Boot Knife Design

B

BadBamaUmp

Joined
Aug 8, 2000
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Customer wants me to make a boot knife for her son. He's a rancher and wants a "safety knife" for if he's working and gets hung up.

I'm thinking full tang, about 3 1/2" blade with a slight recurve profile to improve slashing, convex edge. Tang a little longer than normal for when he wears gloves. Possibly a braided leather lanyard instead of a normal wrist loop so he can grab at it if he's upside down.

Any other ideas or suggestions?
 
Might help if you found out what he's most likely to get hung up on :)

If it was ropes around livestock or something similar I would want a sheepsfoot or even hooked blade (hawkbill) to bite in as you pull and I'd say it would be good if it was serrated.

If its going to be trees/bushes/briars etc it might be better to have something you can hack and chop with, more like what you described. Of course a straight serrated edge would be good for sawing....


I guess for all around versatility I would go with a chute knife pattern and probably go for a combo edge. Heck, thats what a chute knife is designed for to begin with :D
 
Well he's a rancher so I figure it's ropes or leather. That's why I thought a recurve or hawkbill type blade.

May put partial serrations on the blade.

Thanks
 
Originally posted by BadBamaUmp
Well he's a rancher so I figure it's ropes or leather. That's why I thought a recurve or hawkbill type blade.

May put partial serrations on the blade.

Thanks
Click to expand...

Will,

I'd say just make one of your Wharncliff pattern knives. I wouldn't hesitate to use it for anything on a ranch, from ear-marking or castrating calves to cutting baling twine. The point's nice and sharp for detail work, and at 3.5 inches, the blade would be long enough for any use I can think of. Or you could make it in a spey pattern. That might be neat. I really like the braided lanyard idea, too.
And I think your knives are too nice to be putting serrations on, but that's my opinion. I still want to know what he'd be getting hung up in.

James
 
I like the idea of seeing one of your blades in a wider sheepsfoot-style blade. Maybe for extra grab you could file in a few serrations near the plunge.
 
Thanks guys,
James, I have a friend that lost 2 fingers getting them hung up in a rope. I talked to him on the phone about what he's worried about getting hung up in. Rope or cutting the stirrup loose (I think he really just wants a knife and came up with this excuse) is what he told me.

Perhaps one of my EDC with a more of a sheepsfoot/hawkbill profile with about 1/2" of serrations?

I'm going to get to work on it soon. Had a problem with my burner so doing a forge rebuild right now.

Keep the ideas coming though....
 
Think spyderdo rescue and make it a fixed blade :) A hawkbill would work too, although I could see where you might slide the point under what your trying to hack at in a stressful situation since it points down so much.
One of your wharncliffs would work or a sheepsfoot. I'd go for at least an inch of serrations so it will really rip into a peice of rope. Cutting a stirrup off would be a lot of hacking no matter what because of the heavy leather fender over 2 or 3 layers of leather strap that holds it on. Thats not a huge concern though because its not very easy to get your foot caught in the stirrup if your wearing the right type of boots and the stirrup fits your foot right. Least I don't have any trouble with it (knock on wood)
 
Originally posted by BadBamaUmp
Thanks guys,
James, I have a friend that lost 2 fingers getting them hung up in a rope. I talked to him on the phone about what he's worried about getting hung up in. Rope or cutting the stirrup loose (I think he really just wants a knife and came up with this excuse) is what he told me.

Perhaps one of my EDC with a more of a sheepsfoot/hawkbill profile with about 1/2" of serrations?

I'm going to get to work on it soon. Had a problem with my burner so doing a forge rebuild right now.

Keep the ideas coming though....
Click to expand...

Will,

I thought it might be something like that. My dad used to joke that you could always tell an old team-roper by the number of fingertips or fingers that he was missing from getting them caught between the rope and the saddlehorn.
If it were me, I'd prefer the sheepsfoot, but I'm kind of a traditionalist. Hm... Now that'd be a nice little EDC. A sheepsfoot or spey blade about three inches long, with mesquite scales. Do y'all have mesquite out Alabama, Will? I might could get you some when I'm visiting the family at Christmas. If you're interested in experimenting or adding to your list of available woods, that is.

James
 
James, ain't ya gotta have desert to have mesquite? :D

BUTTTTT I do happen to have a piece or two of mesquite a gift from my teacher, Dale Baxter.

I'll make 2 of them "Roper Specials" ;) 1 in osage, 1 in mesquite :D

So I guess I'm looking at a 3- 3 1/2" sheepsfoot blade, pins, tube with braided lanyard and a deep finger notch. Thin handle so it'll wear better in the boot.

Now to figure out the sheath. :confused:
 
This may be off the wall, but how about a wire cutter notch in case he gets hung up in barbed wire? If you have never been hung up in the wire, you can't imagine what that's like! He is working around the d-mn stuff, and I can promise you the fence pliers will be out of reach when he gets hung up,especially in stretched wire. That's just where he will hang! 'Nother thing, how about a couple of those powerful rare earth magnets in the sheath? On the wire cutter, you could leave the tang exposed on the end of the handle just long enough to have a workable notch. Just be sure to have the notch deep and wide enough for the braided two strand wire to fit into the notch. You could have the blade thin as you like, but still have the wire cut notch thick enough to work. The notch cutter works pretty slick, by the way. If he had to only use it once, he will bless the horse you rode in on, too!
 
John,
I hadn't thought of a wire cutting notch. Do you have a pic of what one looks like? I'm imagining kinda like a guthook but maybe 3/4 of a circle? :confused:

I'm thinking of rare earth magnets for retention because everything else that I can think of would probably pull the sheath out with the knife on the draw.
 
Will, sorry, I don't have any way to post a pic, but all it is, just a square notch with sharp shoulders. The notch is just wide enough for the braid to slip into and just deep enough with at least a 1/8" to 1/4" extra depth so the wire can't slip or pop out when you lever the tool.If the wire fits flush in the notch with no extra to hold the slippage, I am talking about the depth of the notch,the wire will tend to pop out.The sharp, square shoulders on the notch are pretty imporant for holding and shearing the wire, too.
 
Will,

As a cattle rancher my preference is a hawkbilled knife that is serrated the full length of the blade. When hung-up or caught in a dally you want something that is very aggressive when cutting. I have one on me at all times, it surprises me how much I use the fully serrated blade as oppossed to the straight blade. Everyone has their own likes and dislikes but given the choice I would take the fully serrated blade in a bad situation every time.

Good luck am interested to see what you come up with.

Waddie
 
For the sheath, its not too bad if you work with kydex.
I had to make a boot sheath not to long ago and the customer seemed pretty pleased with what I came up with.
I used one of the narrow boot clips from www.texasknife.com and made a fold over sheath with the clip mounted beside the knife where the 2 edges of the kydex meet. That makes it a little wider but its nice and thin between the boot and your leg.
To mount the clip. I drilled/cut 2 half inch oval holes about an inch apart in the top layer so that I could slip the clip in the top hole and back out the bottom (just the u shaped hump stickes out), a rivet above and below to sandwich it together and its in there permanently.
If that isn't clear I can come up with a drawing or something, I don't think I have a picture of the one I did.
 
I suggest that you set up a coal forge and learn to use it. It makes for a great backup in case your burner gives you problems, and you may find it preferable to using propane.

I have no idea what to tell you in respect to this blade design, but I see alot of great ideas from the rest of the posters. I am sure you will come up with something great.

Good Luck,

Doc
 
Doc,
I have a coal forge with a rather nice Champion 400 on it and a forge with an electric squirrel cage blower on it. Got about 100# of coal sitting around. I just don't have a desire to use coal anymore.

Thanks guys
 
You already have a lot of good advice Matt. I would add my vote for a Wharnie and a sturdy, simple handle. That's what I carry all the time.
 
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