My First Sheath-like Creations

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PayneTrain

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Oct 24, 2013
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I'm hardly a craftsman so go easy on me, but I am pretty proud of what I've done so far here. This was done out of necessity. I recently got a custom boning knife made by Darrin Sanders (:thumbup: to that guy!) and wanted a way to keep it safe at work and during transportation from work to home. Leather doesn't seem very sanitary for food use, so plastic was the obvious choice. Since I was going through the trouble, I figured I'd finally make a useable pocket sheath for my Ontario Ranger Falcon because anyone who has any of these Ontario knives knows their sheaths are cheap junk. The knife is pocket sized, the sheath is trunk sized.

I spent about $38 including shipping for 2 square feet of coyote brown kydex, rivets, and a rivet die set. I used 3/4 of a square foot total on both of these, including a piece of scrap big enough for another small sheath. So I think I got my money's worth. I already had a heat gun, and for the "press" I bought a $4 foam mat that I just cut up and stood on with a piece of wood on top. This was a very cheap operation, I spend too much on knives as it is.

The molding took a few tries to get right, and the definition isn't great. I don't know if it's the thickness of the kydex or the kind of foam I was using. I think it may be too firm and not conform enough to the finer details like the blade. Then came the rivets. The first one went horribly, but after that I sort of got the hang of using the die. And as for form, well, I'm no artist. I did the shaping with a little hobby saw and 60 grit sandpaper, followed by 600 grit to smooth the edges. I redid the openings with tape strategically wrapped around the handles to get a little flare for smoother insertion. For the custom, I had to hand-flare the area where the choil/guard hit. I also hand-formed the thumb flare part...where you push off with your thumb. I don't know all the terms yet. Anywho, take a look.
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Again, be nice. I know I could trim them down a little more, and I might. But for now, they serve their purpose. The boning knife doesn't really get carried, so I'm not too worried about it. The Ontario is actually pretty comfortable in my pocket as is, so I'm happy with it. The retention on both of them took a few adjustments to dial in, but they feel and work just the way I want them now. Functional, ugly, cheap, and mine!
 
Don't be so hard on yourself man. Of course they are simple, but they look like they perform their job well.

Btw, I've only owned two sheaths, one for a Chinese Schrade, the other for an Ontario. Even the terrible Schrade sheath is better than the Ontario! Your sheath looks like a Paul Long compared to my Ontario. :D

Good job!

Edit- btw, I hope my first Kydex sheaths look anything like those. Honestly, throw a clip on them and they could definitely pass for sheaths I've seen sell. ;)
 
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Strigamort said:
Don't be so hard on yourself man. Of course they are simple, but they look like they perform their job well.

Btw, I've only owned two sheaths, one for a Chinese Schrade, the other for an Ontario. Even the terrible Schrade sheath is better than the Ontario! Your sheath looks like a Paul Long compared to my Ontario. :D

Good job!

Edit- btw, I hope my first Kydex sheaths look anything like those. Honestly, throw a clip on them and they could definitely pass for sheaths I've seen sell. ;)
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Hah thanks man but trust me, they look worse in person. I'll keep shaving them down and shaping them as I feel like it until they look a little better. I was thinking about maybe making some kind of attachment mechanism, but I have no idea how I'd hook it to the sheath. It looks like those clips screw in through the rivets, but I'm assuming that means the rivets need to be a certain distance apart which I did not plan for. I'll have to look into it, but for now I'm kinda digging a fixed blade in my pocket.
 
It doesn't look bad, especially for your first! Performing its job is its most important feature, anyway! :p

You're right, about most clips. Locks like the Tek-Loks use chicago screws (a metal post and a screw), and usually with neoprene washers to 'silence' any potential noise while moving. The posts would need to be aligned and spaced properly for the system you decide to use.
 
Yeah, I probably won't bother with any of them. If I decide to try a clip, I don't see why I can't just mold one out of some scrap kydex. It will probably fit better anyway since the back (whichever side I decide is the back) is not flat to accommodate any prefabbed clip. Could be a cool project for another day.
 
Not bad at all for a first effort! Many of us started with a press that we stood on - down and dirty, easy to do. Actually pretty damn nice for your first time, and you can definitely make your own belt clip with scrap kydex. I used to make all my G-Clips by hand.
 
Mike Sastre said:
Not bad at all for a first effort! Many of us started with a press that we stood on - down and dirty, easy to do. Actually pretty damn nice for your first time, and you can definitely make your own belt clip with scrap kydex. I used to make all my G-Clips by hand.
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You know, I've recommended people look at the G-Clip many times, but always point out that I haven't had one myself. That gets me to wondering, is the 'clip made from Kydex? It's so simple looking, it actually looks ideal for its use. I've owned a couple of other injection molded sheaths (just remembered that) and they had a somewhat similar loop. These were from cheap CRKT fixed blades, but I really liked the clip, although they were closed, so not perfect. Still, they seemed a pretty good design when compared to some of the bulky options.
 
Mike Sastre said:
Not bad at all for a first effort! Many of us started with a press that we stood on - down and dirty, easy to do. Actually pretty damn nice for your first time, and you can definitely make your own belt clip with scrap kydex. I used to make all my G-Clips by hand.
Click to expand...

Awesome, thanks for the reassurance. I like the satisfaction of making things myself. As they say, if you want it done right...

Though I have a question for the more experienced benders out there. What part of my processing do you think contributed to the lack of definition? Is it just the limitation of the .08" thick kydex? Is the foam too firm? Did I not have enough pressure on it? Are the knives just not thick enough for much more than that?
 
Payne,

Absolute definition has never been, and will never be, the Holy Grail. What you want is functional definition - different animal entirely. I use .093, so it isn't the thickness of the material that matters. Your main variables are heat, pressure, and time in conjunction with material thickness and type of foam used, so experiment and see what works for you. At the risk of shameless self-promotion (I've been shameless before), you might want to look at my DVD set and workbook to shortcut the learning process.

Strig,

I've been making my own G-clips since the early 90's, that's one of the reasons why Sal came to me when Spyderco wanted to switch to using G-Clips instead of the mini-TekLoks for their fixed blade sheaths. Making your own belt attachment clips, tunnels, whatever, is fairly easy to do, just time consuming. Now I only make my hand-mades when i need one for a belt size that will not work with the Spyderco G-Clip. The Spydercos work very well and are very easy to use.
 
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