Murphys law and the F up fairy attack, I now hate kydex

[Matt Shade]

I tried my first kydex sheath today. I ended up with a hunk of plastic resembling a sheath, that I can put a knife into and shake it upside down without the knife falling out of. I also almost ruined a brand new heat gun, almost ruined a knife I almost had finished, and all I got out of it was something nobody would admit to having made. Although my mom said it wasn't bad, maybe I'll hang it on the refrigerator.

In order to start things off right, I drew my pattern on the wrong side of the kydex and cut it out, so I had to make the sheath with the textured side on the inside. I should have quit then, but I figured that was minor.
So I started trying to mold it, only to find out that I had done a bad job estimating size. Yes I'm cheap, and made it too small in an effort to have less waste. Still didn't quit. It was close enough that I thought I could make it work if I messed with it long enough. Messed around and messed around, got it decent. Then I tried putting in a few rivets to hold the end that was good, top one tore out when I heated it up again to loosen it around the gaurd. Finally folded the belt loop over and gave up. Heat gun fell off of the workbench and smashed the tip in. Then I got to looking at the knife. A 7.5" OAL drop point I was almost done with. Rosewood scales, ATS 34. All it needed was some tung oil for the handle and to sharpen it. It was definitely my best knife so far. Only I got it too hot working the sheath and the epoxy let loose at the front of the scales, and they shrank up away from the tang a little. I tried pushing epoxy down into the gap with an exacto knife and re clamping them. I don't know how it will turn out.
My next try will be with a gerber multi tool. I guess it would have been smart to do that in the first place.

So what do I need to do to get this F up fairy off my back ? Silver bullets? Maybe some cloves of garlic and a stake ? Hopefully I kept it busy enough you guys got some work done today. Anyone care to volunteer for that job tommorrow?

 

[tmickley]

Did I mention the first one would look like hell?
Gads. Sounds like you didn't have any fun with that one. Try another, it'll get easier. Don't let all those lessons go to waste.

 

[Melvin-Purvis]

...they'll keep you honest, and make you laugh when you look back and 'remember when'...

Mel

p.s. That goes for the knives too...lol

 

[Ansoknives]

well two tips from me that you probably allready found out..never cut materials to small...allways leave plenty no matter what you are working on...I even do it on ivory....being cheap allways hurts you in the end by having to scrap the hole thing.

never heat the kydex with the knife in it..!....heat and the insert the knife again if you must.

 

[cpirtle]

Hey Matt,

Don't give up. I still think it took me about 15 sheaths before I got one good enough to keep, let alone sell.

I have a box full of fallen soldiers that represents about $30 worth of Kydex and a week of my life

The thing you have in your favor is that you can drive over to Koval and buy more when you run out!

I have a couple of reccomendations that may help you out...

- Try heating your Kydex in your stove. You will get a much more even melt and have a longer working time. Start at about 300 degrees for 5 minutes and go from there. I usually put my kydex on a cookie sheet on top of a dry dish rag to prevent curling. I only use a heat gun for spot adjustments and making clips.

- You can re-use pieces that mold poorly at least once.

- If you use thicker foam and a nice tight clamping method your sheath will be tighter. I use any where from 3" - 6" of foam and a 12" bench vise.

Have fun and take your time, pretty soon you'll be amazing yourself.

 

[Matt Shade]

Thanks for the encouragement guys. I'm going to go out and try again this afternoon. I think the knife will still turn out fine although it may look like I made a mess with the epoxy, since I had to try and redo the edges after it was all pinned together. I think some more sanding and some finish will cover it up though.
I'll try it on a multi tool this time. If I manage to screw up a big chunk of steel in the course of making a kydex sheath then I'll know that something's really wrong
I did learn alot about how the stuff acts as you heat it up yesterday. Hopefully today will go better.

 

[Alarion]

Not giving up is the hardest part, and you faired very well!
I would have quit when I saw the sheath was cut the wrong side... and wouldn't have learned anything.
Keep on trying, keep on trying!
There aren't impossible things, just things we haven't still learned to do.

 

[mikeS]

I was reading the other day and I read. "Don't give up."
Then I read. " Quit while you are ahead."
Go Figure.

 

[Atrick-Pay]

Originally posted by mikeS
I was reading the other day and I read. "Don't give up."
Then I read. " Quit while you are ahead."
Go Figure.

If "Quiters never winner", and
"Winners never quit", then where did
"Quit while your ahead" come from?

 

[MaxTheKnife]

Matt, the first thing I learned with kydex is that there is no such thing as waste. The stuff you cut off of a finished sheath is jus pillow stuffing. Throw it away and don't look back. I figured it out on a calculator. I can make about 250 sheaths with a 4' X 8' sheet of kydex. That's for neck knives. I figure about 50 cents per sheath with hardware and lanyard included. Rawhide would be different but this anin't rawhide.

The way I started out doing it and still do is to cut the kydex out in a strip about as wide as I think the sheath will be and then give it a little more for those 'oops' times. Lay the knife down on the kydex and mark where you want the tip of the blade to be with a paint marker. Keep the tip of the blade on the mark and lift the blade up using the point as a means to keep it on the mark. Lay the blade down on the other side of the mark (all the while keeping the point on the mark) and then make a second mark for the length of the outside of the sheath. I hope this is coming in clear as mud.

Once you get the length of kydex you need with this method then cut it off on a bandsaw. Then use the heatgun to warm up the kydex on the spot you marked for the point of the knife. Get that spot hot enough so you can fold it double (lengthwise) and fold it. Mash it down with your gloved hand until it cools. Then slide the knife into the kydex all the way to the fold and start your molding operations. The only knives I use kydex for is neck knives. And most of them don't have handle scales. But even with handle scales you can keep the heat from the heatgun off of the scales by angling the heat gun away from the scales.

I always start at the point of the knife blade and work my way up. Just hold the knife stationary in the kydex with one hand and use the heat gun with the other. Or use both hands and lay your heat gun down somewhere so you can run the kydex over the heatgun instead of running the heatgun over the kydex. Heat both sides slowly until they both 'droop' in that uniquely kydex way. Then slap it into your mold and tighten the clamps. Keep going up the blade in this way till you get to the ricasso. In most cases, the ricasso is the most important part. Keep the heat on the kydex only. You'll know if you're messing up because your fingers will start to complain from the heat of the heatgun. And your gloves may smoke a little and turn brown. Make your last mold and then set the rivets or eyelets. Once you have the eyelets in you can do your touchups. Then and only then do I cut the kydex to shape with my bandsaw. And from there it's to my 1" X 42" belt sander for finish sanding. I hope this helps you. I'm no kydex pro. I just make quite a few neck knife sheaths and that's how I've always done it.

 

[Matt Shade]

Thanks for the tips that should help alot.

Max, I hadn't thought of doing the first fold before trying to add the knife to the equation. I think that might make big difference as I never got the edges and crease to match up with where I wanted them in my pattern.

I think I'm going to try a two peice sheath also. Seems like it would be easier to lay out the belt loop and stuff.

My second try was fairly successful. I ended up with a nice snap in fit for the pliars and it is only ugly instead of hellishly deformed It rides a little higher on the belt than I wanted though, I goofed on the belt loop again. Things are looking better. The scales on the knife are OK other than some epoxy around the edges. The gap pulled back tight.

Thanks again everyone.

 

[L6steel]

I hate kydex but unfortunately it's a required material if you're going to make "tackytal" and neck knives. When I find the right size pnuematic cylinder, I'm gonna build a kydex press with it. The way I currently form the sheaths works ok but I wanna find a better way to do it. Do most of you kydex gurus form both sides or just one??