Camp Chopper

scottishsmith24

scottishsmith24

Joined
Sep 4, 2012
Messages
416
Here is a recent project that I just finished up, as the title says it's a camp chopper. I forged this knife up last week and just got around to finishing it yesterday, but still need to make the sheath for it. The only thing that I dislike about this knife is that the hamon is a bit faded near the choil, the hamon is there but you can only see it when you are looking at the knife up close (so frustrating) but otherwise I am pleased with how this knife turned out and performs, I will post a video later showing its performance. The handle of this knife was a new challenge for me as I haven't done a multi-lamination before but I decided I would give it a shot. The woods I used in this knife are Australian red mallee gum burl, zyrcote, desert ironwood, and Bolivian rosewood. It was a pain trying to get all the angles lined up and to stop sliding, but eventually I got it. This was a fun project and I will post more pictures as it is finished up with the sheath. Let me know what you think!

Specs:

1084 with hamon
Blade: 8 3/4 inches
Blade width: 1 3/4 inches
Handle length: 6 inches
Overall: 14 3/4 inches



Thanks for looking.

Robert Burns







 
Okay so I still need a lot of improvement on my leather work but here it is with it's sheath. This was my first inlay and I used stingray skin which dulled about 5 of my exacto knife blades before cutting the pieces I needed...



I'll post the performance video later tonight if I get time. Thanks for looking! All comments and criticisms are welcome.
 
Well here is the knife performance test video I promised, let me know what you think.

[video=youtube;xSEu4rRZuRE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSEu4rRZuRE[/video]
 
Hey Robert .. I'll give you some opinionated feedback on it. First impression, My eye is drawn to the multi-wood handle and the mosaic pins - and the overall shaping of the handle. Like it! I like the hamon on the blade - while you criticize it not being where/how you would want it quintessentially .. I think it looks very good. I like the rough/raw/forged upper area of the blade .. all of those things mentioned are eye pleasing to me and draw me into the knife itself. What's not pleasing .. the shape of the blade. I have a pre-existing picture in my mind of what I think a Camp/Chopper looks like. To me, again .. to me .. your knife looks like hybrid between a one of those big fancy Fighters and a Camp knife. It's not to say you didnt make a R E A L L Y nice knife .. but I'm not a fan of this blade's shape and dimensions. One last niggle that's bugging me .. the handle pins look like they were just randomly place without reason ...
 
Good looking blades.

On the stingray just skip the blades and use a pair of good leather shears. Much easier. If you have a dremel you can careful grind off the nubs along the stitching line which in a inlay will be hidden below the leather. This aids in stitching so your not bouncing the needle around the little guys.
 
Bonafide, Thank you for your feedback I know that the blade shape for this style won't appeal with everyone but I simply do not like the shape of a traditional chopping knife so I made my own version. As far as the pins go I can assure you that they were not placed without reason it's kind of two reasons why it appears that way 1) I'm not a very good photographer so angles play with it a bit, 2) the laminated wood handles themselves. When placing the pins I did not want them to fall on a joint between two pieces of wood to reduce stress when chopping. Granted it shouldn't matter but I prefer to stay on the safe side. Quint, thanks for the helpful tip about the dremel that will really help out in the future. Thanks!
 
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