Working on sheaths today! Really proud of how the sheaths come out these days, took a lot of time to get the process sorted! Love the 'snap' they make when re-sheathing the blade!

I heat all my kydex on a griddle set to 340°F, each piece stays on until the top surface is 290°F (as read with an infrared thermometer). The kydex is then put into the press with the knife blade.
The knife blade is coated with 3 layers of masking tape each side to create extra room inside the sheath. This helps reduce scratching, while also preventing binding if the blade is dirty.
The drain hole and the extra room inside the sheath combine to make sure that the blade don't freeze into the sheath in cold weather, the drain also make the sheath much easier to clean, just run it under a faucet.

After the sheath comes out of the press (stays in there for 5 minutes) I then mark the outline and rivet holes using a template, drill and rivet all the holes and then rough cut the sheath on the band saw.

Final shaping is done using a dull 120 grit blaze belt on the grinder. This removes material while also melting the kydex a bit along the edges. The slight melting helps weld the two parts together. The final result looks like one piece!

If you guys have any questions about my process for kydex I'm happy to answer them!

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Photo by Aaron Gough on January 11, 2015.
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