Kydex Tek Lok dangler sheath with pack belt

[C_Claycomb]

Over the years I have tried several different ways to carry a knife while in the field; leather, Kydex, horizontal cross draw, both sides vertical, baldric on a shoulder cord, neck and danglers. My favorite has been horizontal cross draw, but this sucks as soon as you put a pack on with a waist belt. On some passed projects I have made up detachable dangler loop systems which can be unscrewed and replaced with a Tek Lok for horizontal carry, but unscrewing and reassembling in the field is inconvenient and the chance to lose the screws is too high.


This time I tried something a bit different and I am curious what other people will think. My main concern is that it might be seen as weak. I have yet to break any sheath mountings, but I have heard others doing so. I don't know whether the flexibility while in dangler mode will help or not.

With the dangler D-ring mount removed, the sheath goes straight on the belt with the Tek Lok. The quick release buckle in this version is small enough that it can pass through the D-ring, so the ring can be used to rig with paracord for across the shoulder sling carry, or around the neck, without the 3/4" webbing getting in the way. I will probably put a screw through the D-ring molding to reinforce the Kydex, and I think it might all have worked better with a large Tek Lok, but I don't have any of those on hand.


Going to get to try it out a bit during the Moot, then make mods if needed.

 

[Buckshot]

Looks interesting Chris
Looking forward to seeing it in the flesh

 

[Stew]

Very clever Chris. I like it!

My instant weakness paranoia did kick in a bit though - have you pit the plastic D ring through any abuse? I just have visions of brittleness but it may be unfounded.

 

[Shelley]

Looks intriguing, would it work on a leather sheath as well, or a leather/kydex hybrid maybe.
Also could the plastic bendy bit be replaced with a piece of metal? No idea but just wondering if that would make it stronger...

Also could I see more shots of the knife you are using there, it looks nice...

Shelley

 

[C_Claycomb]

Ugly knives...as requested. Top two modelled after the bottom one.

the plastic could be replaced by metal, but I would rather make it all in leather than mess with metal bending. Kydex is pretty toug stuff and a thicker piece could be used with some design changes. All leather could be done, although I might change the detachment system to the dangler and just have a sewn down belt loop on the sheath. Lots of options.

hope you figure something out that suits your needs. If so, be sure to post here when it's done !

 

[Shelley]

I really like the middle one, the handle looks very comfortable and the blade looks like a good size and would cut nicely with the full flat.
No pins or thong lining, I assume they are prototypes.

May have to get some kydex to play with at some stage, I understand leather a bit from making the odd bag but kydex remains a mystery.

 

[C_Claycomb]

Pins are hidden. Two 5mm through the tang and one 3mm near the tail of the butt. Yes, sort of prototype, but am unlikely to make more like them, so maybe better to call them experiments. No thong tube, but then I didn't think that Tufnol really needed one for durability, and thought it would be cooler to round over the edges more than you can with metal in there.

There is a Kydex forum which is well worth taking a look at. http://kydexpro.com/forum mostly holsters, but moulding is moulding and there are folk there doing it professionally, rather than the hobby stuff that people like me do. One thing I have learned, a good press makes the difference between making good parts easily and making indifferent to just okay parts with LOTS of effort. When I started playing with Kydex and made the press I have been using that forum didn't exist and there were not many published press designs. I can't say that what I have been using has helped me. A new press is on the to-do-list!

 

[Shelley]

Thanks for the info, I will look up that site, and if I to try kydex I will make a press first.

Getting back to your design for the sheath though, and being a simple sort I was thinking if you swapped out the rivets on your kydex with eyelets then ran a loop of paracord through the eyelets then you could attach your dangler to that without the plastic bendy bit, nothing to get lost or break, and paracord is known as 550 cord for a reason.

 

[C_Claycomb]

Ah, but that would defeat two objectives of the design.

First and foremost, the sheath is screwed together and can be hinged open for cleaning. Kydex is known for collecting grit that scratches blades and I have had a couple of friends with a lot more bush time than me specify that they wanted sheaths that could be cleaned out of gunk.
Second, I really like carrying my knife with the quick on/off TekLok belt loop, which I think is the bit you mean by the bendy bit, on my left side when I am not wearing a pack. Swapping to a non-hinged loop seemed like I would need to mess around with my belt a lot more, partial un-threading from my trousers at least.

The Spyderco Bushcraft sheath (leather) has eyelets that can be used to rig carry just as you say, and I have played around with it on that knife, and with my home built version of the same. It does work

This arrangement was aimed at making a sheath that was on a Teklok, but could be carried with a pack without making any modifications on the basic horizontal cross draw sheath. Having been carrying a knife on a length of 4mm accessory cord for a few years now, and starting to find that I didn't carry the knife as much because I found the cord inconvenient, I was aiming to go back to something easier to put on and take off.

As I said, there are a lot of different ways to do something similar that would trade off between strength, security, convenience, flexibility, weight, weather resistance (veg tan leather doesn't like too much water), heat resistance (don't leave Kydex on the dashboard in the summer sun), cleanability, difficulty of manufacture, etc etc etc.