Desktop Review Jeff White Nessmuk & R. Jones Sheath

Iboschi

Iboschi

Joined
Sep 17, 2009
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2,692
SadieJane recently picked up a Jeff White Custom and needed indentification here on the forums. I thought it looked like a good period style blade to try out so I bought one of his Nessmuks and sheath (FOR A STEAL).

Blade is 1095 high carbon steel and 5½ inches long, 1½ wide and 3/32 thick. Handle is 4½ inches long, curly maple with a dark, hand rubbed stain and held to the full tang by 3 brass pins.

Sheath is hand made and hand sewn, from quality 7-8 oz. vegetable tanned leather. Fits the standard skinner.Belt loop is extra wide, fits up to 3" belt. Dyed medium tan to dark and antiqued.

The blade came with a Convex zero grind and was shaving sharp out of the packing. Fit and finish are medium to good, for the price the fit and finish are unreal. There is some file work/jimping on the spine which is polished. The upper portion of the blade is unfinished and gives it a rustic appeal.

Thus far I have only sliced some oranges and lemons with it, and it will cut paper thin slices with it. Overall I am very happy with this knife and sheath at the price point. Sorry for the crappy cell phone pictures.


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Ive gotten into a pretty decent sized discussion about these knives. They are nice. I am under the impression that they arent made but handled by Jeff White and the "as forged" look is actually an uber deep etch/patina w/ vinegar or other form of acid. Still a REALLY nice knife especially for the scrap. I am seriously looking into nabbing one off evilBay....
 
theedge13 said:
Ive gotten into a pretty decent sized discussion about these knives. They are nice. I am under the impression that they arent made but handled by Jeff White and the "as forged" look is actually an uber deep etch/patina w/ vinegar or other form of acid. Still a REALLY nice knife especially for the scrap. I am seriously looking into nabbing one off evilBay....
Click to expand...

I would enjoy some reading on Jeff White if you can link those threads to me. I would be more content to know he did forge the knife himself etc, although even if the knife were made by a one legged dog named lil brudder with an ear infection and cataracts, I would still be happy with this purchase :D
 
decided to just write him via ebay(ebay name jwhammer123) and asked if he forged them himself. will wait to see what he says.
 
I have the same nessmuk and 4 other knives from Jeff White/Robert and they are pretty good although a couple of spots on my edges came unsharpened for the price they are great.

Were did you get your info theedge13?
I have gone to the Jeff and Robert Jones (handsewnleather.com I believe) websites and to my knowledge Big Jeff is a blacksmith and these knives are forged not just handled they have his blacksmiths stamp deep in each blade as well.
Robert is a night chaplain at a mens shelter, some who he teaches leather work and they aid in his sheaths. I doubt he'd be lying about it, I have had good dealings with him.

Good blades, the nessmuk makes a great camp/kitchen knife and the 5 1/4 patch is a good one too.
 
i heard that on bushcraftusa.com

also... look at his pic
skinner_blade.JPG
looks more like a patina. I am NOT detracting that these are very nice knives for the coin at all..just passing some info along. Ill copy/paste what ive read in my next reply
 
Maybe White's are produced differently.

But I've seen the exact pattern made by other small companies in the past.

The ones I've handled were essentially sheared from thin (3/32) sheet steel. They were given a crude sabre grind. The blanks I have don't even have an edge. On some, hammer marks were applied (I've seen the same blades with and without hammer marks), and then the blades were given a HEAVY acid-etch patina to darken the blade and give it some pitting to make it look old. The etching is deep enough on some that it looks like a forge finish.

These were intended as cheap "trade knives" for the rendevous market. They could be bought as bare blades or with maple handles. Some of them had a "Spanish notch" on the ricasso. There were several syles of blades, and that one used to be sold as a "Buffalo skinner." Most of the blade designs were pure fantasy--generally functional, with a historic look, but without any real historical basis. Usually you'll see them marked as "DMP" (DM Palmer) or "RT" (River Traders) depending on the company that made them.
 
i hope i am not putting up a stink by any means.... it IS a nice knife...im just repeating what i heard. if they truly are hand forged then the going rate is ONE HELLUVA DEAL!
 
Looks like we have ourselves a mystery!

Mystery%20Machine3.jpg


I believe everyone here is on the up and up. I appreciate all info about the blade and maker. I'll be interested to hear what he says in reply Sadiejane.

Glad to see I'm not the only one with good taste Brad!

Theedge13, we'll keep digging and see what can be positively unearthed here. I always enjoy knowing "the facts".

To those just jumping in, feel free to chime in with whatever info you have. I'm not worried about thread derailment here. I would just like more information. I think we all would :D
 
Cool man...again, i totally dig that knife. think it is awesome. I just wanted to share what i read and would like the clarification as well. :thumbup:

BTW on bcusa they said the sheath maker was a reg here went by Beowulf or something... i dont believe that I, being a user-of-all-that-is-free, registered user can search members.... one of the bros that pays for all this knowledge may check that out.
 
theedge13 said:
Cool man...again, i totally dig that knife. think it is awesome. I just wanted to share what i read and would like the clarification as well. :thumbup:

BTW on bcusa they said the sheath maker was a reg here went by Beowulf or something... i dont believe that I, being a user-of-all-that-is-free, registered user can search members.... one of the bros that pays for all this knowledge may check that out.
Click to expand...

There are seven different variations on Beowulf!
 
on ebay he goes by beo-wulf , with the hypen. his name is robert jones and they are nice sheaths. the knives are swell for the $.
 
sadiejane said:
......... the knives are swell for the $.
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Agreed! And, although I will not say where I got the knife (PM me if you're curious), I can in fact say what I paid. Knife + Sheath cost me under $35 USD. Not to shabby.
 
$35 for the set?!?! OH MAN....i gotta get in on some of that action....i cannot pm tho...

can you email me at anubis1335 at yahoo dot com? please...
 
they really are good deals. finish is respectable for the price and they are good using blades and as traditional as anything I have seen. Would be great for reenactors that want knives they can use as well.

I forgot to add I have 3 of the massive camp cleaver bowies of Jeff's as well, wish I knew how to put up links and pic's but they are .25 thick with leather scales and huge 8.5 in blades with a semi sharp clip. They are bullet proof, fully convex ground and balanced for throwing. Like a mountain man's cleaver or thick straight hudson bay style.
They hit like a ton o bricks, gonna get a big round this spring for a target and lay down some dirt in front. had to do a lot of filing bouncing off a tree into rocks last year.

I will bump Robert for a pic perhaps.
 
WOW. This is the 3rd Jeff White thread I have read in like 10 min! I have talked to to Jeff and Robert in person. They are both great guys! Jeff does alot of cool looking knives and Robert does a great job with leather. I have the trader style knife and love it. It has gutted both of my deer and done a great job!

I have nothing but good to say about both guys!
 
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