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The Sheath/Holster Makers Forum This is the place to discuss all forms of sheath and holster making.

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Old 01-30-2009, 11:03 AM
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spaknives spaknives is offline
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A Little Help With Kydex

Hey Ed and fellors,
Whats goin on?? I just purchased my first kydex & some kydex forming foam and some other parts and pieces. Now all I need is the know how to make it all come togethor. I plan to make a kydex press using the foam. I have the general idea of how to make the sheath, cut out the basic pattern, heat it up, wrap it around the knife, and put it in the press. The one thing that I'm not 100% sure about is the belt loop part. I also bought a couple of tek-locks. Ed I realy liked the EBK you were wearing at blade west. The cross draw style and I'm sure you said it had a tek-lock. So please any help on kydex sheath the belt loops and tek-locks and how its all attatched would be greatly apreciated. Pictures would also be awsome. Thanks, Shane
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Old 01-30-2009, 12:48 PM
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Basically to attach a TekLok you just drill holes in the sheath with the same spacing as the TekLok . Then it is simply attached with removable screws.

If you have a thick guard/handle on the knife it is a good idea to position the belt loop where it will attach below the handle area of the knife. That way the extra thickness of the handle isn't pushing the belt loop away. This will cause the knife to stick out further from the body than necessary and sometimes require longer screws.

For small knives I prefer using the mini-TekLok pictured here. For reference that knife is 6" overall, with a 3" blade, 1" wide. The full sized Tek's are just too big for my little designs.





For larger pieces I prefer the Maxxclip that is sold through knifekits.com I like the wider hole spacing and the hole placement allows more carry angles. This knife is around 10" long. I really wish they carried them in a mini size!






To accurately do hole spacing I made a simple jig. I drilled a hole in a piece of wood, epoxied a 1/4" rob in the hole. Then when it's time to drill my holes in the sheath I set the wood in my drill press vice, measure it to be the exact distance from my drill bit center to the center of the rod in the jig...then clamp it down so it doesn't move. Then I drill one hole, place that hole over the rod and drill the second hole. Repeat until done. That way the holes will always be the exact distance they need to be (as long as you measured correctly). I don't have any pictures of the jig setup but if you would like some I can take some tonight when I'm at the shop.
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Old 01-30-2009, 03:43 PM
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Cool AUBE! Thanks for the pics and the info. Pictures are worth a lot. If you don't mind and you have time I would like to see pictures of the jig. it sounds like a pretty good set up. Do you use some kind of kydex press to form the kydex? Thanks AUBe awsome designs, Shane
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Old 02-23-2009, 03:54 PM
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Hi Shane,

Sorry I never took some pics. Been having a lower back problem which has put me behind schedule and really makes me not want to sit at a desk to log into the forums. I totally forgot about this thread.

How is the sheathmaking going? I will try to remember to take some pics next time I'm in the shop, but it's a *very* basic jig (but it works).

As for a press, if you are only doing a few sheaths at a time a press is really needed. I just use my big ole butt I have two layers of PVC foam....I heat the Kydex with a heatgun, place it and the knife between the layers, and sit on it. It cools within a minute or two. Been using this process for years, the only time I miss having a press is when I'm doing a large quantity of sheaths at once and the sheath molding process is taking longer than the runtime of the movie that I put in.

-Jason
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Old 02-24-2009, 07:34 AM
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Hi Shane!

I'm back in town now from the Kentucky show. Chicago screws are what I use for the belt loops. I'll try to get some pics of the EBK belt loops when my knives get back here, and post them for you. Put that on your list of things to explore when you come to visit! I can show you a fairly easy way to make the belt loops with a single 2" wide strip of kydex.

I really like the tek-locs, but they have gotten pretty spendy. The last bunch I purchased was from Knifekits.com....and after chatting with them a bit I managed to get a deal when I purchased 10 or more at a time.


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Old 02-24-2009, 08:20 AM
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Hi Ed, I was wondering about your belt loops too, since tek loks are getting out of my budget range!


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Old 02-24-2009, 09:38 AM
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Hi Tom!

Next time we get together I'd be happy to show you how I make the belt loops. Its one of those things that I MIGHT be able to show in pics, but I suspect it would be more confusing then in person.


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