Offensive Industries makes a number of cool things including custom kydex sheaths with centerline mounted clips. This type of sheath, in my opinion, is about as functional and versatile as any sheath can be. So, when I needed a sheath for a kind of rare, kind of weird, and kind of cheap knife, I turned to them.
The knife in question is an old Ka-Bar TDI Medium which I think is probably the best of the TDI line but it was discontinued a long time ago. It is much slimmer than the current TDI offerings which works well in this kind of sheath. Even though this knife is somewhat rare today (you can barely find mention of their existence on the web) and it used to be super cheap… it still felt right to shell out for a sheath that probably costs about 4x as much as the knife did originally.
The sheath is excellent and Offensive Industries had to work some magic to make the weird bent handle knife functional in this type of sheath. Starting from the front, you can see that they use small rivets to keep the sheath’s footprint as small as possible. They also centerline mount a Discreet Carry Concepts clip which is basically the heart of this sheath. This configuration is slim, light, and can be attached to almost any pants or shorts regardless of if the user is wearing a belt. It is also extremely comfortable as it is somewhat free to cant side to side with the wearer without ever fully slipping below the waistline like you might have happen with a sheath on a static line.
The back of the sheath is lightly molded to the shape of the handle such that the knife can be inserted and retained ambidextrously. This molding works with an internal friction pad to provide some light retention. This type of sheath often does not have a solid “click” when inserting the knife. Instead, it uses its depth and friction to keep the knife in place. This setup works well.
Looking inside the sheath, we see that Offensive Industries uses a piece of industrial adhesive backed loop side Velcro as a friction pad. This is ideal because it is durable, the adhesive is very ternacious, and it is easily user replaceable. I have used the same material to tighten loose sheaths before and it lasts for years. If it ever needs to be replaced, it is available in the craft section of any big box store.
The sheath that Offensive Industries produces allows you to carry a knife in basically any situation in which you are wearing pants (which is hopefully most situations for most of you). They are extremely comfortable, completely ambidextrous, very well made, and priced competitively for this type of sheath. On top of all that, their turnaround time was fairly quick. If you have a defensive fixed blade knife that want to carry in a way that actually makes sense, Offensive Industries can help.
https://offensiveindustries.org/
