Bill Ruple Collaboration Knife from Queen.... It's a SOWBELLY!!

supratentorial

supratentorial

Joined
Dec 19, 2006
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The Bill Ruple collaboration knife is a SOWBELLY! One of my favorite patterns. :) :) :) It's going to be debuted at Bladeshow. If someone is going, I'd love for them to share some photos of the knife. The photo below shows Ruple's custom knife, not the collaboration knife.

I'm wondering if it is actually built from Ruple's pattern rather than their own regular production sowbelly pattern. And will it have the same shield as Ruple's knife??? I hope so!

15eb791a39b20cecfa7396336152ec30.jpg
 
That's a fine looking knife, Jake. It's piqued my interest too.
 
I have been waiting for the new S&M sowbelly patterns (it comes in two sizes) for a while, so I'm curious to see how the Ruple collaboration will look like, and see the differences (first one being steel - ATS-34 vs D2).
Then my first sowbelly will probably hit the road :rolleyes:

Fausto
:cool:
 
I've had a case SB in my pocket for 5 months now. It quickly became one of my favorite patterns. I love queens d2 steel. Should be an awesome knife!!


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neal70 said:
you couldn't be happier could you SupraT.? :)
Click to expand...

LOL. It depends. I have a bit of experience with Queen's sowbelly pattern and Queen's D2 on other patterns but I'm not sure what to expect from this knife.

There are actually some big differences among different variations of their sowbelly pattern, especially the grinds. The grinds can be extremely thin (4-blade Winchester 1095), thin (5-blade Winchester and 5-blade Moore Maker and Case Classic 3-blade 1095), average (3-blade Winchester, 2-blade Primble and 2-blade Moore Maker 1095), poor taper (Schatt & Morgan 2-blade ats-43) and thick and uneven (Schatt & Morgan 420HC).

Queen's sowbelly pattern is extremely close to the oldies. I like their pattern a lot. No complaints about that. But I'm hoping that the knife is actually patterned after Ruple's knife. Queen has done an excellent job with some of their other collaboration knives. I was very impressed with the build quality of the the Burke collaboration cattle knife:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...rke-Collaboration-quot-Real-Cattle-Knife-quot And I'd love for the Ruple collaboration sowbelly to have a similar build.
 
I have (and like quite a bit) a Becker BK24 that uses D2 but that is my limited experience with the alloy. My cause for concern is that whether the durability of my Beckers edge comes partially from the ample support for the edge apex.

-Due to that I would like some input on how thin most Queen and S&M D2 blades are behind the edge?
-Are they generally considered as pure slicers, or are you folks generally not worried under harder usage (chip-out or edge instability issues)?

I generally use my knives for cardboard and packaging materials at work, but I will also use it for general edc carry, light food & fruit, light wood carving, camp duties, you name it.

Basically I am cautious about whether I would be better served with a CV, or hold out for another option.
 
In my experience, there is a lot of variability in their grinds with D2 as well. So how thin they are behind the edge has varied with different patterns. As a few examples.... thin (Queen Classic Whittler), thick (Queen stockman), ridiculously thick (Queen Burke barlow). I'm looking forward to seeing some photos of the finished Ruple collaboration knives.

In general, I think D2 is good. It's much harder than CV but I haven't had problems with chipping. For 1095, you might look at Queen's older Winchester and Case Classic knives. Their 2016 File and Wire sowbelly is a 3-blade with ATS-34 steel. I'm not sure when it will be available.
 
I just got the latest edition of Mark Zalesky's Knife Magazine, and it has quite a writeup on Bill Ruple!!
I love his work!
 
Jake,
I share your concern about the blade grind, and I hope it's as thin as possible. A thick grind on a D2 blade would make it awful to use and sharpen. On the other hand, a thin grind paired with D2's wear resistence could turn out very nice. The pattern itself is (in my opinion) very nice indeed, and I hope this will come in the 3,5"-3,75" range.
We'll see when they become available ;)

Fausto
:cool:
 
That looks like a perfect carry knife. That pic makes it look like that may be a fancy long pull.
 
waynorth said:
I just got the latest edition of Mark Zalesky's Knife Magazine, and it has quite a writeup on Bill Ruple!!
I love his work!
Click to expand...

I agree 100%. I've had the pleasure of fondling a couple of Mr. Ruple's knives and came away very impressed. I'm really excited for the details of this knife to be revealed. I like the idea of them getting Mr. Ruple to do the filework. His filework is top notch.
 
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