Damage from sheaths

Wayne Bensinger

Well-Known Member
Good Evening all, just wondering if anybody out has marred or scratched the finish on their blades by inserting the knife in and out of a kydex sheath? I thought that with the kydex being softer plastic that would not be an issue. At first I couldn't figure out how I was scratching the blade, then I re-polished and sure enough within the first 5 inserts there were the scratches right back where I had just removed them from. I know what most are thinking, just start using leather right, I'm just not ready for that yet, soon though, I will soon have some hand me down leather tools from a family member who passed.
Just looking for some food for thought here, thanks all, enjoy your Sunday.
 
Yes, That's one of the reasons I don't care for Kydek for my knives. Trying to sell scratched knives is always a bummer. Many say they can make them that will not scratch, but I am waiting.
 
I've made 2 Kydex sheaths so far. On the first one, I put 4 or 5 layers of masking tape on the blade before forming. That little extra space helped with scratching my home brew Parkerizing, but not perfectly. The second sheath, I tried without the masking tape and it has wore the finish off much worse.

I'm where your are basically, just bought a double shoulder from Tandy and have collected most of the basic leather working tools. I'm thinking leather is the way to go.
 
Here is one option, you can clean up the blade and then ship it out of the sheath along with a note on the sheath stating that it will scratch the blade, then someone wanting the knife as a collector item will simply not put it in the sheath but someone wanting to use it more than likely will not care as it will more than likely get scratched anyways. Just my two cents But yes I have had trouble with it but not all the time.
 
Thanks guys , I guess it's time to work on some new skills! Kydex has it place and like MT Knives said, we do have options that may work so we can use this product on certain occasions. I was also thinking of actually glueing(not sure how yet) a piece of 1/8" felt as a liner to the inside of the sheath. It would need to be the proper size from the start and be attached in the exact spot before the the heat/fold/press part of the kydex operation. Also I thought about the moisture thing with the felt, but that's probably the same with the leather, much to experiment with here! Not sure if the felt can take the 300' heat in the oven, that's my next experiment, I'll let you know how it works soon as it's Sunday of course so I'll have this afternoon in the shop.
 
I only use kydex when requested and on work knives. I tried liner method. The felt was added after forming before final assembly. After a month or so it start collecting stuff and scratched the blade. Did one using 2-3 oz leather it has held up better. I taped the knife prior to forming to allow space for the liner. These both were 2 piece sheaths not fold overs. I still do 95% of my sheaths out of leather.
 
FYI - even leather sheaths will scratch a blade over time - the leather will pickup dust and other nasties over time and then you will get scratches. After building several thousand sheaths and holsters there is my experience simply no 100% effective way of preventing scratches from using a sheath or holster - only 100% effective no-scratch method is to never use the knife which goes hand in hand with the experience of the majority of the pro sheath/holster makers I know/have known..
Thad Rybka, well known holster maker, has often been asked how to retain the bluing on hand guns since he started in the early 1960'd and his stock answer - "Leave it in the box."
 
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FYI - even leather sheaths will scratch a blade over time - the leather will pickup dust and other nasties over time and then you will get scratches. After building several thousand sheaths and holsters there is my experience simply no 100% effective way of preventing scratches from using a sheath or holster - only 100% effective no-scratch method is to never use the knife which goes hand in hand with the experience of the majority of the pro sheath/holster makers I know/have known..
Thad Rybka, well known holster maker, has often been asked how to retain the bluing on hand guns since he started in the early 1960'd and his stock answer - "Leave it in the box."

Great answer! Chuck........
 
I use a kydex sheath with one of my personal knives with a blued blade. It has not scratched. I've made sure to keep it clean and haven't had any problems out of it. However, I have had it happen when I first started making them. Mostly when the blade is taller than the handle.

I think It's just part of the territory with kydex. I use it for users. I'm not worried about the finish if it's going to be beating up on stuff anyway, as someone mentioned above.

One other thing is that I don't use those super high density foams on my sheaths either (however I do have some now to test out). I've been using baby crib mattress foam. It's about 4 inches thick and gets pressed down with some super compression. The definition isn't quite as good, but with a little work my knives snap right into the sheath and don't get scratched. They don't rattle around either as most expect with less definition.
 
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