Long ABS sheath for a machete PROBLEM

P

Pindvin

Joined
Dec 11, 2008
Messages
199
Hi
I own a 28" blade machete and i want to make a ABS sheath for it.
The biggest problem is heating thw 28 strip of ABS and folding it perfectly straight. What do u suggest to heat this kind of long piece and form it?
thanks
 
You are gonna need to use the oven for sure. ABS I am not familiar with. Kydex I am. I heath my kydex up to around 300˚F - 310˚F and you will need a large foam press to form it. I have not made a sheath that long before. I only have a press made to fit no larger then 9" blades.
Jose
 
Oh man. That is the only way I would know how to heath that large of a piece up.
You could use a heath gun but keeping the whole complete 28" of it hot and the same temp through out would be the challenge.
Jose
 
Yes i have already tried to heat it with a hot air rework stacion i folded the whole thing 3" after 3" after i folded the whole sheath, but the result was not satisfying as the folding line was quite wavy.
 
Your best bet is to buy some neoprene foam from knifekits.com and make a press. Make a wood box or get a box and heat the box up like a make shift oven and use the heat gun to warm it up.
Jose
 
I don't work with pieces quite that large, so this may not be applicable and this is with Kydex. When I have a piece too big for my full size oven, I just turn the top element on low and keep rotating the pieces. The ends cool a bit, but it's worked for 24" pieces or so. Make sure you've got a piece of sheet steel or something in there though. Don't put it on the rack.

You could make a simple solar oven. I'm guessing that would get it hot enough.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top