Hawbaker Muskrat manufacturers?

zerogee said:
Look at this shot from above that Vince posted:

See those short brass bits filling in next to the tangs of both blades? Those are catch bits. They allow the tangs of the blades to be narrower than the spring and allow the points of both blades to actually "overlap" both tangs (without the catch bits, the blades would have to be shorter, and the grinds more complex, starting from thicker stock). Think of the catch bits as "catching" the points of the blades (not quite though).
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Thank you for taking the time to explain it to me. :thumbup:
 
kamagong said:
A.G. Russell offered a Cattaraugus branded hawbaker. You can still find them around on the secondary market. I don't have one myself, but it looks like a winner with ATS-34 blades.

- Christian
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I have one of these and it is really special, let me tell you. It's not as long as some of the others here, but the quality and fit and finish are outstanding. If anyone wants to know where to find one at a fair price, shoot me a PM and I might be able to help.

I also have one of the Case/Bose collabs. I have to say, the Hawbaker is one of my favourite patterns. My two favourite blade shapes, both in a usable length! What's not to like?
 
zerogee said:
The muskrat pattern was originally designed for muskrat trappers (and similar) for skinning many fairly small critters each day. This means you need your skinning technique down cold. By having two nearly identical blades, when one dulls, you can switch to the other - without having to change your technique. If the blades were significantly different profiles, you'd have to shift your technique to match which blade you're using -- annoying and unnecessary - you're cold, tired and really don't need the bother - and you're doing the same thing over and over - why should you need to mess about doing it with two different shaped blades? Also, if you mess up you've ruined a hide that meant a little badly needed money for you and your family.

Other aspects of the muskrat pattern design also come from the 'much work skinning little critters' -- the blades are sunk low in the frame (often with nail ease notches to access them) so you have two blades without the handle being uncomfortable in the hand due to the other blade sticking up in the way. Blades on opposite ends mean right hand opening for both and more symmetry in use (and a slimmer, lighter design with the original wide single spring construction). I think the sexy serpentine design was just to make it beautiful -- which certainly worked (though it also means you can tell one end from the other, even by feel - so you know which end the still sharp blade is on after you've closed it, put it in your pocket, and took it out again later). A brilliant design.

The later "improved muskrat" designs basically answer the observation (by those doing something other than just skinning hordes of little critters every day) that the muskrat pattern is a hell of a nice pattern, if only one blade was a little different. It was quite a brainstorm to put in the long wharncliffe as the second blade (understand that the wharncliffe was, even with it's long history, an unusual blade back then and not widely used - especially not in old American sporting/hunting/trapping cutlery).

-- Dwight
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Thanks Dwight, it was a great post.
 
I grew up on a lake here in central Minnesota and we saw real muskrats all the time. Ugly and mean if cornered, but I suppose they serve some purpose in the natural world. Not half as pretty as this Northwoods Muskrat in ivory. :D
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Is that the corn whiskey that's aged at least 12 hours? Fancy! They need to mark whether it's courtin' whiskey or fightin' whiskey though. Nice knife too.:D
 
It's about the color of turpentine so I don't think it spends too awful a long time in the barrel. :D
 
Planterz said:
redundant/identical blades. .
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I don't know if things are supposed to be this way - but of the the ten or so muskrats I have had, the blades have the same profile, true, but one has been ground way thinner and more flexible than the other

Always assumed one for fish and one for , well, muskrats I guess :D

btw - Fight'n Rooster have stopped now - tragically. I never did get the stag stockman I wanted :(:(:)
 
kamagong said:
A.G. Russell offered a Cattaraugus branded hawbaker. You can still find them around on the secondary market. I don't have one myself, but it looks like a winner with ATS-34 blades.

- Christian
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I had this one once

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