Silencing kydex?

[Ironbut]

Garrett has been making leather lined kydex holsters for a several years, and they work really well. I have two & I keep the insides waxed with neutral paste shoe polish to keep them from soaking up the humidity/moisture. I don't see why it wouldn't work for knife sheaths.

 

[Cole#357.30]

Lined kydex sheaths are readily available from many custom makers

RJ Martin did it 20 some years ago

leather of a type of felt/moleskin is the tiChet

Garrett has been making leather lined kydex holsters for a several years, and they work really well. I have two & I keep the insides waxed with neutral paste shoe polish to keep them from soaking up the humidity/moisture. I don't see why it wouldn't work for knife sheaths.
View attachment 2257731

Thanks for the example.

 

[scdub]

C4 sheath makers used the soft side of hook/loop material inside their kydex. It's worked quite well for quieting and holding. They also made them so they could be taken apart for cleaning. They made sheaths for Jim Behring Treeman knives for a while.

Ha - I just came back to this thread to post this idea!! Not original after all.

I think this might work quite well if used sparingly and well attached. Compared to leather/neoprene I think it should be less prone to hold moisture or scratch the blade w/ dirt/sand

 

[A.L.]

Solid fix. I usually either make an anime sword unsheathing sound with my mouth or just blow big raspberries. Yelling "Thundercats! Hooo" is also acceptable.

In seriousness, I think a bit of soft waterproof material where the guard snaps in would quiet most of the blade being drawn. Since I find the sheaths the most noisy when I break them free.

I always fart loudly in the woods to assert dominance and to warn all the animals of the approaching apex predator

 

[Reallybigmonkey1]

I've lined kydex sheaths with very thin teflon with good luck and it won't even dull an edge when drawn against it. They make thin teflon sheets for pipe gasket making but it's very expensive.

 

[Ironbut]

I always fart loudly in the woods to assert dominance and to warn all the animals of the approaching apex predator

OK. Somebody has to do it. From Monty Python and the The Holy Grail

 

[scdub]

Hey y’all,

I just used a strip of sticky-back, loop-side velcro on the inside of a Bolatron sheath I made for this sweet John Greco fighter to tighten it up.

Can confirm.

It worked great to eliminate a slight rattle when shaken vigorously, and it does reduce the noise from the sheath if the blade is drawn across the velcro vs. the Bolatron.

 

[Thescrawnylumberjack]

If you play with the lock up enough you can almost eliminate the click especially on the draw. Handle shape/contouring at the front of the handle might also play a role.

 

[AntCaps]

The guy who mentioned neoprene has the best idea so far. My suggestions would be to only pad the contact spots where it's retained. I'd also make the sheath take down for cleaning and possible replacement of the pad if ever needed.

 

[7stitches]

I would think leather lined Kydex would create moisture between the two layers.

 

[AntDog]

Good kydex doesn’t rattle when carrying the knife. By the time you need the knife the game is down. I don’t see the point at all.

If the rebuttal is that you might need a blade to clear a firing lane I’m calling bullshit. Think the deer won’t hear you whacking branches but they’ll bolt at the snap of a blade popping into kydex?

 

[AntDog]

Hey y’all,

I just used a strip of sticky-back, loop-side velcro on the inside of a Bolatron sheath I made for this sweet John Greco fighter to tighten it up.

Can confirm.

It worked great to eliminate a slight rattle when shaken vigorously, and it does reduce the noise from the sheath if the blade is drawn across the velcro vs. the Bolatron.
View attachment 2436773
View attachment 2436775

Nice Greco

 

[scdub]

If you play with the lock up enough you can almost eliminate the click especially on the draw. Handle shape/contouring at the front of the handle might also play a role.

Do you have a particular method for doing this? I’ve made probably 20 or so Kydex or Bolatron sheathes and while some have perfect “lockup” right from the press, the ones that DON’T have perfect lockup (most of them) take lots of adjustments and never seem to be great…

 

[scdub]

Nice Greco

Thanks - it’s one of my top five.

I took a little more material off the opening of the sheath to reduce the retention slightly - it’s still extremely tight as is my preference.


I also added a little circle of loop-side, high strength sticky-back velcro to this aftermarket sheath that arrived very tight and rattle free but after much use had loosened slightly and developed a slight rattle - again working well so far.

 

[jacobconroy75]

As others have mentioned, Garrett's leather-lined holsters work well. Can't say if there are any rust issues. I only use his holsters when camping. It's a quiet setup and when drawn, it sounds like any leather setup.

 

[7stitches]

Garrett has been making leather lined kydex holsters for a several years, and they work really well. I have two & I keep the insides waxed with neutral paste shoe polish to keep them from soaking up the humidity/moisture. I don't see why it wouldn't work for knife sheaths.
View attachment 2257731

If the maker used Resolene on the leather, That may have helped with moisture.

 

[Thescrawnylumberjack]

Do you have a particular method for doing this? I’ve made probably 20 or so Kydex or Bolatron sheathes and while some have perfect “lockup” right from the press, the ones that DON’T have perfect lockup (most of them) take lots of adjustments and never seem to be great…

I’m still relatively new to the kydex game probably about 20-30 sheaths.

I know there are quite a few videos out there on YouTube about doing kydex and I agree lockup can be tricky. I’ve had maybe 8 sheaths with prefect effortless lockup after rough shaping.

I suspect handle shape plays a decent role in how easy it is to get perfect lockup.

As for quieting the click its kind of trial and error. I’ve noticed that it’s getting easier for me to get perfect lockup off the grinder after more practice.

What I normally do is after pressing is layout the holes and the profile of the sheath. I drill the holes and rough cut on the bandsaw then head over to the grinder and start shaping. Usually what happens is I get a huge build up of plastic where the blade gets inserted that I trim with my EDC. I test fit and when the blade will go in with decent force (I usually pinch the sheath at the first hole to simulate a rivet being there) I’ll switch to a finer belt and tune the fit up by slowly removing material and trimming any plastic burr that interferes with inserting the blade. Sometimes that trimming of the burr does lot with lockup. I’ll keep doing that until I get the lockup I want or if I feel like I’m getting to close to ruining the lockup I’ll take 120 grit sandpaper and work the lockup location it open it up and round it off to improve lockup. Then I’ll refine with finer sandpaper.

The last knife I did had a very light feeling lockup nearly no click . It was so light I sent a video to the customer to see if he wanted me to start the sheath over.

 

[Drop bear]

I yell very loud as I draw. That completely hides the sound of the action.

Pro Tip. This also works for opening Velcro mag pouches for silent reloads.

If you are hunting. You want to make the sound of a carrot or something.