Sharps: A plan comes together

As I've said before, a firesteel is one of my must-have pieces of kit. Generally I like to carry it with my knife, and not long after I got my RAT RC-4 I started thinking about how I might add a firesteel loop to its standard-equipment sheath.

One day I stumbled across CustomKydex and queried Kiah, the proprietor, about making just that one small piece for me. (Most of Kiah's plastic is more fantastic, much more elaborate and very cool.) The answer was yes, I replied with my specs, and my RAT and I sat by the mailbox.

While we were waiting, I used triangular files of two different sizes to remove the coating from the jigged section of my RC-4's spine. The firesteel requires a square-cornered striker and bare metal works better, so some of the black stuff had to go unless I wanted to strike with the knife's sharpened edge (which I don't). Thus modified, it works perfectly.

Kiah's handiwork arrived in today's mail, and it's exactly what I wanted. It took only a few minutes to install the loop between the RAT's Kydex sheath and MOLLE back. A pair of longer Chicago screws, which Kiah supplied, hold it in place. The loop is sized just right, too, tight enough to hold the firesteel securely by friction alone. (It'll loosen up a bit as the firesteel wears, naturally.)

As a package, it looks like it came that way from the factory -- it's simple, inexpensive and elegant. I'm liking it a lot.

(In case you're wondering, yes, it's raining out by my woodpile today.)

Earlier posts
Sharps: RAT Cutlery RC-4P MB
Sharps: Heartland leather

Links
CustomKydex
RAT Cutlery Co.
BladeForums thread