- Joined
- Feb 14, 2008
- Messages
- 1,093
Christmas day and some time to goof off. No one anywhere in world wants or needs me save for those in the house this very moment and they are occupied with fixing dinner, admiring their gifts and cleaning up the Christmas carnage.
I learned a long time ago that its better to have a few good things than to have a lot of mediocre stuff. I think that this is one of the reasons I have come to appreciate the offerings of the custom knife makers we all know and appreciate so much. I noticed this one a while back and I promised myself that I would get one and try it out. I also promised myself that I was not going to buy any more knives in 08 - back in October. I have acquired at least four new knives since then and this is one of them. I thought I would have something to look forward to sometime in the dreary, holiday deprived months of January/February, but it came early. At the price, I feel like I got a bit of a Christmas present but I understand that I got no special treatment they are all this nice. I encourage anyone interested in this knife to look up Blind Horse Knives (www.blindhorseknives.com), take a closer look and read up on the specifics that I may omit for their being documented there already.
This is the Blind Horse Knives, Bushcrafter. It is made from recycled saw blades and hardened to about 52 to 55 RC. Dont look away just yet. Thousands of people have done some incredible things with knives of this sort and millions of old woodworking tools were made of steels with similar attributes and are still in use today some in my own shop, to include my oldest plane from 1888.
It was about 22F out today, not raining, not snowing, not blowing a full-blown oddity, given the weather we have had for the past several weeks. None the less, it was cold, and I was cold and my fingers were cold. The first thing that comes to my mind under such conditions is to build a fire and it would be a great opportunity to check out this new blade, but it has rained, snowed, rained some more for weeks and everything is wet, to include the few dead pine needles that did not blow off the trees. Thank goodness for char cloth, fluffy weed seeds and a good set of lungs.
Not the toughest wood in the world but it was on the ground where I could reach it and it burns easily Aromatic (Red) Cedar, downed in the recent ice/wind.
I batoned a branch off quickly and easily.
The soft Cedar cross-batoned easily.
Split kindling with no effort.
....and made a quick little pile of fast, hot-burning kindling.
As wet as everything was, I got a good buzz going just getting the tinder going.
The payoff was a nice, hand-warming fire which I had to extinguish and abandon to play with the BHK Bushcrafter some more. So far, not much of a challenge but it handled beautifully. It was comfortable, natural-feeling in the hand and took to the task as if it were made for it,.... which I believe it was after all.
After having made my fire using a dedicated striker, I wondered whether I would have been able to do it without that precious little tool. I tried to light another piece of char cloth using the spine of the knife and my flint but was unable to throw a spark. Its a little awkward trying to use a striker with a shaving edge on one side so I could have failed due to inhibition and lack of focus.
Saplings fell handily and the handle is so comfortable that one could easily gather enough for shelter-building and camp tool uses. I stuck the knife in the dirt a few times and was certain that I would not get away with it. I didnt.
Some light hacking made it possible to get the trunk out of the tangle and leave the top behind. I did have to remove my glove as the handle was a bit slick with the glove. Otherwise, the handle is shaped correctly so that it is comfortable for any sized hand and so that it hangs in the hand well without the need to maintain a tight-fisted grip to keep from having it slip. It has a bit of an oval/egg shape and feels very natural and does not fatigue the hand in harder use.
continued.....
I learned a long time ago that its better to have a few good things than to have a lot of mediocre stuff. I think that this is one of the reasons I have come to appreciate the offerings of the custom knife makers we all know and appreciate so much. I noticed this one a while back and I promised myself that I would get one and try it out. I also promised myself that I was not going to buy any more knives in 08 - back in October. I have acquired at least four new knives since then and this is one of them. I thought I would have something to look forward to sometime in the dreary, holiday deprived months of January/February, but it came early. At the price, I feel like I got a bit of a Christmas present but I understand that I got no special treatment they are all this nice. I encourage anyone interested in this knife to look up Blind Horse Knives (www.blindhorseknives.com), take a closer look and read up on the specifics that I may omit for their being documented there already.
This is the Blind Horse Knives, Bushcrafter. It is made from recycled saw blades and hardened to about 52 to 55 RC. Dont look away just yet. Thousands of people have done some incredible things with knives of this sort and millions of old woodworking tools were made of steels with similar attributes and are still in use today some in my own shop, to include my oldest plane from 1888.
It was about 22F out today, not raining, not snowing, not blowing a full-blown oddity, given the weather we have had for the past several weeks. None the less, it was cold, and I was cold and my fingers were cold. The first thing that comes to my mind under such conditions is to build a fire and it would be a great opportunity to check out this new blade, but it has rained, snowed, rained some more for weeks and everything is wet, to include the few dead pine needles that did not blow off the trees. Thank goodness for char cloth, fluffy weed seeds and a good set of lungs.
Not the toughest wood in the world but it was on the ground where I could reach it and it burns easily Aromatic (Red) Cedar, downed in the recent ice/wind.
I batoned a branch off quickly and easily.
The soft Cedar cross-batoned easily.
Split kindling with no effort.
....and made a quick little pile of fast, hot-burning kindling.
As wet as everything was, I got a good buzz going just getting the tinder going.
The payoff was a nice, hand-warming fire which I had to extinguish and abandon to play with the BHK Bushcrafter some more. So far, not much of a challenge but it handled beautifully. It was comfortable, natural-feeling in the hand and took to the task as if it were made for it,.... which I believe it was after all.
After having made my fire using a dedicated striker, I wondered whether I would have been able to do it without that precious little tool. I tried to light another piece of char cloth using the spine of the knife and my flint but was unable to throw a spark. Its a little awkward trying to use a striker with a shaving edge on one side so I could have failed due to inhibition and lack of focus.
Saplings fell handily and the handle is so comfortable that one could easily gather enough for shelter-building and camp tool uses. I stuck the knife in the dirt a few times and was certain that I would not get away with it. I didnt.
Some light hacking made it possible to get the trunk out of the tangle and leave the top behind. I did have to remove my glove as the handle was a bit slick with the glove. Otherwise, the handle is shaped correctly so that it is comfortable for any sized hand and so that it hangs in the hand well without the need to maintain a tight-fisted grip to keep from having it slip. It has a bit of an oval/egg shape and feels very natural and does not fatigue the hand in harder use.
continued.....
Thanks for the in-hand pics!!!
But didn`t anyone tell you that the Kephart style is "so last year?" 
