Sheath I came up with

T

Tim709

Joined
Jan 29, 2011
Messages
147
Hi everyone,

It's been a while since I posted, but I thought you might enjoy having a look at the sheath I came up with. I rarely carry my fixed blades on my person, they usually reside in a pack. My goal was to come up with a minimalist kydex sheath that weighed as little as possible, and required no fasteners. I played around a bit before I came up with this one that I finished today for my BOSS Street.













Pretty it is not! In fact it's down right Ugly (capital U). There is also the very high likelihood that the blade will eventually work its way through the sheath. All that being said, the fit is super tight, no movement in any direction, and it weighs in at a measly 14 grams. All in all mission accomplished I think.

I started all this because I want to make a light weight sheath from my NMFBMLE. I don't mind lugging the big blade with me when I'm hiking/camping, but I hate the cumbersome sheath. Anyone with any suggestions as to potential improvements I can incorporate into this project by all means post away.

Feel free to commence with the incredibly unattractive appearance cracks!

Thanks
Tim
 
I believe "Minimal sheath of epic proportions!" is how Jerry would describe it. :foot: :D
 
I like your out of the box, practical thinking. Thanks for sharing.
Josh
 
Or how about "Skimpy SLUT Sheath"? It's like the string bikini of sheaths. :thumbup:
 
Outstanding! Reminds me of those edge covers that used to come with nice kitchen knives!

Great ingenuity, and if you dont mind, I'd love to work something out of leather in a similar pattern? Your idea, your copyright. :)
 
Hi guys,

Thanks for the positive comments.

Leatherman, by all means, knock yourself out. Hopefully you can come up with a more aesthetically pleasing final product.

Tim
 
Tim709 said:
Hi guys,

Thanks for the positive comments.

Leatherman, by all means, knock yourself out. Hopefully you can come up with a more aesthetically pleasing final product.

Tim
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Thanks for the blessing. :) I'll see what I can come up with and you'll be the first to see it. :D
RussMo said:
Thong Guard!!! ROFLMAO, I'm sorry man this just cracked me up:D :p ;)
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Oh yea! Now that IS funny!
 
Looks pretty neat,

The idea is neat anyway :) the aesthetics could use a little tuning up :)

I had actually done something like it a while ago, for the little Heartsook tiny knife, but learned if I use a thinner kydex, .064" I could cover the whole knife and save the weight I was saving, by cutting out the kydex.

I have even done a really perforated holster that looked like Swiss cheese. Mostly for cool points.

What I have found is whenever you use kydex as a bending point (like the "locking in" devise) the kydex will eventually fracture and break over time, that is why I use straps on the Original Buy Brown Exposed spine sheaths I make.

Sound idea for what you are doing, A edge cover.

Just giving some pointers to help you out.

David

If you want me to give a crack at it let me know.
 
Thanks to all again for the replies and input.

David,

Thanks for weighing in, I have virtually no experience with this stuff, and appreciate you taking the time to offer some advice. Using thinner kydex would definitely save weight, now you've got me thinking I should try and make one of these glorified edge covers with a thinner sheet. That would work out to lowest possible weight, but probably also decrease the already questionable durability.

Straps also sound like a great idea, and would help with the durability issue.

As far as aesthetics go, I think I'm beyond help!

So since my sheath for the boss street seemed to work out pretty well, I decided to have a go at making a similar one for my NMFBMLE. Here's what I came up with:














So it's pretty similar to the BOSS street sheath, but the tip cover/trap is a little different due to the blade shape. I know it's hard to believe, but I think I managed to make a sheath that is even uglier than the first!

As I mentioned before, I'm going for function, and I'm not bothered by what it looks like. I'm planning an overnighter in the next few days with my wife, and I'll be carrying this baby for 12km in and 13km out. The blade will be poked inside my pack when we are moving, and will only come out at camp. I weighed the sheath I made, and it comes in at 50grams. For comparison, I included a pic of the sheath I had been using, it weighed in at 235grams. That gives a difference of 185grams. I'll convert that to a more appropriate unit, since this is bladeforums after all. That difference would mean I could take the new sheath, and either one of these:



MBC weighs a little under 100grams, and I think the Sebenza was about 135Grams.

All in all, I am happy with how it turned out.

Thanks for looking
Tim
 
I like that second one! Shows your improvements! :)
 
Hi everyone,

I just wanted to pop on with a little update on the sheath I made for the NMFBMLE. As I mentioned before, I went on a 25km overnighter with my wife, and I took the knife with the new sheath. I was going for something light that covered the edge while it was in my pack, and thats what I got. I can't say I noticed any difference in the weight of my pack, but I know it was a few grams lighter regardless. As soon as we got to camp, the knife came out for some fire prep. I never mind carrying the extra weight of the blade, because its an absolute pleasure when it's put to work. When I was done, the new sheath keep the edge securely covered. I would have liked to take a few "action" shots of the knife (and sheath) in use to liven up the thread, but it ended up being pretty wet, and I was focused on the task at hand. Hopefully next time I'll get a few pics.

This is hardly a longterm review, and the sheath didn't get any abuse, but for what I was going for it works great. I'll keep using it, and if any issues arise, I'll post again. I appreciate all the kind words, and advice, and I'll keep an eye out for the potential problems that have been pointed out already.

Thanks again
Tim

Ps. I have no idea how to edit the title of the thread to say "updated" so people know I put more info in here, or that I posted new pics last time. If anyone knows how to do that, please enlighten me.
 
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