A 2016 Forum Knife. An apology, and The Crossroads!

Just skimming through the poll over there .
There seems to be a bit of talk along the lines of of I won't buy one because there's loads of them available and the pattern has been used before,quoting statistics (its a vibe).
I don't want to start a he said -she said thing.
BUT end of the day its a traditional pattern knife so of course there will have been one no matter how obscure the blade configuration made by someone in the past. So What?
It defies logic to think we can invent a new traditional that nooobody has ever seen before.
I feel what we aim at is a new interpretation of an olde pattern using new materials and perhaps dressed up a bit nicer and most specifically of limited edition which will carry into the future with us.
As the late great Slim Dusty(Aussie country music icon) sang "Looking Forward ,Looking Back".
I wish I could do more to assist the process.:)
 
Don't forget the traditional group on the forum has a HUGE following who each have their own reasons for liking traditionals so it's going to be impossible to make everyone happy.
 
waynorth said:
This pattern will eventually become a Scout, and a Cattle knife, but not just yet as far as I know!
Here is a first draft of the proposed BF knife. You can see it has a Clip blade, but Bill has given us the option of a Spear blade!!
Click to expand...

The lines of the clip actually work decently with the punch as it is designed. Still, I think the spear is the best bet for this knife. Either that, or I'm just being selfish since I seem to have more clips than spears. :o

My appreciation to you and Bill for your efforts to date, Charlie. I think the drawing will help some folks realize that this is going to be an awesome and rather unique knife in the end. It's still roughly 3.75" closed, correct? If so, that will end up making one heck of a frame for a proper scout knife in the future. I smell SFOs! :p

Is there any particular pick of handle material that is looking like it would be most viable for a BF knife just yet? I know we're probably not at any polling stage but I've remained fairly agnostic about choice in handles and since I actually have something to picture now I think that's the next logical step. :D
 
meako said:
Just skimming through the poll over there .
There seems to be a bit of talk along the lines of of I won't buy one because there's loads of them available and the pattern has been used before,quoting statistics (its a vibe).
I don't want to start a he said -she said thing.
BUT end of the day its a traditional pattern knife so of course there will have been one no matter how obscure the blade configuration made by someone in the past. So What?
It defies logic to think we can invent a new traditional that nooobody has ever seen before.
I feel what we aim at is a new interpretation of an olde pattern using new materials and perhaps dressed up a bit nicer and most specifically of limited edition which will carry into the future with us.
As the late great Slim Dusty(Aussie country music icon) sang "Looking Forward ,Looking Back".
I wish I could do more to assist the process.:)
Click to expand...

Check out page 7 of this thread...
I have tried to say this already, but it wasn't taken too warmly.

Apparently "tradition for the sake of tradition" is how some things go... Everything was new once, even a 100 year old pattern had an introduction. Just because something is old, traditional, vintage, antique, et al, doesn't mean that a new (or modified) line can't be created for a special event.

What defines a Traditional, spring mechanism, handle materials, pin stock, a lanyard hole on a sodbuster, stainless steel, or only blade/handle combination, or is it none of (or a combination of) above?

An electricians knife was not known back when a sodbuster was first made, but it is acceptable as a "Traditional pattern" now with synthetic scales, stainless steel and all...
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That said, I will be buying one regardless, though I did vote.
 
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I'm just excited that it is only February, and Charlie is already taking polls on the annual forum knife. It makes me a little giddy...
 
supratentorial said:
I'm replying here since I didn't want to take us off track in the poll thread. Hope that's OK.
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For the record, I made my comment in the poll thread because it related to my voting in that poll, and because I wanted to lay my cards on the table when doing so. I wanted to express that despite my views on this pattern AS A FORUM KNIFE, I am still currently committed to ordering one, or I wouldn't have voted. Since I'm not enamoured with the pattern, that might change, for example if a decision was made to produce it in stainless steel, in which case I won't vote in future polls, which I believe is the honourable position.
 
i'm glad to see the small allowance for the nail nick on the awl side. this was never mentioned, iirc, but was something i meant to inquire about. should have known better than to second guess real expertise!:) i voted spear but now i'm torn(cut?)-the clip does look very nice, and sounds like it would be of continuing use in this pattern; however that may be more reason for a spear-it would be more unique (uniquer?:) ). what about the pins versus the no pins? if it's micarta/delrin no pin and pins with bone?
thanks, Neal
 
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cchu518 said:
Don't forget the traditional group on the forum has a HUGE following who each have their own reasons for liking traditionals so it's going to be impossible to make everyone happy.
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How true.
I also dont consider it selfush to express ones desire for a certain pattern (purple ramshorn queen country cousin).It might not be realistic but its not selfish.
Politics is the art of compromise.
 
I'll have a EE with "purple ramshorn queen country cousin" , But it must have a unicorn shield. :rolleyes:
 
Jack Black said:
For the record, I made my comment in the poll thread because it related to my voting in that poll, and because I wanted to lay my cards on the table when doing so. I wanted to express that despite my views on this pattern AS A FORUM KNIFE, I am still currently committed to ordering one, or I wouldn't have voted. Since I'm not enamoured with the pattern, that might change, for example if a decision was made to produce it in stainless steel, in which case I won't vote in future polls, which I believe is the honourable position.
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No worries. I just didn't want to reply and then start an off topic multiple post discussion over there. A few others seemed to be interested in discussing it as well so I figured I'd just bring it over to this thread.
 
Shucks, I wasn't paying attention to this and find we aren't getting a lambsfoot or carpenter's knife. However as I write this I realize we are getting, essentially, a nice and sturdy clip or spear with plenty of blade, plus an awl for the million things an awl can do without adding any bulk. It looks great to me, would pair very very well with an awl-less SAK for a superb EDC. Heck, I mihht just buy an alox SAK to compliment this!

Scales wise, I really don't know what to say. I love acrylics but it's not easy to find one design we all dig. I also am a fan of micarta and ebony, but those can be too simple for some folks. So long as it isn't natural stag I'll be thrilled (cost, hot spots, and cracking are the issue for me.)

Connor
 
supratentorial said:
The Schatt&Morgan from 2009 is the only modern double end harness jack that I've seen. It's actually 2-springs but otherwise it's similar. I'm not really trying to argue one way or the other. I'm just clarifying some details.
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Thanks for the clarification. I thought that was a single spring knife. It actually changes things a bit knowing that there's more of a difference, and this is not the same knife with different covers. I know that the S&M is stainless and this one will most likely be 1095, but that wasn't enough to differentiate it in my mind. Two spring vs. single spring does, because they will feel different and carry different. Who knows, there may be a decent amount of people that really like the S&M version and have been wishing that somebody would make one in a single spring. ;)
 
Not to get precipitous here (though that is what I have been doing all along when it comes to the forum knife), but I am assuming that we will have a poll regarding steel at some point, and I wanted to talk about stainless vs. carbon.

I have to admit that I do not understand why people opt for carbon steel when there are good stainless options. That feeling is particularly strong for me since one of the main uses I have for traditional folders is slicing fruit (mostly for my daughter). I have no trouble getting and maintaining a shaving edge on stainless. So all in all for me I see no advantage, and plenty of disadvantages to carbon on a folding knife. So that definitely biases me.

But all that said, I know that carbon is REALLY popular in the traditional forum. And I feel like I got my wish last year for the trad forum knife, and that 440C single spring is in my pocket almost every day. So even though I feel like a carbon blade is just going to mean that I probably won't actually use the knife, I feel like maybe the steel should be carbon this year.

If it was still going to be the camp knife I would be stridently pro-stainless, since it would be a knife I would absolutely want to use. Likewise if it was a Whaler, rope knife, or New England Whaler (I mean, why use carbon for a knife meant to be used on/around salt-water). But on this years Harness Jack style, I don't have a strong sense for how it would fit into my regular use, and my purchase of the knife will be much more about the community than about use.

So I find myself thinking that I might abstain from the steel vote this year. I don't think I could bring myself to actually vote for carbon, but I wouldn't fight it this year. What say you all? I know there are a lot of carbon fans.
 
Cory Hess said:
Thanks for the clarification. I thought that was a single spring knife. It actually changes things a bit knowing that there's more of a difference, and this is not the same knife with different covers. I know that the S&M is stainless and this one will most likely be 1095, but that wasn't enough to differentiate it in my mind. Two spring vs. single spring does, because they will feel different and carry different. Who knows, there may be a decent amount of people that really like the S&M version and have been wishing that somebody would make one in a single spring. ;)
Click to expand...

I have a S&M Harness knife. Here's a picture that may show more clearly how the blades ride on two springs. I like the knife a lot, but there is a lot of extra space in there, and I assume a single spring version would be a slimmer carry.


 
I agree on stainless over carbon always. I brought that up last year and it seems that the main draw to carbon is patina. I don't understand that desire, but I guess that's why there are so many knife options out there
 
I would love to find out that stainless is chose for this knife (and I like the idea of a clip blade).
 
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