Green River Nessmuk Build

Trout Hound

Trout Hound

Joined
Sep 28, 2014
Messages
693
Hi Everyone,

I just have to share this little project with my family here on the porch. I haven't posted as much for the last week or so, mainly because I've been working on this. About a month ago, my wife and I were on a camping trip that turned out to be a good bit of time spent sitting under a tarp in the pouring rain. I had downloaded a copy of Woodcraft on my phone, and I spent my time under shelter reading through it. I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and I have admired the Nessmuk pattern for some time now. I love the lines of the knife, and it just looks so darn useful. Besides that, while my Mora does everything I could ask it to do on a camping trip, I realized that a knife like that would just have so much more character. I remembered that Russell Green River sells their buffalo skinners as blanks, so I decided it would be fun to try and create my own "broken old buffalo skinner." Here are the results. The only power tool used in this project was a cordless drill.

Before
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After
e0hVg6Z.jpg


akMQbub.jpg


TPmIP4k.jpg


By the way, if you're wondering how I got the hardened blade cut off without an angle grinder, or something similar, the answer is that I wore out 8 new Dewalt hacksaw blades. It was slow going, but hacksaw blades are cheap, a lot safer than cut-off wheels, and aren't likely to ruin the blade temper.

I'm really happy with how it turned out. The handles are discount stag that I picked up from Culpepper. This will be a user that will cut potatoes and bacon, not a safe queen, so I wasn't too concerned about getting the very highest grade stag. It sharpened up really nicely, and it is, in fact, quite "light in the blade." I can't wait to take it on my next camping trip and put it to work. Now, to make a sheath!

Thanks for reading!
 
Wow nice job!! That's pretty nice stag too. Wouldn't worry about the discount part. Looks solid. You are tenacious sir to reprofile with a hacksaw. Here's a sheath design for ya. Belt comes in the back of the slot and goes over the body of the sheath. Again nice job that looks cool.

CETNeO8.jpg
 
Horsewright said:
Wow nice job!! That's pretty nice stag too. Wouldn't worry about the discount part. Looks solid. You are tenacious sir to reprofile with a hacksaw. Here's a sheath design for ya. Belt comes in the back of the slot and goes over the body of the sheath. Again nice job that looks cool.

CETNeO8.jpg
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Thanks, Dave! Your compliment really means a lot to me, as I am certainly familiar with the fine knives you create. I agree that the stag looks pretty darn good. Upon close inspection, I could see why it was in the discount bin, but it served my purpose just fine. And thanks for the sheath pic!
 
That, my friend, is the kind of quality content which makes this forum so great. I appreciate your endeavour and hope that it works as well as it looks. Great job. Out of curiosity how did you peen the pins? I've been working on my stuff with just a ball pen hammer but I read somewhere about making a small "anvil" type thing to cup one end of the pin, sort of like a nail punch.
 
Student762 said:
That, my friend, is the kind of quality content which makes this forum so great. I appreciate your endeavour and hope that it works as well as it looks. Great job. Out of curiosity how did you peen the pins? I've been working on my stuff with just a ball pen hammer but I read somewhere about making a small "anvil" type thing to cup one end of the pin, sort of like a nail punch.
Click to expand...

I have read about the same thing, but I didn't really find it necessary. I started with a ball peen, and later found that a watchmaker's hammer was useful for getting into smaller crevices in the stag. I did use a large flat punch, held in a bench vise, as a post anvil to prevent breaking the stag once I had both sides shaped down pretty flush with the scales. It was a bit tedious, but not too bad, and I didn't feel like the flat punch worked against me too much. At the very end, I went around the edges with a 1/8" flat punch, just to get everything domed down as far as I could. Then, I sanded smooth and polished out to 2000 grit.
 
That is a fantastic reprofile! I'm not a fan of the original profile, honestly, but you've completely transformed this one. Good job and thank you for sharing!
 
Wurrwulf said:
That is a fantastic reprofile! I'm not a fan of the original profile, honestly, but you've completely transformed this one. Good job and thank you for sharing!
Click to expand...

Me, neither, but if we found ourselves in sudden need of skinning a Buffalo? We may soon learn its merits. :D

Excellent work, Trout Hound Trout Hound ! I love what you've done here. There's nothing like a straightforward knife like this for all the various chores and choppings that arise. :thumbsup:

~ P.
 
pertinux said:
Me, neither, but if we found ourselves in sudden need of skinning a Buffalo? We may soon learn its merits. :D

Excellent work, Trout Hound Trout Hound ! I love what you've done here. There's nothing like a straightforward knife like this for all the various chores and choppings that arise. :thumbsup:

~ P.
Click to expand...

I had the same thought, that the usefulness of that particular blade shape is probably lost on anyone who has never skinned a buffalo. Interestingly enough, if one prints out an enlarged copy of Sears' original engraving, and lays the Green River over it, the blade dimensions are almost identical, up to the point where the Nessmuk ends, of course. I know this because I have obsessive compulsive tendencies!
 
Trout Hound said:
I have read about the same thing, but I didn't really find it necessary. I started with a ball peen, and later found that a watchmaker's hammer was useful for getting into smaller crevices in the stag. I did use a large flat punch, held in a bench vise, as a post anvil to prevent breaking the stag once I had both sides shaped down pretty flush with the scales. It was a bit tedious, but not too bad, and I didn't feel like the flat punch worked against me too much. At the very end, I went around the edges with a 1/8" flat punch, just to get everything domed down as far as I could. Then, I sanded smooth and polished out to 2000 grit.
Click to expand...
Cheers mate. I think that's the way I'd do it as well, the domed anvil type thing sounds interesting but not necessarily the "proper" way to do it if you get my drift.
 
Cool mini-build! I think the stag looks great.

Lots of nessmuks are made with stock that's too thick, I think you made yourself a nice, useful companion.
 
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