Some plastic sheaths can be heat modified , others not !

DocJD

DocJD

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:) I just today managed to use a hairdryer to heat up and tighten up my old Spyderco plastic sheath that came with a Micarta handled Street Beat . "Bolitron" plastic , IIRC ?

I'm very pleased with those plastic sheaths can be heat modified . Some cannot be . For example : I recently tried with a CRKT "SPEW" with no success .

Kind of important to me , because the Street Beat came out of the sheath when I was asleep , recently , and I was a bit concerned .

I didn't get cut , but could have been . (Yes , I sometimes sleep with my knives .) :rolleyes:

I feel more secure now with the retention improved .

Makes me curious about which knife brands plastic sheaths can be heat modified and which can't ? :confused:

Any input from experience is welcome ! :cool::thumbsup:

The top knife in this pic :



 
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once had this boker fixed blade with
a pretty loosely fitted kydex sheath.
i tried to tighten or slightly flatten
it out with a hairdryer to get a snug fit.
huge regret! i ruined the moulded form
completely as the knife just couldn't fit
into the sheath, all because i couldn't
stand the rattle :)
eventually i had to get a professinal
sheath made, that skyrocketed the cost.
what's worst was that it wasn't worth all
the trouble and extra expenditure.
lesson learnt; if it ain't broke, don't fix
i vowed never again... glad you got yours
fixed! :)
 
GIRLYmann said:
it wasn't worth all
the trouble and extra expenditure.
Click to expand...
;) Yes ! It is certainly annoying to buy a decent knife , but receive an unsatisfactory sheath .

I'm a "thrifty" (cheap a$$) kinda guy and hate to pay out extra for a custom sheath . :mad::thumbsdown:
 
DocJD said:
;) Yes ! It is certainly annoying to buy a decent knife , but receive an unsatisfactory sheath .

I'm a "thrifty" (cheap a$$) kinda guy and hate to pay out extra for a custom sheath . :mad::thumbsdown:
Click to expand...

It's real funny you made this thread. The only knife I I ever tried this on was my CRKT Spew and failed miserably. I wound up with a shiny hotspot on the sheath:oops::rolleyes: (yes I'm a dumbass)

Now I have a cold steel Desperado I need to try and fix the retention on and have been apprehensive to say the least. It makes me so nervous now I barely carry it and when I do I have a Paracord lanyard attached to it and a belt loop. It sucks. But with your info I might try it again. Can I ask your basic method for doing this?
 
Heck, I bake my leather sheaths in the oven:

CwnczKW.jpg


AJM2rKr.jpg
 
I used a bic lighter to soften up some parts of my Street Beat sheath which now has great retention.
 
Experience with heat and the Cold Steel Secure-Ex sheath.

(. . . other than it sucks because it dulls knives faster than I can sharpen them )

This is text from a very old post I made. I don't want to link to it because the !@#*&@)$*%)#* photobucket photos can put cookies on your machine that can slow it down so I will repost the photos directly to Blade Forms (no prob).

BEGIN OLD POST
Like I said the blade was rattling around in the original Pendleton sheath and dulling the edge . . . though I got that worked out with the old sheath by heating the hell out of the thing (it’s DEFINITELY NOT just cheep plastic with a fancy name as some one had told me) . . . while it was hot I then put an intentional, strategically placed, dimple (dimples; one on each side to center the blade) by pressing on it with the rounded end of a wooden file handle (uncoated wood) right where it would grip the blade and keep the edge from swinging over against the sheath taking advantage of the wedge shape of the blade. Works great !
IMG_3844.jpg
IMG_3919.JPG
IMG_3918.jpg


For the gear heads I used a Milwaukee heat gun with dial-able temp control dial labeled 1 to 6 with an added round heat focusing tip.
This is a real deal industrial heat gun that can solder on the highest setting.

In the second photo you can just see, on the spine, where setting 4 caused the plastic to get a wet look in pretty short order. 3.5 though is very controllable and there was never a problem with over heating in fact it took some little time to get’er warm enough to move. On setting 1 and 2 after heating a significant amount of time I pressed pretty darned hard on the sheath with the file handle and heard a “cracking” sound both times. THAT is what makes me say it is stout material and not just plastic. I mean . . . it was seriously HOT and wouldn'’t move.

Trade secret : one can wipe the plastic with lacquer thinner and a rag to blend the surface and take the shine off. I just haven’t taken the time due to the arrival of the Peace Maker. Jeezzz sounds like the second coming doesn’t it ? I’m having fun never the less.
END OLD POST

The Peace Maker sheath is shown below and is the way to go to prevent edge dulling.
Not Secure Ex material.
Careful you don't cut your hand if holding the Peace Maker sheath in one hand near the clip. HOLD IT WAY DOWN ON THE BODY OF THE SHEATH before pulling the knife out.


IMG_3916.jpg
 
:) I make due with an old hairdryer . Don't even own a heat gun . Maybe I should ? :confused:

I'm not sure if I ever tried to tighten up a Cold Steel sheath , but it's good to know it's possible to heat modify . :cool::thumbsup::thumbsup:

I consider a knife and it's sheath or clip to be an integral system . A bad sheath or clip can prevent a good knife from functioning properly .

And I think that happens way too often . :(
 
Brhowser87 said:
The only way I could get something to turn out like that is buy it from you and put my name on it. I'd probably still screw it up :D:D
Click to expand...

Ah heck we'd get er figured.

I agree 100 percent that a knife and sheath are a system. I can't tell ya how many knives my sheaths have sold for me.
 
A couple of generalized options.
Let's say you want to reform a leather sheath to the knife. Put the sheath in hot water and warm it up. Wrap the knife in saran wrap and put it in the sheath and let the sheath dry. Then, take the knife out. Let the sheath completely dray and lube the knife. I do not store blades in leather sheaths.

I sent my mentor a specops sheath for one of his Glocks. My Glock did not rattle within the factory sheath. He contacted me and said his Glock rattled and he wouldn't use the sheath. A few years later, I advised him, and sent him a youtube video that he could warm up the specops plastic insert and reform it around the Glock knife.
 
My experience with heating and shaping is patience dont get it to hot to fast.
 
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