Working with Kydex

E

EarlFH

Joined
Nov 29, 2010
Messages
174
What temperature does Kydex have to have to get to, to make it workable? I've got a knife that is almost impossible to get out of the sheath, and I'd like to 'massage' it a little.

EarlFH
 
Hi,

I usually do not move threads from General discussion when we have other sub forums that might be better, since it is General.

In this case since you are asking a question, I moved the thread to the sub forum where the experts hang out in hope you get a more accurate answer.

gus
 
Thank you sir. I am fairly new on the forum, and wasn't aware of the "sheaths & Such", subforum.

EarlFH
 
Like Justin said, between 305 and 320F is a good temp for kydex. If you just want to loosen one up that's too tight, another method would be to use a heat gun or hot hair dryer and warm it with the knife in place. Just go slowly. If you get it to hot you can always press it back in place.
Wear gloves for sure.
Another thing to try if it's still to tight overall is to warm it enough to get the knife in with a layer or two of masking tape on each side of the blade and other contact points. Then reinsert the knife and press.
Good luck.
 
Thanks for your replies. It seem to be just around the top of the sheath, where it fits around the end of the grip. The blade fit is fine.

EarlFH
 
toaster oven-its the best. let it heat up on high, then you can open the door a little and put the part you want heated near the hot red thingy. it only takes a few seconds to heat up enough.
 
Heat bun bro!!

Thats the ideal tool... you can really direct the heat to the desired location!
 
If you just need to tweak the top edge, Hoopster as the right approach. I sometimes use some aluminum foil as a heat shield so I don't accidentally heat other parts.

Heat the spot until it softens a little, used a gloved hand to bend or unbend the Kydex. Hold it for a minute so it cools and sets. Test it to see if you got the desired results. If not, just reheat it like I do and try again. It usually takes me at least 2-3 reheats to get it the way I want it.

You can wipe a little Armour All on the Kydex, it shines it up nicely.

Ric
 
Hair dryer for sure bro.......only on the spot ya need loosened, and don't get carried away, keep checkin'er.
 
For touch up, heat gun is the only way to go. Put it in the toaster oven and you risk the whole sheath being deformed.

Just take it slow. Also, gloves are bulky and just makes everything more difficult to handle, it shouldn't get that hot and you shouldn't need to hold it for that long to fix any small issues.
 
Thanks for all the advice, guys. I used my heat gun, and some masking tape around the end of the grip. The aluminum foil worked well to keep the heat off of the parts I didn't want to get hot. Some of them did anyway, but that was my fault. It's functioning right, now.

Earl
 
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