1/8Th Inch (.125") Kydex

[Sovran81]

Thanks Mike. I think I will have to get some and play with it.

[K-Man]

My experience, and research, showed that the 1/8" thick is the most resilent thickness, and is the industry standard.

With respect to the making of clips, I've also found that the radius of the bends directly affect their durability. At one time I bought clips, made from 1/8" thick kydex, from a fairly well-known kydex holster maker. We had a 40%+ failure rate, i.e., 40 of every 100 clips was cracking within 6 months. The manufacturer claimed that the fault was with us because we had a "custom" design. We started manufacturing our own, utilizing the same design, and our failure rate dropped to less than 1%.

[casemaker]

I have offcuts of 1/8 T grade black available. Assorted sizes but they average about 3" X 8" for $ .50 per piece plus shipping.

ANY of the kydex can be bent until broken, but the 1/8th inch should be quite a bit more resilient than the .093. My personal experience is that the .093 belt clips can be flexed enough to make a "hinge" point....kind of like flexing mild steel back and forth to make it weaker and eventually break. When I make belt clips with the .093, I make the "top" of the clip by forming over a ~1/4" thick jig, That gives a pretty substantial gap at the back, and they can be opened to 3/8ths" repeatedly with no issues. Out of 40-ish clips I've made this way, I've had one break. Then another piece (internal trigger guard catch) built differently also broke, but it's because the user was using a different gun in the holster than what it was designed for. The 1/8th inch thickness is more or less the industry standard for most tactical gear made of Kydex......Fobus holsters are 1/8th inch material.

On the size you want.....It is sold by the square foot (pricing expected to be as above), BUT you can order it how you want it. Rusty at SLC actually cuts the 1x1 pieces from a 4x8 sheet, so you could order up to an 8' piece, as wide as you want, up to 4'.....or even a whole sheet (32 sq. feet).

[TwinOaks]

Appreciate that casemaker, but the intent of this thread is to see if there's enough of a market for SLC to carry the 1/8th inch.

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

What you might want to do is post how much the minimum quantity is to get this going. Are you talking about 100', 1,000', or 100,000'?

When I have been involved with group buys the minimum was posted, so we knew what it would take to get the deal done.

[TwinOaks]

Good point Doc.

Case quantity is 8 sheets. Sheets are 4x8 feet (32 sq. ft.). SLC can get less than a full case, but the shipping is the same, so they prefer getting the full case...otherwise the price has to go up to reflect the non-bulk shipping rates. Retail value for their minimum order is a little over $1700....(subtract a little for wholesale pricing, add a little for shipping) so they've got a bit of an expense if they make the purchase. Rusty said he doesn't mind making that purchase, so long as he knows he can sell it. I opened this topic to see if there was enough interest here, so we could get a target sample.

[Kingswarrior]

Thanks to twin Oaks and SLC for making this available. How soon will orders be accepted?

[TwinOaks]

I don't have that info. You might want to call SLC and ask if they've decided to sell it.