Magnetic retention sheath

O

obnepec

Joined
Mar 25, 2010
Messages
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I am making a sheath for a blackbird sk-5 and am planning on putting a magnet in the sheath. The magnet is the same type as used on the fluke magnetic strap holders. So its made to hold a fluke series 80 meter stationary when pull is almost parallel to the magnet. So I think it will do very good for this style of retention. My question is this: I am somewhat concerned about making this my only retention. This is my first sheath in 10+ years so most probably I am going to make a cross strap with elastic pull back on it for when I want it locked and leave it with just the magnet when I am using it frequently.

But the question here is has anyone had experience with making magnetic hold sheaths? Any suggestions? Magnet placement?

Thanks for any help!
 
I make most of my inverted sheaths with magnetic retention. I use the small flat magnets found under the read-write arm in old computer hard drives. Two of these are strong enough to hold a large fixed blade (such as a 7" Marine Raider Bowie) securely in the sheath, even when shaken fairly hard (as would happen if one jumped down from a fence. I embed the magnets into the back leather with 'Sho-Goo' and cover with a thin suede. I haven't found any other magnets as small and flat as these to do the job as effectively. I'll use a single magnet, often just half the magnet, for a smaller back-up boot knife such as the Gerber Guardian. These things are really, really powerful!


Stitchawl
 
Just be a little cautious where you locate super strong magnets (rare earth magnets) because they can really harm devices like smartphones if they come to close to them.
 
If you don't have a supply of dead hard drives to scavenge, I get them from Home Depot, Lowe's, Hobby Lobby and Michael's all carry various sizes of small rare earth magnets. Occasionally, you can catch them on sale.
 
I tried Lowe's and Home Depot, both had ceramic magnets which are not nearly as strong as "rare earth" or molybdenum magnets. The hard drives do use moly magnets but are a lesson in patience and losing a few in the process of removing them. The glue holding them in is actually stronger than the magnet, they are very (and I do mean VERY) brittle. Out of four hard drives I got three whole magnets, and there are two per hard drive.

Google is your friend when searching for molybdenum magnets, some are way over priced and some are rather reasonable.
 
leatherman said:
I tried Lowe's and Home Depot, both had ceramic magnets which are not nearly as strong as "rare earth" or molybdenum magnets. The hard drives do use moly magnets but are a lesson in patience and losing a few in the process of removing them. The glue holding them in is actually stronger than the magnet, they are very (and I do mean VERY) brittle. Out of four hard drives I got three whole magnets, and there are two per hard drive.
Click to expand...

I break them all the time when removing them. But the broken pieces are still almost as powerful, and when put together, are more than strong enough to hold a blade. The magnets aren't seen in the finished sheath so having broken pieces doing the work isn't a problem. For retention, I embed them in a layer of 'Sho-Goo,' set into a pocket in the back of the sheath, which keeps them from moving around or separating from the sheath itself. This is covered over with thin liner leather.


Stitchawl
 
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