Engraving Kydex

[Josh Ledger]

Hey guys. I have a buddy who wanted to know if I can engrave Kydex holsters for him. I wouldn't be cutting, only engraving.

I did a search and found one post here that mentions it. The post said that Kydex has pvc in it but it was unclear as to whether or not it would be alright to engrave.

Can anyone give me a definitive answer? I'm leaning towards "no" because of the pvc but didn't want to tell him I can't do it without making sure.

Thanks guys!

[Glen Monaghan]

Kydex is up to 99% by weight PVC of one form or another, and it release Hydrogen Chloride when heated to decomposition (lasered). You could get away with lasering a little bit, especially with excellent ventilation of your machine, but the general wisdom is to avoid any PVC in your laser.

[Bill Munroe]

Hey guys. I have a buddy who wanted to know if I can engrave Kydex holsters for him. I wouldn't be cutting, only engraving.

I did a search and found one post here that mentions it. The post said that Kydex has pvc in it but it was unclear as to whether or not it would be alright to engrave.

Can anyone give me a definitive answer? I'm leaning towards "no" because of the pvc but didn't want to tell him I can't do it without making sure.

Thanks guys!

I also have a friend that makes holsters out of this material. I wouldn't engrave this with a laser, period. What you might be able to do is to make him a stamp that would leave a mark in the heated material.

[Kev Williams]

An aesthetic issue I've found with lasering blue or white PVC with a C02 is the etching will be a rust-brown color. I don't know about other colors but I would assume the brown is common.
And FWIW, a fiber turns PVC gray...

[Josh Ledger]

I'm just going to stay away from pvc altogether. It's not really worth it. I will look into the stamp idea suggested by Bill. Thanks for all the input!