Re: West System Epoxy

Steve Kramer said:

Michael Koblic said:

----- Original Message -----
From: "Steve Kramer" <[email hidden]>
Newsgroups: rec.knives
Sent: Thursday, August 23, 2007 2:15 AM
Subject: Re: West System Epoxy

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I think that you might find the magnets at Lee Valley to be quite thick.
I've been making sheaths for boot knives that are worn inverted, attached
to a vest or jacket as a shoulder holster (rather than attached to the
person,) and as such I need to make the sheath as thin as possible so as
not to signature the clothing from the outside.

<big snip>

Quoted message said:

The catalogue has them at 1/8" thick with 3/4" diameter. Up to 3/8" diameter
they are quoted at 1/10" thickness.

Will they be strong enough to hold a heavy knife upside down? I just
took some photos this afternoon, and will put them up shortly. One of
the hard drive magnets, about 1/10" thick and the size of a postage
stamp will hold my Randall with a 6" blade. To get the photo I had to
hold the magnet with a pair of pliers, as it was too small to hold and
still see when the knife was on it.

Quoted message said:

I am thinking even something radical, such as: does the sheath really have
to have two sides to cover the knife?

Only for looks, I'd guess. But you can cover with garment thickness
leather almost as thin as denim so virtually no thickness added provided
you use a base leather that's thick enough to inlay both the magnets and
the blade. Otherwise the edges of the blade can catch on something.

Quoted message said:

If the knife is held by the magnet and
the edge is flush with one of the sides, well, the sheath will be half the
thickness?

I'm using thin leather (about the same thickness as the magnets) for the
back, and when I inlay the magnets also coat the entire leather with the
shoo-goo. This makes the thin leather very stiff and much stronger. I
use thin garment leather over the magnets to protect the blade and allow
it to slide more easily, thick leather for the splines, then thin
leather to cover the top. The entire sheath is just slightly thicker
than the blade. Perhaps 1/8 inch thicker. Then I put a layer of Velcro
on the back as attachment. All the leather is cemented and stitched
except the decorative top cover which also covers my stitching.
(Necessary in my case....)
I've also been experimenting with belt attachments using velcro bases
and velcro loops so I can use these same sheaths as belt carry either
vertically, horizontally, or inverted. I'll include these in the photos
when I put them up.

Quoted message said:

There are
knives sold on the market which work on the same principle. I just cannot
recall at his moment which ones.

I seem to remember seeing one of these once. The sheath was a molded
plastic with magnets molded into the back, and the edges of the sheath
protected the edges of the blade, while the entire front was exposed.

Steve Kramer
"PhotoEnvisions" Photography
Chiang Mai, Thailandhttp://www.photoenvisions.com- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Say Hey Stevie:

Get ahold of yourself! Playing around with these magnets from hdd is
just a waste of everyones times. Get some velcro for your knives. It
will work that much better then magnets.

5555 Yee-Haw !!