Sheath for a wheelchair, design ideas needed.

P. McKinley

P. McKinley

Joined
Jan 27, 2008
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I am building a knife for a gentleman who is wheelchair bound and would like his knife/sheath affixed to his motorized wheelchair. I would like to go a step further and incorporate a small integral leather pouch(wallet, glasses, inhaler, etc) into an inconspicuous design that looks like it "belongs" there. Surely it should be sturdy and easily accessible/ergonomic from his position, but "inconspicuous" is the key. As well, I am somewhat bound by the available attachment points on the chair.

Anyone here done this before?
I'd appreciate any idea.

-Peter

 
I think kydex is the obvious choice,

I'd take some photos or measurements of how far he can reach down on the side.


Some of those chairs can elevate and tilt, make sure it doesn't interfere and he can still reach.


Did he have an idea where he wanted it ??
 
Maybe mount it underneath the armrest parallel to it. The handle could be accessed by either hand.
 
How about a horizontally mounted sheath under the arm rest with pommel protruding out just enough for him to pull it out of the sheath. It could also be concealed there to look like it's part of the chair with a black micarta handle.

What kind of knife will you be making.
 
One issue might be if someone could just walk by, snatch it, and take off. I wouldn't put it past some people to rob the disabled.
 
The knife is a 4.5" bladed hunter/bushcrafter of fairly standard design. I'm liking the idea of horizontal under the armrest.
 
I'm in a motorized wheelchair. I have a saddlebag on my right side that is endlessly helpful for carrying all kinds of stuff. It's made out of thin nylon. I would think that a sturdier one (leather) could accomplish a number of goals:

--you could have a sheath inside along one wall. The knife would be accessible yet inconspicuous.

--several small pockets to carry various items. Possibly even molle around the sides so he could attach whatever pouches he preffered and later change them

--one larger catch all pocket.


There are several models of the nylon type available. Google "wheelchair saddlebag" or let me know and I can help.
 
a wrap around for the arm rest down to that cross pipe. he can set the "holder" with the arm rest height adjustment. the sheath maybe cross draw to the right hand from the back side of the "holder" with the "pouch" on the outside.
 
I tried to find good places for a knife in the half year I was in a wheelchair but never found anything that worked well for me. The best I found was wearing a horizontal sheath along the front with the handle pointed towards my belly button. (Bark River Lil Bird and Trout) The closest I found to comfortable and also not out in plain sight was along an inside arm wall, but your customer's wheelchair design is much more open than my ancient loaner was. Is there any reason that the individual doesn't want it carried on their person? I'm assuming comfort in waistband. You could also try and make an upside down harness that goes on the back of the chair as an almost under armpit cross draw if your client is able to reach that far around- inconspicuous is something to consider. I carried a shortened Crawford Survival staff with shepherds hook on the back of my seat to reach the ground or higher objects (broke both legs) and often people would try and take it from me- I can see it happening with a knife if jokesters notice, and with blades involved I can see somebody getting cut badly with just a joking move towards and a wrong flinch!! Good luck finding something that works, I'm glad you took it on for this person!
 
I think I would stretch a leather piece between the bar on the underside of the arm rest and then bolt it using the two bolts on the bar below the armrest. Have the sheath portion mount towards his body, so it isn't easily seen or grabbed. Then you could also have pockets on both the inside and outside. The inside could be for more valuable things, the outside for less. I think a horizontal or diagonal mount of the knife would allow use from either hand. If the guy has a similar set-up on the other side of the chair, you could do another pouch over there so the sides matched.
 
If all he wants is a steel blade for protection(no scales) you could easily cut a 1/8 x 1.25 notch in the steel band that wraps the arm cushion and slide it in from the front, maybe add a spring loaded detent to hold it in place, paint the handle of the knife black so it blends in with the chair
 
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Hi Everyone. Allow me to introduce myself. Name is Billy, AKA SmartAceW0LF -hint- really called a respectable way to say Smart-A_s. Really not so bad a guy. Isn't that I "try" to be a SmartAce, I just am. :-). Ok, now that all of that is aside, I am/have always been a knife guy. So, with a few questions I had about making/modifying them, I joined up just this evening. I also am in a wheelchair and have been for over 30 years. Imagine my delight in encountering this post. (pulled me out of the lurkers box right away). In answer to this post though, I have always envisioned fabricating a permanent holster somewhere on my manual chair. In my minds eye, it would need to be something easily accessible, obscured or at least not readily apparent and at the same time be secure such that it would not accidentally fall off ( a valid concern for one who wrestles his chair in and out of the car many times daily. It would appear that the gentleman you are building this one for does not have that concern so much as myself. Nonetheless, I believe the primary issue he will be mostly concerned with will probably be his accessibility weighted against concealment. You might ask him how he would feel about something built into his seat, say edged back behind the forward-most portion of the seat cushion or frame of cushion. Situated right between his legs. The knife you show in the pic has a relatively large handle which limits ones choices in placement while still being inconspicuous. To me, that would be the most accessible place I could put one and few people would stoop down low enough to look under the chair for it.

Another thing you may discuss with him in depth is his intended usage. Is it primarily for self defense? If so, then he might wish to re-evaluate his choices regarding the chosen weapons characteristics. Consider this. Given it were primarily for instant use in a pinch (and primarily only for that use) then there are infinite possibilities for blades hidden somewhere within an easily accessible portion of the frame or accessories attached to the chair. Some areas that provoke more thought to me are like within one of the arm cushions themselves. Or perhaps even the tubes that support them. One could build a couple of nice blades something along the lines of a "sleeve dart" only larger that could easily fit within the tubes under those arm rests. The only real challenge then would be in fabrication of some sort of release mechanism that would allow them to protrude far enough out that one could grab the butt end of it with a good yank and be prepared in a flash with a very formidable weapon indeed.

I know its not easy to imagine yourself in the position to need something of this nature so I will put a couple of primary areas of concern to someone in our position. Again, I cannot emphasize enough the element of surprise. You see, an attacker given just a couple seconds to ponder his next move can easily outmaneuver someone confined to a chair. In such a case, about the only thing equitable to the wheelchair-bound person would be a firearm. Foregoing that, nothing short of a cool head and practiced confidence in retrieval and deployment is the only thing one could rely on. An attacker gets close enough to you to get his hands on you, you have one opportunity and one opportunity alone to react deploy and maneuver. A thing built into the chair that virtually no one can discern visually yet being easily attainable is the Holy Grail here.

So, in summation, if I wanted a utility knife that would serve also as a self defense weapon, I would go for immediately under the seat between my legs. If I wanted something I knew I could always access in an instant, and do so with no one else being aware of it, then I would choose something along the lines of a long solid dirk for jabbing not slicing. As the deployment would be for one purpose only. That being kill or be killed. This sort of weapon would need no real sharp edges. Could have 4 flutes tapering to a long point and the butt end of it could be built to resemble the little plastic caps that cover the opening at the end of the pipe that supports his left arm.

There may not be any reason not to have both considering how easily the first suggestion is to make . Please do reply with your resolution and reasons for those choices. I think it will be interesting to hear.
 
ASBOB said:
I'm in a motorized wheelchair. I have a saddlebag on my right side that is endlessly helpful for carrying all kinds of stuff. It's made out of thin nylon. I would think that a sturdier one (leather) could accomplish a number of goals:

--you could have a sheath inside along one wall. The knife would be accessible yet inconspicuous.

--several small pockets to carry various items. Possibly even molle around the sides so he could attach whatever pouches he preffered and later change them

--one larger catch all pocket.


There are several models of the nylon type available. Google "wheelchair saddlebag" or let me know and I can help.
Click to expand...

Good idea, I was just thinking that a saddle bag of leather would be one classier than kydex it would also not get as many looks as in people being scared of it either, plus there would be room for other things.
 
Peter... Talk him into a bayonet mount straight off the front of the chair between his legs... that would be sweet.:cool::thumbup:


I think kydex is best would be best. I also think you need to stay away from arm rests and get more clandestine with your placement. Knife illiterates might get jumpy if they spot a knife in the "ready" position under the rest.
 
Take off he padded portion of the arm piece.

Install a spacer on top of the arm piece that is hollow allowing for a knife to fit in it.

Make the padded arm piece into a lid and install on top of the spacer. Use velcro to keep it closed

Now you have a secret compartment for the knife to lay in and out of sight.
 
My oldest son uses a power chair (Invacare TDX) and asked me about this last year. He's not interested in self defense, he just wants a cutting tool handy. For him, the issue of being "discrete" was paramount. It's one thing to throw a small folder in your side pouch - and quite another to mount a six-inch fixed blade sheath knife to your side rails. :cool:

The solution we came up with has worked for him. We mounted a kydex sheath to the bottom side of his seat plate which holds a small Spyderco UKPK. He just reaches between his legs, grabs it and pulls it out. Re-holstering is easy - just push it back in. Because the knife is held flat against the bottom of the seat pan out-of-sight, it is very discrete while still being easy to access.

TedP
 
For a quick detach option for the pouch, or even an open-carry sheath (if the customer so desires), take a look at the G-Code RTI system. Very simple and modular way to mount nearly anything anywhere. A pouch could use the Molle adapter to snap to the frame of the chair, or a kydex sheath could have the RTI plate attached so it could be directly mounted to the frame of the chair. Hope this helps.
 
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