Welt lock with Paul Long inspired front

[harronek]

I love innovation and fresh ideas when it comes to sheaths .
What people sometimes don't understand is that during the design of a new concept , the designer has already contemplated all of their helpful suggestions and a whole heap more that they haven't thought of yet .
I congratulate you on your idea .

Ken

 

[Robber58]

Exactly!

 

[Roamad]

Thought I would share what I came up with after borrowing Randy's (Robber58) idea. As I may have mentioned before, I was asked to make a "rescue" type knife & sheath for a local kayaking/rafting guide. He wants to wear it inverted on the front of his flotation vest. So I had to come up with a way for the knife to be retained absolutely in the sheath until he needs it. So I stumbled across this thread from Randy and knew I had found the solution.

After some tinkering, this is what I came up with:

Unfortunately, I failed to take a pic before I had riveted the two halves of the sheath together. But this photo gives you a better idea what's going on:

I made a kind of a cam key (what Randy calls a "welt lock") out of G10 to match the knife handle. I shaped this to fit the finger notch on the knife, and it pivots on a Chicago screw. When the knife is in the sheath, the cam fits the finger notch perfectly, and a retaining strap (made from a heavy rubber TacTie I had on hand) prevents the cam from rotating. With this arrangement, it's pretty much impossible for the knife to leave the sheath unless the retaining strap is released. Only then can the cam pivot open. It can pivot on its own if the knife is yanked out sharply, or by opening the cam with a finger on the little extension that extends alongside the handle.

The knife is retained reasonably well by a fold of Kydex that is molded around the knife handle. This allows the knife to be moved in and out of the sheath with one hand. The little bump on the left arc of the cam key contacts this Kydex fold so it can't rotate inside the sheath.

I delivered the knife to the customer today, and he was thrilled. So -- many thanks to Randy for this awesome solution! :thumbup:

 

[R APPLEBY]

Beautiful sheath, great work and a great idea. I wouldn't change anything.

 

[Robber58]

Well planned and executed. Nice job!
Randy

 

[Roamad]

Thanks fellas. BTW, those pix were taken before final cleanup on the knife. I didn't actually deliver it looking all messy and scratchy like that, LOL! :barf:

 

[Gafishing]

Thank you Paul. You really do inspire me to push myself.

Dave and Roamad, the welt lock is something I came up with a few years ago to get the retention strap out of harms way. It is simply a pivoted bar that is fitted to the guard and holds the knife in very securely when the strap is snapped in place. I don't have an interior picture of this new sheath but I have attached one for a Busse I made for a friend. I think the picture explains it better than I can. It does have limitations as it only works with blades that have guards that extend beyond the edge. That said, most of my knives fit that description.

It can be a bit of a challenge to make and does require some careful patterning and fitting for everything to come together. I have made enough now that it doesn't take much longer than a regular sheath unless I do what I did above.

Randy

That is very cool
👍👍👍

 

[Craig Daniel]

Thanks so much for posting the "welt lock" sheath, You have invented a much needed addition that I hope you don't mind if I use in some of my sheaths?

 

[Robber58]

Craig,
If you are speaking to me then I don't mind at all if you use the design. My customers love it and are dissappointed I can't make it work on all my knife designs.
Randy