For a couple of years now, I've been dabbling in Kydex. I've only made half a dozen-ish sheaths, but it's very easy and they've all turned out rather well. Over Christmas break this year, I made my first "professional" sheath (my father paid me to make it), and it is by far the best one I have ever made in terms of performance, fit/finish, and any other conceivable benchmark. Since I am so very proud of it, I decided to share the experience with you guys. Hopefully I can get these stupid pictures into my thread.
I was paid for the sheath, but I put the drop-leg rig together with MOLLE-compatible pieces of gear that I picked up at a local surplus store. That part was what I gave him for Christmas.
Okay, here is a picture of the knife and sheath together. It is, as you can see, a BK-17, which my dad bought on my recommendation for skinning squirrels and deer.
Here is the knife inside the sheath:
This is a closeup of the sheath. Notice that the heat form isn't that great in a couple of places. This is because I have no kydex press (or any tools at all really), so I molded it by putting it between some folded towels, placing a large cutting board on top, and standing on it for a few minutes. The body may have a couple of bubbles, but the friction fit on the handle is rock solid. Maybe a touch too solid, in fact.
Here is a shot of the little rig I made. The green thing is a military surplus MOLLE2-compatible leg extender, and the pouch is from a frag grenade. It clips nicely onto the webbing, and I figured he could use it to store some small items.
In this one, you can see the sheath mounted on the extender. The sheath is angled to the side so the handle doesn't get blocked by the pouch. I decided to secure it with paracord and cord locks: they keep it very tight and secure, it's easy to remove (and only slightly difficult to mount), and of course a few extra feet of paracord never comes amiss. The cord is simply looped through the MOLLE webbing.
This is what it looks like on my dad's belt, set up for a right-handed cross draw.
As you can probably see, he does not have the knife fully inserted into the sheath, even though I told him several times that he needs to push it until he hears the VERY audible click...
And one last shot, a little farther away, mostly because my dad's facial hair and baldness remind me of Ethan Becker. Also because my dog is in the background.
And that's all. As a beginner, I was really happy with these ideas and even happier with their implementation. I hope some of you agree.
I was paid for the sheath, but I put the drop-leg rig together with MOLLE-compatible pieces of gear that I picked up at a local surplus store. That part was what I gave him for Christmas.
Okay, here is a picture of the knife and sheath together. It is, as you can see, a BK-17, which my dad bought on my recommendation for skinning squirrels and deer.
Here is the knife inside the sheath:
This is a closeup of the sheath. Notice that the heat form isn't that great in a couple of places. This is because I have no kydex press (or any tools at all really), so I molded it by putting it between some folded towels, placing a large cutting board on top, and standing on it for a few minutes. The body may have a couple of bubbles, but the friction fit on the handle is rock solid. Maybe a touch too solid, in fact.
Here is a shot of the little rig I made. The green thing is a military surplus MOLLE2-compatible leg extender, and the pouch is from a frag grenade. It clips nicely onto the webbing, and I figured he could use it to store some small items.
In this one, you can see the sheath mounted on the extender. The sheath is angled to the side so the handle doesn't get blocked by the pouch. I decided to secure it with paracord and cord locks: they keep it very tight and secure, it's easy to remove (and only slightly difficult to mount), and of course a few extra feet of paracord never comes amiss. The cord is simply looped through the MOLLE webbing.
This is what it looks like on my dad's belt, set up for a right-handed cross draw.
As you can probably see, he does not have the knife fully inserted into the sheath, even though I told him several times that he needs to push it until he hears the VERY audible click...
And one last shot, a little farther away, mostly because my dad's facial hair and baldness remind me of Ethan Becker. Also because my dog is in the background.
And that's all. As a beginner, I was really happy with these ideas and even happier with their implementation. I hope some of you agree.
