Kydex sheaths for hatchets, axes and mauls

[Vail Ave]

Hello All,
I am fairly new to the forum and have been hanging out in the chainsaw mods section mostly. But I figured I would write a post about Kydex sheaths as I have been having quite a lot of fun making parts from Kydex. I have been tinkering on my tools lately, getting all my hatchets and mauls sharpened up, re-hanging heads, etc. I have also been making other parts from kydex so I thought I would try to make some kydex sheaths for them since they are all shave sharp now and I don't want them bouncing around in the truck like that. I included a picture of some of the sheaths I made. For my normal 8# maul, there are not enough features to retain the sheath on its own, so I used bungee paracord to retain the sheath around the handle. I have a Marbles Camp Axe, which is really a hatchet. It is a mini Hudson bay pattern and the shape of the blade is very nice for making a sheath that retains on the head by itself. Likewise with my 4.5# maul with the fancy side protrusions. Those protrusions make cavities in the head that are great for natural retention of the sheath. I have been using .080" and it works great. Now, I have a new project that is going to take some time. I am going to build a feller's axe holster for one of my uncles that is an arborist. I know those are usually made from aluminum. I just have to make a proper form for the holster, because I cant use the actual axe head since I need clearance, and it needs to be deeper than the axe head for gravity retention. Anyway, if you are like me and like to have your blades covered, try your hand and thermal-forming with kydex. There are literally thousands of youtube videos about how to do it. Pretty easy to work with and you can build a thermal-foam press pretty easily. knifekits.com seems to have high quality parts such as eyelets and dies, and kydex in tons of colors. Lately, I have just been ordering re-stock supplies off amazon. I am sure there are other guys on here that are much more advanced at this than I am. I am definitely a novice and learning. But it is good fun and does not take long to have something usable.

 

[Vail Ave]

I started on the axe holster tonight. This will be pretty cool for daily work. I have seen the aluminum ones which are sweet. I hope this one will work as good for home brewed kydex and occasional use. Next step is joining the front and back together with eyelets, and then adding the belt loops. Not to hard. Making the wood form was the most time consuming.

 

[LegDeLimber]

Have you tried vacuum forming anything from it?
I tried to think of how you might vac-form over something like the axe blade.
All of my ideas seemed waaaay more trouble than your foam clamping method looks.
Plus I don't know how hot you can get the material and not get stretching/thinning or blisters, etc.

Have you tried any manner of thermal bonding/seaming?

What about solvents, anything that's predictable for penetration characteristics, drying times, Not creeping away from the seam and damaging the finish?

Sorry for goofy questions, I'm a bit tired and so everthing looks even more amazing then.

Edit: Now if only we could rig up a flex-shaft style attachment to our ultrasonic cleaning units
and weld the seams.

 

[Vail Ave]

Vacuum forming with vac table is certainly more advanced that using a thermal foam press. But also about 15x more expensive. I do not do enough of this to work to justify a vacuum forming system. You can get better definition with vacuum forming from what I have seen, but I have also learned ways to do what I need to do with a thermal foam press. You can get equally impressive results with a thermal foam press, but it definitely takes more time and you have more work to do with a heat gun once it comes out of the press.

I have not tried thermal bonding or seaming. But, when it comes to sheaths, holsters, and things like that, the eyelets (rivet/eyelets) work great and provide contrast against the base material and it looks good. Also, when you join multiple pieces of kydex together with eyelets, they offer an opportunity to set up how you will affix belt loops, a tech-lok, or even just running paracord through the eyelets to make your belt loops or fastening method like molle clips, etc. Very modular.

Kydex has a full data sheet from the manufacturer that defines it characteristics. It in intended to become pliable at 250-330 degrees, but I have found that is it pliable at a much lower temp than that. You can heat it do a different temp depending on what you are trying to do. It will damage the finish if you overheat it. I have also found that the longer you have it at the 300 degree mark, the better definition you will get against your form in the press. So pre-heating the foam with a heat gun helps if definition is your goal.

There are tons of very, very skilled guys that do kydex. I am not one of them. I just like learning about it. Most people polish the edges and really make a very nice product. I don't get that worried about it yet, maybe in time. I started out just wanting a simple sheath to cover my blades and this seemed an easy way for me to make them myself and control how they fastened, colors, etc.

Another thing that affects definition, retention, durability, eyelet types, etc is the thickness of material you use. Most of the info I have seen suggests that people tend to use .060" for knife sheaths, .080" for gun holsters, and maybe .093" for the backs of holsters? .125" seems to be used more for making belt loops and really heavy duty parts. I don't think there are any rules. I use .080" most of the time and it works good for most everything I have done.

I started out heating the kydex in my grill. this works good, I would not want to heat it in my kitchen stove. It is plastic and has chemicals in it that are probably bad. I eventually bought a toaster oven which is great for small projects and allows me to control temp a little better. This hatchet holster was big. I used a 12x12" sheet to make the orange outer molded part. So, I had to go back to the grill. (I put aluminum foil over the grill rack, bring the temp up slowly, easy to overheat and damage finish if you get impatient).

Your question about solvents I am not sure I understood. Do you mean if you place the material in a solvent, will it lower the temp required to form it? Not to my knowledge. You just need a good stable heat source. The plastic itself is resistant to most things chemical. It is amazing stuff.

 

[Vail Ave]

 

[LegDeLimber]

Thanks for the feedback on using the Kydex!

My (jumbled, half formed) question about solvents
was regarding seam closure or generally "gluing" the kydex
to itself.

Just sloppy writing, That's what I get for posting when tired.

My ADD has always had my sentences (mentally) about 3/4 paragraph ahead of my fingers
and So I often lose halves of sentences or various words, whilst hunting & pecking at the keyboard.
Being tired makes it even harder to proofread myself.