I hate Kydex 🤬

[Donkey Basher]

Today I decided to clean up the Kydex sheath I made for my David Stretton pull saw & then to try making a sheath for the Enzo Fisher knife I bought from a member on here a little while back.

I hadn’t appreciated just how much f’ing mess Kydex makes when you trim it off & then sand down the edges - those little grains of black plastic get everywhere

Anyway, cleaned the mess up then got to preparing to make the sheath for the Enzo - I want a folded one not a pancake as I’m planning to either buy the Casstrom ‘piggy back’ leather hangers or make some of my own. So I can have both the Enzo Fisher & a Brisa Bobtail together in the same way Casstrom piggy back the No.10 & the Mini Safari like this.



Got the tape measure out, measured around the handle & cut the Kydex to size before putting in the oven - fan 170 degrees for 5 mins. Blade was already taped up & a cocktail stick taped to the end to make a drain hole. Wearing my Kevlar cut resistant gloves under a pair of stout leather work gloves stopped the heat getting through - burned my pinkies when I made the pull saw sheath, lesson learned.

All went well, or so I thought, & with the floppy Kydex nicely wrapped around the knife the whole lot was clamped up in two pieces of foam sandwiched between some heavy ply & left to cool down.

After an hour - it’s a tad warm so allowed longer for ambient temperature, I took the clamps off & removed the knife & sheath. At first I was over the moon as everything looked good, there was just enough handle held in the Kydex to get a good grip of the knife, the back of the blade was tucked nicely into the fold & everything looked flat & true.

Then I turned it over…

Turns out the knife hadn’t been flat & somehow the handle was slightly twisted so whilst it had formed nicely one side the other had a big void which meant the knife just falls out.

It’s been a VERY hot & muggy day, I’ve had the oven on to make this sheath & now I find it’s been a waste of time & I’ve either got to start over again or go to plan B…

…I’ve just ordered some nice deep brown full grain shoulder leather!

 

[snake_2586]

In my limited experience, don't cut anything to size until you are happy with the fold, once that works you can then cut it to size, one of the good things about kydex is that you can try again, just through that piece back in the oven and it will unfold as it heats and then you can try again.

Good luck.

With the leather, when sewing it up don't cut the welt to size, cut the inside of the welt to what you want, but leave the outside rough, then you can cut it back to match the rest of the sheath when it is sewn up and sand to finish all the edges off together.

 

[HonestJohn]

Plastic fantastic will always disappoint.
Wood, steel, glass and leather make reliable components for stalking equipment

 

[Donkey Basher]

In my limited experience, don't cut anything to size until you are happy with the fold, once that works you can then cut it to size, one of the good things about kydex is that you can try again, just through that piece back in the oven and it will unfold as it heats and then you can try again.

Good luck.

With the leather, when sewing it up don't cut the welt to size, cut the inside of the welt to what you want, but leave the outside rough, then you can cut it back to match the rest of the sheath when it is sewn up and sand to finish all the edges off together.

Thanks - when I said cut the Kydex to size I meant cut down a 12”x8” sheet to get a rectangle to fold - measured around the knife using a tailors tape measure, pinched it tight then added 20mm & made sure there was extra over on the length too. It’s the right size but I can’t be bothered to bugger about & try it again right now!

I much prefer leather, both to work & as a finish!

Going to be looking to see if I can get some ideas on how to make a single sheath for both knives.

 

[Mungo]

Plastic fantastic will always disappoint.
Wood, steel, glass and leather make reliable components for stalking equipment

Glass??

 

[zambezi]

whilst it had formed nicely one side the other had a big void

A feature of thermoplastics like Kydex is that you can re-do any shape. Almost an infinite number of times. I have taken formed sheaths back to flat sheet, and so on.

Don't give up. Remove Kydex insert from leather hanger, and use a directed stream of hot air to soften just the area that needs nipping up:

Make micro adjustments [really needs fingers that are heat tolerent] and retest. I have made several such sheaths. Example below:

 

[HonestJohn]

Glass??

Scopes