DIY Kydex Sheath supplies

[andywragg]

Hello there.

I will be building a new sheath for my Anglo Arms Nomad. For less than £10 the knife is a bargain but the nylon webbing sheath is already collapsing, especially where the retaining strap is. I've ordered some 2mm Kydex of EBay but I'm wondering where to get the rest of the bits from in the UK. Delivery from USA (knifekits) is extortionate IMO.

I won't be going into production so I expect this to be a one off - hence I'm not going to be investing in expensive tooling.

Stuff I need;

Foam
eyelets and something to set them with


Thanks in advance

 

[Draven]

I'm in the US so I can't offer specifics, but I use the same eyelets for kydex as I do for leather - any leather supply place should have something suitable and something to set them with I'm sure you could get them on the bay as well. Try and make sure you can get a drill bit that will match the outer size of the eyelet - I think the 1/4" eyelets I use are 1/4" internal, I wound up paying for a drill bit specifically for eyelets. If you use a ruler and center punch to mark your holes, brad point bits are excellent for keeping them all looking tidy! I did use a slightly-too-small bit for quite a while though and just ream it slightly larger with the point of a knife and that worked, it was just a pain.

For foam I've used EVA floor mats (you can usually buy them about 2ft square with jigsaw type edges so they fit together) and camping mats (the ones about 1/2" thick with a smooth side, not the styrofoam-feeling textured ones). I mainly use the camping mats for holsters because guns tend to be thicker than blades and the camping mats I've used were softer than the eva foam so had more give, but for molding thin kydex to a knife either should work fine.

If you're using an oven (I use a gas stove, which isn't ideal but it works!) make sure to creep the temperature up. I usually do a lot of presses before I get one to my liking. If you get it too hot the kydex will turn shiny (even when cooled) and won't lose it's shape when heated up again. At the right (or too cool) temperatures you can heat and re-press as many times as necessary to get good results

Hope that helps!

 

[andywragg]

Thanks

I've found some 25mm foam sheets on ebay. Just need to find the eyelets now.

 

[andywragg]

Cant find the deep eyelets anywhere on ebay/amazon over here. Loads of shallow ones that would do for fixing webbing straps but none that would be able to join 2 layers of 2mm Kydex. *** i only need about a dozen.

 

[andywragg]

Http://Brisa.FL

Brisa Knife Supplies in Finland. They have everything i needed and the package took 3 days to get here. The only issue is a 30Eu minimum spend. I think a 40Eu order (including P&P) cast me about £38.