A New Bushcrafter I Couldn't Resist

baldtaco-II said:
mistwalker, hola

I stand corrected on the taper then, good stuff. Compared to some of his work though it does seem less pronounced in those shots. No biggie either way.

I'm totally on the same page with everything else you said. I have rods for emergency use only. I do find the whole 90 degree spine thing of the Neo-Bushcrafters so bizarrely contrived. The sacrifice might make a certain amount of sense to me if it had a good amount of legitimate field uses on things you find in the field. But when it is principally for use use on something synthetic you also took with you... So strange, it's almost like someone is trying to sell you something – a mechanism that children could be warned about with the gift of parable or something. Confucious says; “Man who takes shoes but not the wit to take laces should stay at home”.

Anyway, that radiused spine and ricasso looks darn peachy to me. Refreshing.
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Well, I was there the day this one went from being just a piece of steel to the completely profiled blank. I started on a prototype of my own that day...one that I really need to finish when I get time...and there was a lot of discussion on tapered tangs and tang extensions. The taper on this one isn't as pronounced as some of his others, but it tapers from 5/32 at the ricasso to a bit less than 1/8 at the pommel. Maybe he had a feeling that I'd end up with it, and he knows me :)

I haven't owned a knife with a radiused spine since the German made hunting knives I carried back in the 70s. I had forgotten just how comfortable those knives were in the pinch-grip holds I use a lot in processing fish and game, and in food prep. Besides that, I really do like the aesthetics of it a great deal.
 
mistwalker said:
First off, that's not exactly a fair statement bro, more than one maker here has done something of a similar design...trust me, I've looked at a lot of them, and bought a couple.

That said, John just really nailed it for me on this one...the steel, shape, size, blade geometry, handle ergos and color, and the little details were just more than I could resist.

I know the feeling, I've taken photos of several of John's knives, and I'll still just sit and look through the photos sometimes
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I'll take your word for it Mist, despite my tongue-in-cheek remark (since the world didn't end today). Like I said though, this particular model is spot on to the knife design lingering inside my head for the longest time. It's been made real handsomely.
 
Rprecision said:
To me the handle looks to small for my use.

Despite my negitivity, thats a good looking blade
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With John and I both having short stout fingers this handle is going to be small to some. That's one of the cool things about custom knives, the custom fitting of the handle.

Thanks, I think it is too.


untamed said:
I'll take your word for it Mist, despite my tongue-in-cheek remark (since the world didn't end today). Like I said though, this particular model is spot on to the knife design lingering inside my head for the longest time. It's been made real handsomely.
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Well, I did say "something similar" , not something identical :)

And you know how it goes, Camping may have made another mathematical error :rolleyes:
 
sursum knife said:
This is a fairly true Statement but you can get S7 that will harden into the 60-61 HRC as quenched hardness. In my experience as a heat-treated I have seen S7 from different suppliers react differently. Specs show S7 under three inches in Dia. should fully harden in air but have had pieces 1/2 " thick have to be oil quenched to reach fully hardness. but all the steels mentioned will make excellent knives each has its strong points and its weakness in most knives this is not a problem but when things get a little extreme matching the proper material to design becomes much more critical
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Oops. I just checked and it has more carbon than I thought. The max hardness will be in the low 60's, maybe 63 if everything is done right. Plenty hard enough for a blade, with excellent toughness. The edge holding will depend almost solely on hardness, but at 56-58, it should be acceptable.
 
I think that it is interesting that it is made of S7. The knives I have of this steel are large blades where the shock resistance of S7 can be used for heavy chopping. It is a pretty tough steel to sharpen but not crazy difficult. With age and use, it will "freckle" with isolated spots of oxidation. Nice knife MW.
 
jw2n said:
I think that it is interesting that it is made of S7. The knives I have of this steel are large blades where the shock resistance of S7 can be used for heavy chopping. It is a pretty tough steel to sharpen but not crazy difficult. With age and use, it will "freckle" with isolated spots of oxidation. Nice knife MW.
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For all it's beauty this knife was designed from the start to be beat upon :)
 
I think a little history of this knife might shed some light on things. Mistwalker brought to my attention the bushcraft challenge when he wanted me to show him how to make his own knife to submit and as Mistwalker mentioned I try to design my knives for the duty they are called to preform. I decide on S7 after reading the parimeters of the test which had multiple judges who were all going to be testing the knife. If I spend time with someone in the field I get a good idea of how they use a knife, but with 4 or 5 different people testing I went with the steel and design that gives combination of qualities I felt the blade needed to have. I also like S7 for a woods knife because of the edge it takes, it is very aggressive and works well with natural materials
 
It's my understanding that S7 sacrifices some edge retention for brutal toughness. It's a steel used to make drill bits and other stuff that takes a punishing. If I recall correctly it is what Busse knives renames and calls SR-77 in their Scrap Yard line, same as when they renamed 52100 as SR-101 in their Swamp Rats releases. Given the heat treat is done by the same people a fair gist can probably be gained from reading up on the strengths and weaknesses of Scrap Yard vs Swamp Rat in terms of edge retention and strength.
 
baldtaco-II said:
It's my understanding that S7 sacrifices some edge retention for brutal toughness. It's a steel used to make drill bits and other stuff that takes a punishing....
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Jack hammer bits too, from my understanding. That's one of the reasons it was suggested to me when I was talking to John about me making my own purpose-built survival knives that would take a a lot of abuse in extreme situations, take a very sharp edge, and yet be easily maintained in the field under less than perfect circumstances. Hopefully I'll get to work on the first one I started on some more next week, once I get caught up on my work.
 
mistwalker said:
Jack hammer bits too, from my understanding. That's one of the reasons it was suggested to me when I was talking to John about me making my own purpose-built survival knives that would take a a lot of abuse in extreme situations, take a very sharp edge, and yet be easily maintained in the field under less than perfect circumstances. Hopefully I'll get to work on the first one I started on some more next week, once I get caught up on my work.
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Tee hee, you've flagged that twice now so you'll have to give us a squint when it gets a bit closer ;-)
 
That's a really fine looking blade.

While I love forge finish and the rustic look often they wind up being more expensive than knives like yours where the maker has obviously put WAY more time into finishing the blade.

Love how it's both pimped out but yet totally ergonomic and utilitarian!
 
hollowdweller said:
That's a really fine looking blade.

While I love forge finish and the rustic look often they wind up being more expensive than knives like yours where the maker has obviously put WAY more time into finishing the blade.

Love how it's both pimped out but yet totally ergonomic and utilitarian!
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Thanks. I know what you mean. I love the rustic look of some forged knives, there is just something primal about them. But I also love blades where just a glance tells you that the maker has put a lot of time into the details.

That's one of the things I really love about this knife, it has it's nice details but still a very utilitarian design.
 
Great review as always Mist!!

Personaly I'd prefer the edge to be brought further back. Otherwise a really nice design.
 
Thanks Mike. I don't have any good pictures on hand but a lot of Johns knives are made like that.
 
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