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Camp Knife Challenge Knives Thus Far !

This is going to be one brutal fight to the finish. I am glad that person that has to be the judge on all these knives.
 
Yes, Brian makes out well...as long as he makes the "right" decision. If not, we storm the castle and burn the monster. No pressure Brian. :)
 
JCavSD said:
Yes, Brian makes out well...as long as he makes the "right" decision. If not, we storm the castle and burn the monster. No pressure Brian. :)
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Can we have a midnight procession with torches and pitchforks?:confused:

Because I've always wanted to be in one of those.:)
 
torches and pitchforks...now you're talkin'! Nothing like a good old fashioned mob scene. Who's bringing the marshmallows?
 
I'm with Ray on this one, everyone wins here. I'm having a ball seeing everyone elses interpretation of what a camp knife should be. When the head to head starts we'll get to see what works and what doesn't. That's what I'm the most interested in.

I do have to admit though, being a part of one of those midnight pitchfork and torch "hikes" has it's appeal.......I've never gotten to be a part of a real mob before.

SDS
 
First, a repeat of the specs:

15N20 steel, .095 thick. Blade tops out right at 2 inches broad. Blade is 7 inches long with an overall length of 12.25 inches. Normalized, quenched, baked at 375 and differentially tempered.

The edge grind is a 'scandi convex' where the convex edge is formed by the whole bevel- some people call this a convex zero saber grind. This type of grind is easy to keep up with a firm strop and sharpenable easily with stones or with sandpaper on top of leather - a mousepad may be a bit too soft for the shallow angles near the top of the grind.

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I mentioned the generous handle, which is a slightly ovalized "Big Fat Round" handle. Theres some drop at the rear to help with retention while chopping. All the pins are 1/4 inch lanyard tubing, allowing variations in lanyard mounting.

I like straight spines for scraping, better batoning performance, and draw cutting. With this knife I wanted to center the tip more, so I angle the spine and still kept it dead straight

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The broad blade and dropped edge obviously help with camp kitchen performance and fine chopping chores. It also provides a secure method of choking WAAAAAY up on the blade.

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This is a technique I don't think is common, but which I learned in a commercial kitchen and have taken out into the field with great success.

The finish is vinegar soaked and sanded with crocus cloth. Then the differential temper is done and the blade is hit with crocus cloth again. Spine and tang are lightly blued to match the overall finish.

Filework was put in before I hit the spine with 400 grit, so I broke the really nasty corners that filework can have:

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I wanted a strong drilling point and a tip that was easy to sharpen, so I did my traditional 1/4 inch spearpoint:

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I went with the tan canvas micarta for the handle after a lot of dithering. I think that micarta has gotten a bit of a bad rap just because of the tendency for people to use very thin micarta scales with sharp edges. The handfeel of a well rounded micarta handle is great. And it's pretty durable stuff. Won't make me stop using my woods, but in this case it seemed to go with the individual knife.


The sheath is a "mini-explorer" with a horizontal strap and a snap retaining strap. The belt hanger slides through these and can be adjusted for various carry heights and styles. This style is also very easy to hang on a baldric or pack strap. one note, Brian- use threadlocker on the chicago screws!!!

As usual, the sheath is double seamed and double needle hand stitched- you'd have to really rip out a lot of thread to cause it to not function. The strap is sewn through the same holes, but with different thread, making it completely removable. I often put a mini breaker bar and a pen through the hor. strap on my EDC, it's handy.

edit to add: oops! and of course, the sheath is a Koyote Girl creation !! :D
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okay, I got ONE sucky photo today:

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Design wise, I wanted a decent small chopper with good batoning performance. I wanted to keep true to my "90% of camping knife use is food prep" functionality. straight spines are a real bonus for some wilderness tasks, including bowmaking, so I worked that into a new design. The thumb ramp is really generous and has a radius that can help with some bow scraping. Filework is gentle, but deep and very grippy.

I left the handle long, with a decent downward angle, for chopping.

For fine performance I made it easy to choke up on. This is a bit non traditional, but I find it works really well with tasks like dove and catfish processing.
 
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I really like it when you guys(makers) give examples or tell why a knife is designed. The thought process really conferms that the knife is a usable tool and not a piece of wall candy, allthough all the knives to look super cool!
 
Pit- it appeals to me, too! I have to be honest, I'm worried about how it's going to stack up. I tell myself I always worry, but... well, I do. There's some pretty awesome stuff out here.
 
I'm really interested in seeing how these knives will perform in the butchering and skinning department.
 
I am definitely a winner in this, and I don't even get to handle any of them! Just to see all of these blades, for one contest, makes me excited. I think this should be an annual thing of sorts, or a type of contest, at least.

This is going to be close :thumbup:
 
This was such a great idea. A lot of the time with a custom maker you only get to see what their customers believe makes a good knife. The genius of a challenge in this format is that we get to see what the knifemakers think makes a good knife. They are unencumbered by having to meet the demands of a customer and get to apply their own ideas, experience, and creativity.

It is very fun to get to see the knifemarker's unique personalities in each entry.
 
koyote said:
Pit- it appeals to me, too! I have to be honest, I'm worried about how it's going to stack up. I tell myself I always worry, but... well, I do. There's some pretty awesome stuff out here.
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I really don't think you have to worry. You have a strong practical focus and always consider how your knives will be used for real tasks.

I can't imagine your knife could do poorly.:confused::):thumbup:
 
Gee, I wonder who wins the sheath contest.:rolleyes:

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