Have I totally lost the plot ?

pitdog

pitdog

Joined
Apr 13, 2007
Messages
12,294
Maybe my love of real ales has finally took it's toll on my brain cells ! With the talk of the Bushcraft knife contest I began thinking of how I might design a tool/Knife for Bushcraft if I had no preconceptions of how a Bushy normally looks.
I thought about Bushcraft tasks I have done and how I struggled with certain ones and how they might have been easier given a different design.

One problem I have always had was forming the hollow in a spoon and I wondered if a rounded Scandi ( or maybe even a chisel ) edge at the end of the blade might make this task easier. My drawing sucks so try to imagine a Graham Brothers Razel with a rounded end instead of flat.
I also gave the blade a little finger clearance for food prep and tried to make it so the back of the blade edge could still be used for drilling fireboards.
I also included an exposed pommel that could be struck when using the knife as a wood chisel or scraper.

Totally crazy ???

001onp.jpg

By pitdog2010 at 2010-09-13
 
Hmm... In my opinion spoon carving isn't exactly an essential factor of bushcraft, it's just a good test of your wood processing and knife utilization skills. Would it play a factor in the overall design of my ideal bushcrafting blade? Definitely not. I'd much rather have a useable tip and nice belly.
 
PayetteRucker said:
Hmm... In my opinion spoon carving isn't exactly an essential factor of bushcraft, it's just a good test of your wood processing and knife utilization skills. Would it play a factor in the overall design of my ideal bushcrafting blade? Definitely not. I'd much rather have a useable tip and nice belly.
Click to expand...

When ya say nice belly do you mean the bottom edge should be rounded? Most bushy's seem to have a straight edge that I have seen.

What tasks do you use the tip for ?
 
With the tip rounded and sharpened like that I think you'd chew up your batton pretty badly if you tried it.
 
ac1d0v3r1d3 said:
With the tip rounded and sharpened like that I think you'd chew up your batton pretty badly if you tried it.
Click to expand...

That's true but more and more people are now saying they don't batton, especially with their smaller blades !

I think the blade came out at about 4 1/2" so you could still split 2"-3" diameter wood, I'd think !
 
pitdog said:
That's true but more and more people are now saying they don't batton, especially with their smaller blades !
Click to expand...

Well, those people are just the anti-batoning committee. What about the for-batoning people, such as myself? :p

I prefer to have a fine point, even if I don't use it that much, it makes the blade look nicer.
 
Have you thought about the same knife you have designed, but with a half round tip coming to a sharp point?
 
pitdog said:
When ya say nice belly do you mean the bottom edge should be rounded? Most bushy's seem to have a straight edge that I have seen.

What tasks do you use the tip for ?
Click to expand...

Mostly wood processing-whether it's bolting for a one-stick fire or finer whittling tasks. Try gutting a fish without a defined point. You won't make it through the scales, much less get your blade under the skin to peel it off... The one downside to my Koyote knife is the tip is rounded to the point where I can't get through steelhead scales to clean em. I'm sure the same will apply with cleaning other animals as well. Just some examples... I define belly as the amount of blade between the tip of the knife and the base of the edge. It adds useable edge to a knife. It doesn't mean you can't have a flat portion of the blade.... The design of the recurve's purpose is to increase useable cutting edge in a short package, IE the Khukri. Useable belly does the same thing-run a string along the edge and then measure the actual blade length and you'll see that on blades like the HEST, the cutting edge is considerably longer. It makes slicing tasks a breeze, even with thicker blades, again like the HEST. Is it be all end all necessity for any knife? Heck no, but for my main bushcrafter I find it way more practical.
 
TheGame said:
I prefer to have a fine point, even if I don't use it that much, it makes the blade look nicer.
Click to expand...

I think a blade such as this could still look nice, it's just my drawing that sucks !
Check out how nice the Razals can look:

grac59.jpg

By pitdog2010 at 2010-09-13
 
PayetteRucker said:
Mostly wood processing-whether it's bolting for a one-stick fire or finer whittling tasks. Try gutting a fish without a defined point. You won't make it through the scales, much less get your blade under the skin to peel it off... The one downside to my Koyote knife is the tip is rounded to the point where I can't get through steelhead scales to clean em. I'm sure the same will apply with cleaning other animals as well. Just some examples... I define belly as the amount of blade between the tip of the knife and the base of the edge. It adds useable edge to a knife. It doesn't mean you can't have a flat portion of the blade.... The design of the recurve's purpose is to increase useable cutting edge in a short package, IE the Khukri. Useable belly does the same thing-run a string along the edge and then measure the actual blade length and you'll see that on blades like the HEST, the cutting edge is considerably longer. It makes slicing tasks a breeze, even with thicker blades, again like the HEST. Is it be all end all necessity for any knife? Heck no, but for my main bushcrafter I find it way more practical.
Click to expand...
Some good points, thanks !:)
 
What if you made a thinner chisel tip? Like a Razel, but maybe 1/2" wide at the tip. That way you get a little bit of "tip" and could still easily carve spoons
 
Pit, that is one fugly knife. No flow, no concessions to aesthetics, and the wrap-around edge and protruding handle would make most custom makers cringe.

I like it. ;)

It looks like an interesting and function-oriented design. Question: Would a different grind on the tip provide more durability for spoon-making purposes? Maybe a chisel grind with a bit of a secondary edge?

All the best,

- Mike
 
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