clip around the pink Kydex sheath, with the knife in place. Then I used a heat gun to mold the clip around a two inch wide piece of steel. Once I had the new clip all molded, I slipped it off to round the edges and sand them. Then I reinstalled the clip. I think the new design worked out well and it seems quite strong. As an extra precaution, I used purple thread locker on the top two screws.
In case anyone is wondering, this is what the knife looks like. Yes, I know the handle is pink, but I made it as a present for a woman (whose name I wont reveal in case she sees this post).
