Sheath for a Soldier.

Larry Hensley

Larry Hensley

Joined
Dec 31, 2007
Messages
420
I am making a knife for my Brother who is going to Iraq sometime this year. I am wanting it to be a surprise so I am going to ask you all the question I cannot ask him right now. I know a lot of you have made Knives for Men in Service.... What is the popular sheath? Kydex, Leather or Nylon/Web Gear?
I have been making this for him for a while and was torn about selling it and making him another before he left now that I know better what and how to work it better, but while hand rubbing the Blade it till 3:00 AM This Morning I thought there will never be another First of this style, and this gets to be me watching out for my little Brother who is watching out for the freedoms of all of us. so I need to make a Sheat (Or purchase one if Nylon is the Winner) and need to get to work on it soon so He can have it in his gear before he gets deployed again.

Thanks any input is helpfull.
Larry
will post a pic of the finished product when done.
 
A desert camo nylon sheath with a removable Kydex liner is the simples and best.
An all Kydex sheath is next.
Leather is not a good choice.

An in-field sheath needs to be able to take all sorts of weather,dirt,dust (this is the big problem in Iraq), and be easy to clean with soap and water.Some sort of retaining device ( from a fancy spring clip, to a plain strap and snap) is essential.
Make it simple.
Don't worry about how ugly it is.Durable is what is important.
Make it versatile - He may wear it on a pack strap, on his belt back, or upside down.

About working blades for soldiers in a war zone:
Contrary to Rambo films, a 16 inch long, 2.5 pound ,bowie is not the ultimate knife for a soldier.
A small 9" OAL knife, with a 4" blade will be the most useful. It is easy to carry, doesn't weigh much, is easy to conceal/pack away, can be worn anywhere from the belt to a boot. Even smaller is fine. They won't likely be used for hand to hand combat. What they will do is cut all manner of things from cardboard to wire. They will cut clothing off a wounded soldier. They will slice up food occasionally. They will dig in the dirt....get in the water....be used as hammers, screwdrivers, and pry bars.

Make them stainless....Make then tough....Make them able to be sharpened easily....make the handle durable.....Make the blade and hardware dull or dark.

Forget pretty....forget fancy finishes.....forget shiny....forget fancy shapes.


Things they should have:
A strong buttcap or rear bolster.
A small but tough guard.
A reasonably thick blade.
A moderately thick edge.
A comfortable and tough handle.
A good sheath.


The next one I make of my own choosing will be :
CPM154
A spear point ,9" OAL, 4" blade, .125 thick....with a screwdriver tip....and a hammer buttcap.
Have a nylon sheath with a UHMW liner. Two Velcro straps going around the sheath so it can be strapped to a pack strap ( or the back of a belt).One Velcro strap to retain the knife.
Stacy
 
Go with a nice Kydex sheath or a Spec-Ops sheath. The Spec-Ops are really nice sheaths and very well made. They already are Molle ready, split belt loop and have many lash points.
 
I have made many knives for soldiers in Iraq & Afganistan.I have made leather and kydex.But the Spec-Ops is the #1 choice. If your not familiar with this is a spec-ops sheath
 
Spec ops are commercially made, generic sheaths. Supposed to be top quality, but they are fairly expensive too.
A cheaper alternative is blackhawk industries makes 2 or 3 sizes of nylon sheath in similar set ups.

I made a knife for adoptasniper.org several years ago and made a kydex sheath for it. If I was doing it all over again, I would go with one of the commerciallly made nylon sheaths.

Stacy is right about the size and style of the knife as well. In fact, some units even restrict soldiers as to what they are allowed to carry. In some cases, the guidelines are ridiculous. A guy who's putting his life on the line for our country ought to be allowed to carry any well made knife he chooses, but that doesn't seem to be the case anymore :(
 
I am just getting back from my second tour in Iraq, and like the most of us am a blade fanatic. I had numerous knives while in theatre. If your brother is taking just one knife and you are making a sheath for it, my advice would be to make it very versatile. What I mean by that is it should have many options to allow many carry options. I carried a Kydex sheath mounted behind my pistol on a blackhawk rig and it worked really well. Bottom line is the more carry options the better, hope this helps.
 
Hengelo,
Yes ,no point. The tip comes down to a standard 1/4" flat tip screwdriver.
Stacy
 
Is velcro a good idea for the desert? I would think if you get the Spec-Ops ror Blackhawk sheath would you want to place snaps in all the Velcro places????
Also My brother is a Mechanic and requested a pretty specific blade overall the whole thing is 11.5" (I added a feature about 1") that he thought was cool and kind of funny to be carrying with his knife. Youll see soon.

Larry
 
Velcro is usually no problem in the desert. On my deployments I've carried knives of my own making, 4.5" to 6" in length, A2 or 5160 steel with mild steel guards and mortised tang micarta handles. I just wore it on my belt so I never had to drop it with my equipment. The big blade was too big, got in the way sometimes so I'd agree with the length recommendations you got here. I always used a leather sheath with no problem, I find the spec ops ones are heavy and bulky.
 
Kydex is what one of my knives that I wore was in when I was in Iraq.
Either way something with a hard sheath that someone jumping around or bouncing around on wont cause it to punture the sheath!!! That was one of my big concerns, I don't need any help getting myself hurt since I had plenty of people trying to hurt me anyways.
Something that holds the knife securely, that the knife won't punch through, that isn't easy for someone to draw that isn't me (large crowds of kids that like to grab your stuff if you aren't careful).
 
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