Kydex thoughts

[Priest (Immortal)]

I'm just curious what people think of kydex made gear. Is there a desire for it, but sick of the overpriced stuff out there. And does anyone have any experience some they've purchased that was good or bad.

I'm sitting here looking for a new hobby to fill my time here and there and might try to mess with this stuff. I'm looking around online and like some of the gear I see, but not the price tag on it considering the simple designs and price of materials.

Thought I'd ask around and see if it's worth my time and money trying out.

[luke213]

Well as a holster maker myself though I do build leather for a living this is in the same boat. Cost wise allot of what your seeing with holsters is the cost to live, along with time and materials. Kydex is a little different critter since it's much faster often to build a kydex rig vs. leather with allot less steps involved. I think though that what you often see is guys breaking into kydex who price themselves very low, and then as they get going and realize the time investment in making the gear, along with contact with customers and shipping all adds up. And if they'd like to actually make a living doing it that they up their pricing.

On the topic of building as a hobby, there is money to be made at it but it's tough to make it a full time job often times. I would suggest when taking orders only take payment when your ready to build the rig that way as you get backlogged your not taking payment when the order is placed. That saves the customer problems if something happens to you or your business. I've seen several holster makers with long lead times who died unexpectedly holding onto a year+ worth of customers money and it's a mess. Granted you won't be around to see the mess but it's a good idea to try to avoid in my opinion.

Now if it were me in your shoes I would put a focus on real carry rigs for firearms and then if you also do airsoft, great. But there are allot more guys out there carrying daily then there are guys playing airsoft. On top of that the guys carrying regularly are generally taking it more seriously by it's very nature compared to allot of airsoft players. I do however think there is a market for rigs for airsoft since often replica's aren't the correct dimensions etc to fit perfectly in a rig built for the real version. I'd assume this is even more of an issue with kydex since the molding process makes it very fine tuned retention wise. I know from my experiences that my airsoft 1911's are all typically slightly wider on the slide than my regular carry 1911's they work fine in my rigs, but they do make the draw a little harder as well I wouldn't leave them in place since they would over time stretch that rig more than I'd like.

For kydex not sure how much research you've done but your basically going to need a heat source, heatgun/toaster oven typically. Then a press, you can build this yourself easily I've got one out of two 1ft. pieces of plywood with foam in the middle gate hinges on the rear and a gate latch to lock it along with a long 2x4 attached to the top for leverage. Granted you can take that idea as far as necessary. I can say as well how clean the work is, and how well the edges are finished will contribute to what the rig is worth. Those things are hard to see before you handle the rig, and often most guys may not even notice them in the end, but they play a role.

I should note too that while I work leather all day long and have been doing it for over 5 years now, I did for around 4 years make all my own kydex clips, and I've built a fair number of kydex rigs to test ideas and designs since I've got a bunch of the material on hand and have all the tools to do it. Just prefer leather for what I do, and very likely I'm going to be putting some design work into building some more tactical leather for airsoft purposes at least for myself. It may never actually be sold but I'm in need of a few holsters for my own use and likely they will be leather. Though that said I might bend a couple from kydex too we'll see.

One thing to note about kydex that I ran into from my clips. They will break at the top bend, kydex does not like to flex back and forth like the top of a clip will. Also using as a belt stiffener it will fail for the same exact reason. It's not a good material for repetitive flex and if you require a bend try to radius it, that helps with strain over time. Cold weather can be an issue it cracks more easily in low temps, high temps even below the actually forming temp can cause it to loose some of the detail and make the gun not fit correctly. IE leaving it in the car on a hot summer day can kill a kydex rig. Not that you couldn't heat it up and press it again but something to watch out for since we have hot and cold and something to explain to customers who might not have thought about it otherwise.

Feel free to shoot me a note if there is anything I can give you info on, I don't know nearly as much about kydex as leather but I've learned allot over the years having to work with it and I'm happy to help.

Take care!

Luke

[Tank]

Check out this guy's videos. They are fairly informative.

Kydex Advice For Beginners: youtu.be/9CLKrdQthB0

[Priest (Immortal)]

Thanks for the info guys....it's much appreciated. I've been doing a lot of searching around on this lately and have found quite a few good how to videos and materials needed info.

I guess what I was really asking was if anyone really uses kydex in either daily carry or on their airsoft gear. And then ofcourse, what are your thoughts on it.

Any limitations or "I wish it had this or that on it" or "I think this would be useful" types of thoughts. I'm not looking to start sellng anything or make money off this stuff. It'll just be a hobby to kill time and to learn a new skill. I read like 4-5 books a month and build random things just for the experience. I think it's always good to learn and gain knowledge on anything useful. That aside, I'd like to try to make a few useful items and ofcourse see if I can throw together some gear for myself that will not not only look cool but be functional. Now if I happen to stumble across something I make that is extremely useful or effective, I'll ofcourse share the info on the forum like anyone else would. Then if it was an item someone was interested in and I felt confident enough to make it again with durability...then sure I'd make it and sell it for cheap. Like I said I'm not looking to make money, but as a hobby to kill time.

So feel free to toss out ideas.

[Gabriel]

If you can make a kydex IWB holster that is comfortable and sits flat when not in use, I (and several million Americans) will probably buy it. I had a idea about putting hinges on the sides of a holster so it folds in when not in use, but I don't have the expertise for test that. Just something to put into your think tank.