How I Make Kydex Sheaths. 

I used to use my heat treating kiln, but I was finding the edges tended to get just too melted and I thought about one of the t-shirt presses as well. But they're kind of expensive to get new and I'm a cheap-ass What I did find works for me is that I had an old sandwich press which has a flat base and sits about the right temperature or a little higher. The top surface is corrugated so I didn't want that texture on my kydex and instead just put a spacer in there to keep it off the surface but give it a little bit of radiant heat and I put the kydex shiny side down on a piece of greaseproof paper. It doesn't take very long to get up to a working temp but I figure I can see its progress and test it from time to time while its in front of me so I haven't had any complete blow-outs of it turning into a shriveled, smoking mess like in the kiln Don't know why it never occurred to me, but yeah the temporary bolts make sense to hold it temporarily in place. Probably because I mostly do a wrap-around, one piece style of blade cover for my kitchen knives. Sort of gives me peace of mind no one's going to poke or cut themselves when they're transporting it out of the shop.

I am just beginning my knife making journey. I made my very first taco style sheath and it came out good. I used the very same flaring tool and experienced the same issue at first with uneven flare at first, but eventually I did get them to straighten out, but it was nerve racking lol. I did my kydex with a decent heat gun, one piece of foam on the floor, kydex, another foam on top, a piece of wide wood on top and then stood on it hahahaha! It worked though lmao! Came out good, but will be making a press rig next for sure. I just want more options for belt/pocket clip for the sheath, something different but still functional and nice looking. To me, an EDC fixed blade needs a slim, streamlined sheath for the pocket or belt, like what you made there. Thanks for sharing this video, as I picked up some good information and tips for my next one.

Hello Don, I love your work and your knives too. You really inspired me to really start the journey as a hobby knifemaker while i am still a student(Bachelor in mech. Eng.). I am currently working on my first real knife projects as i finally managed to organise a small workshop in my dads garage (;D). I really like the way of putting chicago screws in the sheath first so one could better clean up the inside, that was a great cause of headache with my recent tries too. So i'll definetely try that out, as well as to bolting the two kydex halves together for pressing. I am looking forward to safe a lot of time with theses tips on my next sheath. I recently did my first two tries on kydex sheaths and already noticed some of my improvised tools would not get the results, espacially the quality of the flaring, i want. So i took my time and tried to find nice eyelet-flaring tools and new foam. The website i ordered from stated in the product description that you could put the flaring tool in the spindle of a drill press to flare the eyelets nice and straight that way. I didn't finish a knife with a kydex sheath since so i wasn't able to try it out. But maybe it could ease your flaring process. ;) PS: i recently made a instagram account for sharing my knives: @get_me_a_knife

I use an arbor press for the rivets. Fast and easy. Hope this helps.

That's badass! Thanks for sharing!

I use the same set up as you But I throw it in the drillpress because I don’t have an Arbor press, nor do I need one