Nylon products, hand made in USA! [not an advert]

TigerhawkT3

Flashlight Enthusiast
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Jul 2, 2006
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CA, 94087
I've been working with my new nylon webbing, and I've made a few things:

Top to bottom: Head strap, neck strap, wrist strap, (Fisher Bullet,) bullet pen holster. I'm planning on putting NI Mini Lite Loks on the straps, so that I can have a wrist-mounted light, or a neck mounted light, etc.


Close-up of buckle attachment point stitching:


Close-up of pen in holster:


And yes, I sewed these myself, by hand (our sewing machine is at my sister's place in San Diego). The buckles each took about 15 mintues or so to sew on, and the holster took about an hour and a half.

Questions or comments?
 
I got the webbing from www.theoutdoorworld.com. I don't know what kind of quality it is, but it feels mostly like the kind used in Ripoffs holsters (which are quite good). It's sort of soft and loose, not like the webbing used in some things like Maxpedition pouches, which feels much tighter and stiffer.

I actually looked into buying a sewing machine before I started, and the handheld ones had negative reviews across the board. Apparently, they're way underpowered. I ended up not buying a sewing machine at all, mostly because I have no idea where I would put it (my room is a huge mess). If I want to do more sewing, I may look into it again.

I got the low-profile cam buckles at www.dogbooties.com. I just checked, and it looks like they have webbing as well, so you could order everything from them if you wanted to save on shipping.

I don't know anything at all about tubular nylon, but flat webbing worked great for me, so I'm pretty happy.

:sigh: No, the webbing is made in China. Sorry.
 
I can't tell from the picture, how does the bullet pen pocket attach to a belt or pack/pouch?
 
Malpaso said:
I can't tell from the picture, how does the bullet pen pocket attach to a belt or pack/pouch?
See the small hole at the top? I hook that to a Maxpedition Keyper. There's no belt loop, since belt space is becoming a rare commodity for me. :grin2:
 
Great work Tigerhawk!

I love to see folks excited about making their own gear!

PM me your address and I'll send you a few samples of some webbing for you to play with.;)

Dutch
 
Cool stuff. I've worked with webbing off and on for a long time but I really became inspired after buying one of Country Comm's verticle/horizontal webbing sheaths for the INOVA X5. Great sheath!

I shopped around for a place where I could get as many widths of black webbing in one order as possible and went in for about $100. I like sheaths that are all webbing. Here is a post explaining the second web sheath I designed and built for my HDS EDC. Since then I've built a third that is a much more advanced design but I've been too busy to shoot it and write it up. Hopefully soon.

I'm always glad to see others working with webbing for sheaths as IMO it is a great material for that use and is very under-utilized. If you are really interested you should contemplate getting a sewing machine just for heavy duty tasks.

I use a semi-industrial Thompson Mini Walking Foot machine. It's foot is articulated. It will "walk" through ¼" of webbing without drawing a deep breath. With a light weight machine most webbing projects are either impossible or at best you'll be fighting the machine every step of the way. It also enables me to use hidiously strong #69 UV Resistant Nylon thread. If you tried to break this thread with your bare hands you would probably get cut up pretty badly and still not break it. The heavy thread works very well with webbing.

For sheaths I look for medium weights of webbing -- the stuff is so strong I don't see any point in wrestling with the stuff slings and rigger's belts are made of.
 
Tube webbing is sold at climbing gear shops or hiking shops that carry climbing gear.
Widths are limited but most stock a few different colours.

With tube webbing all you need to stitch is the bottom.

Flat webbing is better if you are making pouches with a cover flap; Just install your snap or velcro before sewing the sides.

Velcro on a head band would be easier to adjust and no hard buckle against your head. Got two for my Minimags.
 
Sub_Umbra said:
I'm always glad to see others working with webbing for sheaths as IMO it is a great material for that use and is very under-utilized. If you are really interested you should contemplate getting a sewing machine just for heavy duty tasks.

Most recent home use machines use plastic gearing and will not hold up with the thicker materials such as used for harnesses. They'll work just fine for thinner/softer webbing material though. Don't force your work and be ready to hand assist (if possible) should it become bound. Sharp/new needles help a lot. Needle replacement is often neglected.

Back in my civi parachute rigger days, new riggers would search out mil surplus or used industrial machines. Finding these took some searching and usually required motor replacement and simple wiring repair.
 
g36pilot said:
...Back in my civi parachute rigger days, new riggers would search out mil surplus or used industrial machines. Finding these took some searching and usually required motor replacement and simple wiring repair.
Yes, you have to know what you're looking for and really keep at it. When I was in the market for an HD machine I finally got so frustrated that I just bought a new one.
 
The following pictures are courtesy of Dutch - thanks! (http://candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=156673)





Instead of requiring an elaborate design of flat webbing (I only had one width, and folding it in half and sewing the sides came out too narrow for the Fenix L0 series), I used some tube webbing from the samples Dutch sent me. All I had to do was sew the bottom (tip of my hat to OhCanada), and I was done! This 1" width is a PERFECT fit for the L0D-CE (another tip of my hat to JumpMaster). It's almost snug in there, and the pocket clip gives it some security. I can attach the keyring to my keychain, while still having a sheath protecting my light (I can hardly wait for my Li-Ion order from AW...).

Once again, thank you, Dutch!
 
I've been at it again! :) Thanks again for the nylon, Dutch!

I was originally planning on making a holster for my new Nitecore DI, but it was going very slowly and the design wasn't great (simple pouch with loop, as I don't know how best to install one of the steel clips I have lying around). I abandoned it, removing about an inch of stitching, and just ordered a Ripoffs online (CO-137, BTW - works great). However, I was left with a big piece of nylon that I had already cut. What to do...



It holds ten 12ga shells of any length, and there's a belt loop at the end there.
 
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