RyanW SPK Passaround WIP

[JParanee]

It has a thong hole for retention, but yeah. That is why I asked to be last. The deer hunting won't be in full swing here for at least a month.

I know exactly what you mean

If its okay with Ryan I think Codger should hang on to it till It gets used. In my opinion he is the most qualified to give the actual feedback on this knife out of all of us.

I believe to get a really true assessment of any knife it needs to be in service with the user for a bit.

Codger has the most expierence with this style blade and therefore can really give us an interesting write up.

My hunting goals this year are to get my 10 year old daughter on a deer

http://youtu.be/IbBj3zKkaF4

I'm back to only using my recurves and looking for something to mount so it could be a tough season for me

My best chance is my little girl

So while I am very anxious to try this knife out I believe it needs to be left in Codgers hands till he's done testing it out

What ever is most convienent for everyone

Thx

[Phil Dwyer]

One of the things that I'm finding that I really love is the tip of this knife. I have a habit of holding knives like a pencil for fine, careful cuts. The shape of this knife, the tip jimping and the "safe choil" make this a perfect knife for this. The tip is ground beautifully too.

Cool pass around. Cool knife! Any chance you could snap a photo of that grip and post it? I'm having trouble picturing it. I am especially having trouble picturing the serviceability of the dulled down back end of the blade edge being referred to as the "safe choil."

[Codger_64]

I know exactly what you mean

If its okay with Ryan I think Codger should hang on to it till It gets used. In my opinion he is the most qualified to give the actual feedback on this knife out of all of us.

I believe to get a really true assessment of any knife it needs to be in service with the user for a bit.

Codger has the most expierence with this style blade and therefore can really give us an interesting write up.

My hunting goals this year are to get my 10 year old daughter on a deer

http://youtu.be/IbBj3zKkaF4

I'm back to only using my recurves and looking for something to mount so it could be a tough season for me

My best chance is my little girl

So while I am very anxious to try this knife out I believe it needs to be left in Codgers hands till he's done testing it out

What ever is most convienent for everyone

Thx

Joe, it isn't that I claim to be the Great White Hunter, Shikari or consumate woodsman, just that I am a "go-to-guy" here for deer processing and jerky making. The number of deer I process per year varies from a few to many, but does not depend upon my own skill as a hunter. And yes, I have skunt and deboned deer every year since the early seventies, so I guess that is a sizable pile of meat.

Also, I am in no way a pro butcher. I have my own way of doing things that generally take too much time to interest a real butcher. The quality of the end product means more to me than the quantity. Needless to say, I don't usually do it for money. But I am just now running out of butterflyed backstrap from last year. A part of my "fee". I have used processors in the past as have most of my friends who have turned to me for my services. Not only have those pro guys gotten very expensive, but the care for quality is lacking, IMHO.

Hopefully I can enlist my son or daughter as photographer when I put the knife through it's paces. I will do my best to give an honest critique. I also hope that Kent (Mewolf) will use it on some fish.

In my search for an ancestor pattern for Henry Baer's knife, I found the early Marbles fish knife and it's Kastor & Bros. copies to be the most likely candidates. So it is only natural, IMHO, that the Sharpfinger and most knives derived from it would be stellar fish knives.

[JParanee]

Codger I ment everything I said in a positive way and anxiously await your remarks on this knife

I do feel that everyone could gain more insight into this blade by letting it in your hands for enough time for you to properly evaluate it.

I hope you did not take my comments as anything but respectful

[Codger_64]

Codger I ment everything I said in a positive way and anxiously await your remarks on this knife

I do feel that everyone could gain more insight into this blade by letting it in your hands for enough time for you to properly evaluate it.

I hope you did not take my comments as anything but respectful

Not in any way, Joe. I didn't think that for a moment. It was actually a backdoor reference complementing your own skill as a hunter, from what I have seen and read. I honestly hope that you will have the chance to show and tell your experience with this knife. I suspect that you likely have more experience than I at fine capeing a hide. Me... I rough cape and then turn it straight away to the owner or his taxidermist and let them do the fine capeing. This is one reason why I recommended you for this passaround. I know that the original this pattern was derived from has worked for many years in that capacity for people more picky about hide preservation than I. I've seen more than one old Codger get down with the fine tip of their pocketknife to work out face, ears, lips and nostrils because their big coarse hunting knives just wouldn't get in there and do the job.

[RyanW]

Joe, There is plenty of time if you hang onto it. Looks like there is a good chance Bell will out do you this year! Good Luck Bell, nice shooting.

[JParanee]

Not in any way, Joe. I didn't think that for a moment. It was actually a backdoor reference complementing your own skill as a hunter, from what I have seen and read. I honestly hope that you will have the chance to show and tell your experience with this knife. I suspect that you likely have more experience than I at fine capeing a hide. Me... I rough cape and then turn it straight away to the owner or his taxidermist and let them do the fine capeing. This is one reason why I recommended you for this passaround. I know that the original this pattern was derived from has worked for many years in that capacity for people more picky about hide preservation than I. I've seen more than one old Codger get down with the fine tip of their pocketknife to work out face, ears, lips and nostrils because their big coarse hunting knives just wouldn't get in there and do the job.

Codger even a blind squirrel finds a nut somedays

Thx for the kind word

[JParanee]

Joe, There is plenty of time if you hang onto it. Looks like there is a good chance Bell will out do you this year! Good Luck Bell, nice shooting.

Just keep me posted and what ever works for everyone works for me

Just gotta get the critters to cooperate

[protourist]

Cool pass around. Cool knife! Any chance you could snap a photo of that grip and post it? I'm having trouble picturing it. I am especially having trouble picturing the serviceability of the dulled down back end of the blade edge being referred to as the "safe choil."

Sorry I took so long. This is the best pick I could get. Codger is the best to ask about the safe choil. Perhaps he'll answer. When I hold it like this as I do for a lot of different things, the unsharpened area is right in the web between my thumb and palm. It's great for trimming leather and such.

weeks7.jpg

[protourist]

As much as I hated to, I finally passed it on today. For the time that I had it I used it to cut everything that I needed to cut. I couldn't find anything that I didn't like about it. Was it razor sharp? No but it was sharp enough to cut very well. On my work knives I tend to use a similar "coarse" edge so I was not bothered at all. I'm sure that if you wanted a mirror edge it would take very little effort to make it so. For cutting meat and skinning though this would work very well indeed.
Unfortunately I don't have a decent camera with me to take better pictures so I'm sorry for that.
Thank you Ryan for allowing me to handle this little beauty for this time. In my opinion you have improved on a design that I didn't think could be improved upon. I can't wait to hear what the others have to say.

[RyanW]

Thanks Mack, Had surgery on my hand so not feeling happy when I type! I appreciate you using the knife and sharing how you feel about your experience. mewolf1 you are up next lets get some flesh gut with this guy!

[mewolf1]

The blade made it here today and could hardly stand it not to open it , but I waited til my girl said "well, are you gonna open it?" Drove her crazy. My first impressions were admiration of the work. Ryans craftsmanship is beautiful and the leather work stout for a long life if not many lives. The balance of this knife is spot on IMO and fits my hand the way I like a knife, creating an extention, meaning it feels "natural". After getting a paper towel to wipe the drool off my face I grabbed some pork loin out of the fridge and cut it up.





By the end of the first piece I found that I wasn't thrilled by the micro serrations. It felt draggy to me so I pulled it through a hone. Four times though lightly.This made a world of improvement and I cut up the rest.




Next I got out some Salmon I just cured up.Had to make sure it turned out OK.





This was not this blades intended use obviously, but I had to try it. Gravlox needs a thin blade.

I then went outside to clean a couple of Squirrels I picked off the bird feeder.
The first one I did across the back method and the blade zipped right through. Squirrel hide is tough stuff!





The second one I cased skinned just to use the knife more.





All in all, the game prossessing went as expected but there is more work for this knife on bigger game as pork loin and squirrel is not a challenge for this blade.
More to come.

Kent

[JParanee]

Very cool you are gonna eat well

[RyanW]

Very Nice Kent,
Thank you for taking the time to do this and take photos for us. Pork, Fish and Squirrel... Joe is right you are going to be eating well!

As I stated earlier I was not sure about the micro serration edge finish myself, but if I understand correctly you cleaned the edge up a little bit. Do you feel you removed the Toothy edge or just cleaned it up a little bit?

on the pork the edge was the issue, the fish the thickness of the blade was a hinderance due to lack of Flexibility...

I think we are on the right track for a med, to large game knife. Based on what you said about the squirrel do you think it would excel even more on a deer or elk?

Can I also get your feelings on the Safe Choil, pinky well and jimping. Thanks again
Ryan

[mewolf1]

The toothy "edge" was not removed. I could feel the chatter while drawing it through the ceramics. I could also see some reflection on the edge
when held in the light showing minor dullness perhaps from previous use. It wasn't dull per se, just needed touching up.
This is my concern. How does one go about sharpening this edge? It's my suspition that the original idea of this type of finnish saved the factory maker
a ton of time and money and turned it into a marketing ploy, but this is just an assuption.
This knife will exel with bigger game! As to the safe choil I'm not a fan. I also intend to do much more with it and post further review to answer your other questions.

Kent

[protourist]

Great reviews. I'm glad to see it made it and it's being used as it should be used.
I miss it badly.

[mewolf1]

Great reviews. I'm glad to see it made it and it's being used as it should be used.
I miss it badly.

I know what you mean; I have it and already don't like the idea of sending it off. My boss told me today to tell Ryan it was kept by him. I think Ryan might need to make some more.

[Phil Dwyer]

You guys rock! Please let us know your impressions regarding the entire knife and all its design features. Looking forward to more action photography.

[protourist]

I know what you mean; I have it and already don't like the idea of sending it off. My boss told me today to tell Ryan it was kept by him. I think Ryan might need to make some more.

It's really rare to find a tool that fit's the hand as perfectly as this knife. The handle is absolutely perfect in my opinion. I could cut all day with it and never get tired of the feel.

[RyanW]

Thanks again Everyone for the kind words... Kent I look forward to your next post!

I have had a few orders come in for this design. First one off the bench had some different requests.
1. Sharpen all the way to the ricasso (No "Safe Choil")
2. Add a choil to make a little easier to sharpen
3. No toothy Edge

I left the thickness where the safe choil would be that is why the secondary bevel climbs up the flat higher in the re-curve. I think if I am going to sharpen all the way up to the ricasso I would consider eliminating the re-curve.



Specs: M.R.S. SPK:
Steel: 1/8" 1095 (With Hamon)
OAL: 7.5"
Blade: 3.5"
Handle: Black and OD G10
Misc: 1/4" Tube Pins, Tapered Tang, G10 Liner
Sheath: Stevenson Leather: Shark and Cow (Right Hand)