Copperhead sinuous bush sword

Storm Crow

Storm Crow

Joined
Apr 12, 2006
Messages
2,506
I had a customer request a bush sword as close as possible in profile and bevels to one that I forged a couple of years ago for Knife Rights' Ultimate Steel fundraiser. Fortunately, I had traced the blade on a piece of cardboard before I finished it out, so I was able to make a pattern. Making any forged blade match exactly what has been done before is always boogery, but the pattern helped.

I forged it from 80CrV2 steel, with a 14" blade and an integral socket handle. Like the original, the clip is a false edge, though thin enough that it could be sharpened.



The customer wanted me to do the handle wrap with a patterned paracord called "copperhead" that matches pretty close to the scale pattern on the actual ophidian, with the Turk's head knots in a solid color called "rust" that compliments the copperhead well. The cord always darkens when the epoxy is applied, but the pattern still shows up. Just not as obvious at a distance.



The customer is a lefty like me and liked the edge-forward left-handed cross draw setup I had done on my test mule camp knife. He wanted to wear it lower than I did, so I gave the quick-detach, double-adjustable shoulder sling an extra foot of webbing so he could adjust it to where he wants it.



He expressed his satisfaction with the rig in no uncertain terms. Always glad to have another happy customer. :)
 
Last edited:
I'm really liking the sinuous profile of this piece. It looks very effective, especially with that dropped handle.
 
Thank y'all!

Lorien - Most of my big choppers will have a curved handle or the angle of the handle to the blade will drop the chopping sweet spot down slightly below the level of the knuckles. Makes for a more powerful chop without getting hard to control.
 
I think the drop in the hand looks a little more pronounced due the curvaceousness of the blade. The swale along the spine terminating in the raised clip, plus the recurve along the edge accentuate the drop, which looks about perfect from what little I know of efficiency in a well designed chopper.
 
The owner surprised me when he sent me some pictures of what he had done with the left-over copperhead paracord that I had sent with the bush sword. He said to honor the maker, he put my touchmark on the sheath as well. :D





Matches the stamp on the blade pretty darn well! I was very impressed.

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top