Just got a becker necker and the little sheath is ridiculously tight. If I put it all the way in, I have to really strain to get it out. It's even difficult to get it half way in. Can I put this thing in the oven to warm it up and hopefully loosen it by resetting it?
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Loosen up a kydex sheath?
- Thread starter nenofury
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- Feb 4, 1999
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That would be a disaster!!! Without a pic of the knife in the sheath it's tough to diagnose and cure the problem, but if it's really tough to pull out of the sheath it's probably only too tight at the lip of the sheath. You can use a hairdryer to heat the lip area up, slowly, and then draw the knife in and out, let it cool completely and see if that helped. It takes kind of a fine touch to loosen a plastic sheath without overdoing it, but if you work slowly you can do it without too much of a risk of ruining the sheath.... Okay, I just grabbed a pic off the Internet but I don't want to draw on it and post it without permission from the site, so email me if you want and I'll tell you exactly what you need to do to fix it. Basically, heat the area that grabs the knife behind the choil a little becuse that's what's hanging it up. If the plastic pinches too tight at the front of the index finger notch in the blade it'll make it tough to draw and replace the knife, but heat it slowly and work the knife in and out. It doesn't take much to overdo it, then you have to pinch it a litte to tighten it, etc.
Thanks Chiro. It's actually tight the whole way. The lip being the tightest. For example, I could probably walk around with it only half way in and the knife wouldn't fall out. I have a heat gun, would that be better than the hair dryer?
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- Feb 4, 1999
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It's tough on a knife like that to make the sheath too tight the whole way. This is hard to describe, but I'll do my best... Probably what they did is on the lower lip of the sheath, right behind the choil/right at the front of the index finger notch, the material likely folds a little past the choil... in other words it wraps around that portion of the knife. That will create a spring tension on the knife until the knife clears that area. It's impossible to explain, but I'm confident that if you loosen the lip a touch it'll change the way the sheath works totally. You can use a heat gun, but go very carefully and slowly. I use a hobby heat gun from a scrapbooking store on my sheaths and it can quickly overheat.
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Holy Sh*t!! I was just gonna ask the same question about my Becker Necker! I have that same problem as well! You can beak a vertibre pullin that sucker out!
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nenofury said:
Try this. Pour some boiling water in a coffee cup and place your sheath, (with knife inserted) in the water. let it sit for 15 or 20 seconds and try and loosen up the sheath by removing and inserting the knife. If that doesn't help soak the sheath longer and try again. The problem with hair dryers and lighters is you don't know how hot you are getting the plastic and the potential for dammage is much greater.
Using the thickness of kydex Becker uses you need about 325 degrees F. to mold the sheath. You know water boils at 212 so you are never in danger of heating the sheath to the point where you could ruin the sheath by heating it too much and completely unmolding the shape.
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Hey Guys....
My suggestion would be to use a hairdryer such as Chiro suggested...
To get a little more heat out of the HD, cup your hand over the intake,,This will super heat the air to a more workable level..
Don't hold it there or you'll blow the thermal fuse inside...If it does blow,, just let it sit,, when it cools,, it will kick back in..
My suggestion would be to also work the mouth of the sheath, and worry about the main body later...
But first,, before you do all that,, go get yourself some SNAP silicone spray,, and give it a little shot inside..Swirl it around so it gets all over the inside..
Try this first.. If it's still too tight,, then work the mouth with heat...
Not to offend anyone,, but please stay away from hot water and lighters..Lighters will make shiny spots,, and hot water will heat too much of an area.....
You need controled, precise heat,, or you'll FUBAR the entire thing...
If you guys want something more custom,, dop me a note,, I can make you new multi carry rigs for it..
ttyle
Eric....
My suggestion would be to use a hairdryer such as Chiro suggested...
To get a little more heat out of the HD, cup your hand over the intake,,This will super heat the air to a more workable level..
Don't hold it there or you'll blow the thermal fuse inside...If it does blow,, just let it sit,, when it cools,, it will kick back in..
My suggestion would be to also work the mouth of the sheath, and worry about the main body later...
But first,, before you do all that,, go get yourself some SNAP silicone spray,, and give it a little shot inside..Swirl it around so it gets all over the inside..
Try this first.. If it's still too tight,, then work the mouth with heat...
Not to offend anyone,, but please stay away from hot water and lighters..Lighters will make shiny spots,, and hot water will heat too much of an area.....
You need controled, precise heat,, or you'll FUBAR the entire thing...
If you guys want something more custom,, dop me a note,, I can make you new multi carry rigs for it..
ttyle
Eric....