cold steel bushman

gradall5200

gradall5200

Joined
Mar 12, 2006
Messages
1,867
Im not much of a custom guy and by looking at the pics you see that. Im pretty much a traditional folder guy, but a month or so in the general discussion forum I said I was looking for a good survival knife. You know the kind, compass handle butt survival kit inside etc. But after a little chit chat I realized what I would want was pretty far out of my price range (chris reeves stuff etc). So after a heated discussion between some guys about what they liked and suggested one suggestion stood out the cold steel bushman,2 reasons pretty tough and cheap!!! just my style. So I bought a bit for the dremmel tool and started free handing. every survival type knife Ive tried the saw part dosent actually cut it just looks like it should. So I cut on the knife for an hour and and half or so and then started cutting with it. I spent another hour or so experimenting with a file ,the dremmel, and a 2x4. once I could cut a piece of wood with some ease I decided it was right. just wanted to share. any suggestions on how to seal the handle up to put survival supplies inside??? - Joel
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This is all personal, of course, but I would have left the spine alone and spent that time giving the knife a high flat grind.

John
 
That bushman looks hollow ground, like my bushman bowie, I am almost positive my original has a straight taper. Is it just a trick of the light?
Cool mod, btw, I put a drop point and a choil on mine.
 
john Im not sure what a high flat grind is? All the custom stuff is latin to me. Hollow ground??? fill me in here guys so I can learn this stuff. - Joel
 
Your knife is hollow ground, and not even half way up the side of the blade. That means you have more weight and thickness than you need/want. Flat grinding the blade (or hollow if you want) much higher up the blade, reaching or approaching the spine, would reduce weight and improver cutting efficiency. Think material flow, drag, friction, etc. The actual cutting edge on both flat and hollow ground knives may be slightly convexed or otherwise tuned to your liking.

John
 
Let's see how this does in a forum set up for modifications. :)

The Bushman has a decent rep as a bare-bones survival tool. That sawback looks good.

The easiest way to secure items inside the handle would be to run some duck tape around it. This also gives you a nice grip, depending on how far up the handle you put it, and it gives you duck tape to carry with you, which is always handy to have around. :)
 
A crutch tip from your local pharmacy/med supply store will close the butt end quite well. If you're lucky, you can find a black one! Then, poke a cotter pin through the center, and make a paracord fob or lanyard. This way, you can yank the crutch tip off more readily.
 
Hello All,

Dear Liam Ryan,

Can you take a second look to verify the taper on your original bushman? I bought a bushman recently but all the new ones are apparently hollow ground. I would be interested to know if the old bushmans did indeed have a different taper.


thank you,

justin
 
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i have an older bushman and it is also hollow ground.

mine has a wide convex bevel to it though with a very thin edge.

i also ground a small choil into mine.

looks like a good mod, good to hear that it works well.

as for the handle, you can seal the top with some tape or something like that, and then cork the bottom or tape it up. i would suggest getting a small plastic vial to put the supplies in before inserting the vial into the handle cavity, to keep everything clean, dry and organized, as well as easy to get out of the handle.
 
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