Help design a hiking/cooking/fighting knife.

Shotgun

Shotgun

Joined
Feb 3, 2006
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Hopefully this will come out in one cohesive(and intelligible) thought.:D

I want to design a knife that is really good in the kitchen that I can throw in a sheath and go on a hike with. I do want this to be a last ditch/no other option self defense tool as I don't hike with a gun anymore. Right now I'm using a scrapyard 711 with a compound edge done by Mr. Gossman and it's awesome...it's just too heavy and bulky for day hikes. I have some things I know I want but somethings I'm up in the air about. Let me know what your preferences are in each category and why if you don't mind. Pics of what you're talking about would be great as well:

Blade length- I know I want at least 4 inches but I'm thinking I want to be at about 5-6 inches to make it a good food knife. There are a lot of boning and chefs knives in the 6 inch group so I'm leaning that way but undecided.

Blade shape- I know I want a gradual belly on the knife like the Farmer below. For this type work I've found it to be just about perfect. Otherwise I'm unsure of how wide the blade should be. Thinking wide to give my fingers clearance on a cutting board but with the gradual belly like below, I don't think it needs to be too wide. 1.5 inch maybe?

IMG_1174.jpg


Handle- No idea. I want it at least 4 inches long with brass hardware. Other then that I got nothing. Any ideas?

Blade thickness- Not sure. Thin but not too thin. But not too thick either. :D:rolleyes: This knife won't be used to pry but I do want to split kindling with it. Which means batoning 3-4 inch rounds or small corners off of big rounds but I'm pretty gentle in this respect. I avoid knots and twisted grain and also won't force the knife if it just doesn't want to go. I'd use wedges if the wood was real tough. 3/32" thick would be my preference but not sure if this is a good thickness. Cooking and splitting kindling would be the 2 things I would use this for the most. Opposite ends of the sectrum on what's ideal, thickness wise, I know.

Steel will be carbon steel. O1 unless John has started using 3v. ;)

I'm probably not going to be ordering for a month or so as I have a wedding to pay for so I have some time to flush out the design. All opinions are welcome and let me know if I forgot anything.
 
I could certainly see a modified Galley Wag filling the bill.
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Perhaps 1/8 thick?
 
thank roach belly looks just the ticket, great looking knife.

I think designing a knife is a great deal of fun, I'm not the best myself, so I thought i'd just chip in some picks of nice looking wood and brass choices., :) The best advice (i get all my best advice form the folks here BTW) is to make cardboard cut outs, and find something hat feels comfortable in your hand.

Handle: I have found walnut and maple burl to go great with your choice of brass pins, I like the look of the pins on most knives so I tend to get the bigger 1/4" ones when i can, but the small ones like on the Jk Stubs look great.

some brass and maple burl on a JK Canadian belt knife (not mine, hope the owner won't mind, I just think this is an astonishingly good picture of it)
B42011CB-D039-4C74-8C0C-4F4E1A790BF0-4722-000004A98C889323.jpg

some walnut (also not mine, same as above)
004-17.jpg

larger pins on the JK TK (mine, but John's picture)
025-4.jpg

smaller pins, on the stubs, Taylor also used a very cool way of spacing the pins out around the knife, don't think that wood will ever come off through use
attachment.php

brass, maple burl and smaller pins on a JK baby kephart (mine, mine, mine :))
104_0884.jpg

JKTK in maple burl and brass, also a great sodbuster based handle design (Johns picture)
001-90.jpg
 
jds1 said:
How about the standard JK pattern Roach Belly?

Jeff
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You know I had a Koyote roach belly and it never really did anything for me. A straight back blade with no drop is something I'm looking into but I want a flat portion in the blade.
protourist said:
I could certainly see a modified Galley Wag filling the bill.
Perhaps 1/8 thick?
Click to expand...
Not digging trailing points either however that bottom one you have pictured has a good edge profile. If you were to rotate the handle up and straighten the back, it could be a winner. I'll have to look at that guy when I'm drawing some designs up. Thanks for the pic. And yeah, the more I think about it the more I'm thinking 1/8 is the right thickness.
KYenglish said:
thank roach belly looks just the ticket, great looking knife.

I think designing a knife is a great deal of fun, I'm not the best myself, so I thought i'd just chip in some picks of nice looking wood and brass choices., :) The best advice (i get all my best advice form the folks here BTW) is to make cardboard cut outs, and find something hat feels comfortable in your hand.

Handle: I have found walnut and maple burl to go great with your choice of brass pins, I like the look of the pins on most knives so I tend to get the bigger 1/4" ones when i can, but the small ones like on the Jk Stubs look great.

some brass and maple burl on a JK Canadian belt knife (not mine, hope the owner won't mind, I just think this is an astonishingly good picture of it)
Click to expand...

I used to be all about stainless steel pins and micarta. Now I'm all about the retro look of wood and brass. Go figure. :D The one I have pictured is Osage with brass. It's a beautiful piece in person. The canadian belt knife is actually one that sticks out as being just about perfect for what I want. Not sure I'm sold on the "waviness" of it. I think I want just a simple straight back knife. I'll think on it though.
 
This is the next bun in the oven for me.
Going to try to make this one myself, but may end up sending it to John to finish.

Somewhat similar to what you asked for.

006.JPG
 
cbwoods67 said:
This is the next bun in the oven for me.
Going to try to make this one myself, but may end up sending it to John to finish.

Somewhat similar to what you asked for.

006.JPG
Click to expand...

Yep that's close to what I have in mind right down to the dimensions. I think I may go for a straight back. Kind of like a short Leuku with a more gradual belly.
 
That's a fine looking knife, cooper.

The lower one in protourists pick is the galley wags big brother, the cutlass, both are very fine knives.

The JK TK is 3/32" thick and I love it but JK's standard 1/78" is hard to beat by any measure and ti really doesn't add much weight and can cut like a razor, for your purposes it is probably the best option.
 
I really like the profile of that Farmer, Shotgun, and I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

I think the drawing Cooper posted looks like it would be an excellent knife - hope it sees life sometime soon.


For the intended use, my first choice would be the JKCBK. Below is a picture of mine, done in ebony and brass.




Another option is the Kentucky Woodsman:




Or John's large Nessie




For food prep, John's Improved Bowie is hard to beat (although it doesn't have the blade width you're looking for).




I'd rank the Roach Belly very high if most of your use will be food prep. I know it isn't what you're looking for, but wanted to include the picture for comparison to the next model shown.




This one is my own design. It's thin and cuts like a demon and the size is pretty close to what you're looking for. The blade (the sharp part anyway) appears to be very close to what you're looking for and I'm sure John could alter the spine to meet your needs rather easily. This one is done is Snakewood and brass.




 
Step 1, lets get John to start using 3V! Maybe we can all pitch in a couple dollars and get him a sample piece of 3V to make the knife with! Its like $20-24 for a piece of steel big enough for the knife you have in mind.

Id go with a tall, thin blade made of 3V with a full handle, lots of finger clearance, and a big belly.

Im thinking a 2+ inch tall 5/32 thick chunk of 3V FFG or high saber ground with about a 6-7 inch blade would be perfect. It will be able to tear through meat and veggies, have excellent edge retention, be tough as nails and should have enough heft to chop. Combine this with the extremely thin edges 3V can take and you'll have one heck of a knife. Im thinking of a cross between the Fiddleback camp knife and the Koster monster Nessie.
MonsterNessieKoa.jpg


images
 
That`s the knife I entered in the W&SS Camp Knife Competition a couple of years ago. It is 1 1/2" tall and 1/8" thick. The photo was taken by Brian Andrews.
 
JK Knives said:
That`s the knife I entered in the W&SS Camp Knife Competition a couple of years ago. It is 1 1/2" tall and 1/8" thick. The photo was taken by Brian Andrews.
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How could that have slipped my mind? I love it. I must be getting old.
 
Okay tell me what you think. I took a little from everyone's suggestions. The blade is 1.5" wide and 5.75" long from tip to scale. Scales are 4.75".

20121003073832914_Page_3.jpg


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That looks like it will be an extremely useful knife.

I doubt you will have any trouble with the handle scales falling off.:p
 
cbwoods67 said:
That looks like it will be an extremely useful knife.

I doubt you will have any trouble with the handle scales falling off.:p
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LOL...yeah, I may change those around a bit. Maybe lose the two small ones in front and shift the big ones over a bit.
 
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