Repairing Cracked Kydex Sheath & Polymer Holster

D

DonTomas

Joined
Apr 16, 2005
Messages
197
Hi guys, I need a little help here with some repairs. I'm trying to repair a BM kydex sheath & a Surefire polymer holster. I only have Contact Cement & Superglue on hand. Will they work, or do I absolutely need to buy something else?


If you need details, this is the situation:

1) Sheath for BM Nimravus Cub, Kydex: Cracked where the belt loop articulates with the main body of the sheath. It looks like a load-bearing point. The crack runs horizontally halfway across, with the remaining area discolored with white striations (stress?).

2) Surefire V70 Holster, "Polymer": I always thought this was kydex but the website says "polymer". The crack runs horizontally all the way across the belt loop. Although the opposing edges of the crack are still wedged together by friction/compression they likely won't stay that way if I try to wear it.

Thanks.
 
with the suplies listed all you can hope to do is make them last just long enough to lose them. i do find it odd that both items cracked at close to the same spot, you may want to look into the cause of the problems rather than just treating the symptoms. i know this wasnt much help but i would suggest breaking down and making your own if you have the supplies or barring that buying new, if not i fear you will end up losing your edc.
good luck
jon
 
Actually, I fished out the V70 from the bottom of a drawer yesterday, where it had been sitting for months. The cause of the crack seemed to be the belt spacer, which was horribly twisted. I didn't notice anything wrong with the holster the last time I wore it, and believe me, the way the spacer was twisted, it was hard to miss.

I guess I could just go buy a new V70 later, but I'm not buying another overpriced Cub just for the sheath (seriously, what was I thinking when I bought it:rolleyes:). Besides, the Cub is not my EDC, so repairing/replacing the sheath is not a priority.
 
I would suggest something else. . . I just can't offer much help as to what exactly. :o

IIRC from my model building days as a kid, the cement used to put together said models would actually chemically melt the plastic pieces together. I don't know if that type of glue would work the same on kydex, but that seems to be the kind of repair you would want since you said it seemed to be a load bearing point. I've repaired other plastic items by melting them together with a soldering iron, but I'm not sure how well that would work for a load bearing point either.
 
Superglue (one of the various cyanoacrylates) doesn't work well on Kydex. I've tried it to repair holsters, which failed and the kydex bender who made them scolded me for trying.

When kydex cracks, your best bet is to get a new one, especially if the crack is in a high stress area like a belt clip.
 
rhino, I'll try repairing the flashlight holster with contact cement and wearing it empty for a week just to see if it works. Salamander42, I could try a soldering iron, but the loop is almost 3mm thick, I don't think it'd heat enough material quickly to work. I'll just go buy a new one for $40 next month. I remember ruining a grade school project by trying to superglue styrofoam, which is why I wanted to confirm if this would work.

I'm going to leave the knife sheath alone for now, and get a replacement sheath made later. Thank you all for your help.
 
My nimravus sheath isn't kydex but something like ABS I believe. Either way I wouldn't bother trying to repair it as it would likely just come apart again. It is cheap and easy to buy some kydex and make your own replacement sheaths/holsters with the side benefit of being able to customize them anyway you want too.
 
Ditto what sputnick said, if you're that ambitious - for $40 or so you can get an eyelet kit and some kydex from Texas Knife Supply or Knifekits.com (one of them has an eyelet kit for about $19), and start to make 'em. Do a search here or on the web and there is some good info on how-to. It is not too hard to make a workable kydex sheath - the first ones may not look too good, but they will work and you'll get better. I just use a vice, some boards, and some old camping mat foam for a press.
 
I tried some PVC cement (the blue stuff) on Kydex. Haven't used it in sheath construction yet.

I glued some pieces together using the purple primer then the PVC cement, clamped over night. It was pretty tough to pull apart.

ric
 
Broos said:
Ditto what sputnick said, if you're that ambitious - for $40 or so you can get an eyelet kit and some kydex from Texas Knife Supply or Knifekits.com (one of them has an eyelet kit for about $19), and start to make 'em. Do a search here or on the web and there is some good info on how-to. It is not too hard to make a workable kydex sheath - the first ones may not look too good, but they will work and you'll get better. I just use a vice, some boards, and some old camping mat foam for a press.
Click to expand...

Knifekits.com has a kydex sheath making kit for ten bucks:

http://www.knifekits.com/store/s-pages/kk_store_1mainframe.htm?kk_products_sheath_main.htm~smain

Doesn't include the tool to set the eyelets, but that still is a pretty good price. As you said, it would be pretty easy to rig up a press. I'm going to give one of these kits a try and see if I can come up with a good sheath for a little HI khukri that I recently purchased.
 
All right, you guys talked me into trying to make my own sheath(s)! The first few will definitely look like kindergarten craft, but it actually sounds like a fun project for the long harsh Toronto winter :D. Already bookmarked the site. Sounds like I just got a new winter hobby. Thanks, folks.
 
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