Made a Kydex sheath

[JAB]

In another thread (the one Spots started about the really cool leather sheath he got for carrying one of his Bowie style knives) I mentioned that I wanted to come up with a way to carry a fixed blade knife other than having it on my hip.  I wanted to carry a smallish blade in a horizontal position, probably SOB.  This post discusses my solution.

 

This is my first attempt at a Kydex sheath.  I have played around with Kydex, before and even made a hybrid holster but not a sheath.  The Kydex I had before was purchased at a leather shop in Knoxville that has since closed and the Tandy store in K-town doesn't sell Kydex so I ordered from Amazon.  I was trying to get the same thickness as I had before but the sheets I ordered are thicker than I wanted making them a bit more difficult to form and to get them to really take definition as nicely as the thinner stuff I had before.  In the future, I will order the next thickness down but for now I have eight squares of this stuff and so I will use it.

 

The knife I chose to use is a Buck Paklite.  I felt it would work well for this purpose because it is fairly thin overall (even with the paracord handle that I added) but has a blade that - although not long - has both a nice breadth and thickness.

 

The texture on the sheath was actually an accident.  I heated the Kydex in my oven in a baking pan and wanted to not ruin the pan so I put a piece of clean but previously used aluminum foil in the bottom of the pan.  Despite being a bit difficult to form to the knife, the kydex (which stuck to the foil a little and had to be coaxed loose) had no trouble picking up the texture of the previously somewhat crumpled piece of foil.  At first I was annoyed by this but as I looked more at the sheath I decided that I like it.  So, pics:

 

 

 

At first I thought about making a Kydex belt clip but ended up going with a leather belt loop, instead.  The middle of the sheath is the only place it was wide enough to allow a belt loop wide enough to accommodate my belt so it only got the one loop.  That loop is nice and tight, though, and does a fine job keeping the knife in place.

 

 

The knife, itself, wasn't very sharp out of the box despite being a beveled blade with an obvious secondary bevel.  It took me a few hours spread over two days but I 'adjusted' the secondary bevel a little and put a real edge on it.  I managed to get it literally 'razor sharp'.  It remains to be seen how well the edge will hold.  The above pics were taken before I sharpened it.

Edited October 15, 2014 by JAB

[peejman]

Cool.  Could you post a pic or two of it on your belt?

[JAB]

Cool.  Could you post a pic or two of it on your belt?

 

Do you want to see pics of my butt that badly?  :rofl:  

 

Kidding.  I'll see what I can manage.

[peejman]

Do you want to see pics of my butt that badly?  :rofl:  

 

Kidding.  I'll see what I can manage.

 

 

Yeah, I thought about that after I posted....      :ugh:

 

I like the idea of a horizontal sheath, just curious about fit and comfort with something that's fairly long and rigid.   :ugh:   Yeah... that sounds bad too, but since I've already jumped off that bridge, may as well go all in.  Get it?  All in...    :rofl:

Edited October 15, 2014 by peejman

[Grand Torino]

Good job....it's amazing what you can come up with if you think about something long enough. :up:

[JAB]

Good job....it's amazing what you can come up with if you think about something long enough. :up:

 

Thanks, GT!

 

Yeah, I thought about that after I posted....      :ugh:

 

I like the idea of a horizontal sheath, just curious about fit and comfort with something that's fairly long and rigid.   :ugh:   Yeah... that sounds bad too, but since I've already jumped off that bridge, may as well go all in.  Get it?  All in...    :rofl:

 

:rofl:

 

Here ya' go:

 

For some reason, I think the pic makes it look like the knife handle sticks out more than it really does.

 

 

I say that because, as you can see, it hides pretty well under just a t-shirt:

 

[peejman]

Thanks.  I figured the handle would stick out a bit, but wasn't sure how much that mattered.  I'd rather have it at 4-5:00 with the handle forward.  Seems like maybe the handle would catch on things if you brushed past them.  After peeling a couple cell phones off my belt by brushing by door frames and such,  I keep the phone in my pocket now.  It might help keep the handle pulled a bit tighter if you added a 2nd belt loop at the opening. 

[JAB]

Thanks.  I figured the handle would stick out a bit, but wasn't sure how much that mattered.  I'd rather have it at 4-5:00 with the handle forward.  Seems like maybe the handle would catch on things if you brushed past them.  After peeling a couple cell phones off my belt by brushing by door frames and such,  I keep the phone in my pocket now.  It might help keep the handle pulled a bit tighter if you added a 2nd belt loop at the opening. 

 

A second belt loop would likely hold the sheath tighter but then the sheath would have to be wider.  I was going to put two loops on - one at each end - and not put one in the center so I could center them over the rear belt loop on my pants like I would do with a pancake holster.  Problem was, the sheath is too narrow at the ends meaning the loops weren't wide enough to allow my belt through.  The only place it was wide enough was at the center and there was only room for one loop.  This could, of course, be remedied by making the sheath wider but that could run in to its own issues.

 

For me, the reason for coming up with this is that I already have too much 'stuff' vying for a spot at or around the 4:00 - 5:00 position.  My cellphone is usually there but if I carry a gun on my belt (rather than in my pocket) then it goes there and my cellphone goes in my pocket.  There is simply no place for a knife there.  It could go handle forward on the left side at about 9:00 but that would mean having 'stuff' on both sides of my belt and I think that would get annoying.

 

I think (and actually have thought about this, before) that if I were going to carry a knife in the 4:00-5:00 position and I didn't want to carry in a straight verticle, I'd go with more of a slightly 'diagonal' position rather than a true horizontal.  I'd also likely be carrying closer to a 3:30 position.  Kind of like carrying a gun with a forward cant to the grips.  I've also seen where some folks carry a small, fixed blade (even smaller than the Paklite) horizontally on their weak side but right up close to the belt buckle.

Edited October 16, 2014 by JAB

[peejman]

I actually meant 7:00 position instead of 4:00...  I'm left handed but shoot right handed so having the knife opposite my gun suits me fine.  I'd rather have the knife on the left anyway.  I've got a fixed blade and a vertical left handed sheath.  I can't draw the knife particularly quickly, but I figure I'll have bigger worries if it gets to the point of needing to draw it quickly.  For me, it's mostly just a camping type thing. 

 

And it does get a bit absurd with all the stuff I'd like to carry... gun & leatherman on one side with knife (2nd knife actually) and spare mag on the other side.  If I add my BUG to my pocket and spare mag for it, it gets to be a bit too mall ninja-ish...  :lol:

[JAB]

I'm kind of in the same mind about a knife.  I have no training or experience with knife fighting so, for me, a knife is more a tool than a weapon.  Not that I wouldn't try to use it in self defense if I had no, other choice but for that matter I'd use a dead cat for self defense if that were all I could lay hands on at the time.  I like folding pocket knives but just think that - for some things - a fixed blade makes a better 'tool' than a folder.  That is why I liked the Paklite rather than a more 'tactical' type knife for this purpose, as well.

 

I have a few neck knives but because of what they are and how they are intended to be carried the blades on them are so small and 'light' that they probably wouldn't be too much more effective as a tool for slightly heavier tasks than a folder.  Fine for light work or as a SD option but not as substantial as the Paklite.