Iboschi, you should contact Yangdu to see if she has one or if she can get one in the works for you. There were a few for sale this summer/fall. If one needs to be made, there may be a wait for it. There's presently a shortage of coal in Nepal to go along with their shortage of electricity. This combination may work to keep the forges quiet until things can stabilize again. Yangdu can give you the best answer though. Peace Rick
Rick gives good advice I have to take the time to praise the awesomeness that is the HSK with the thread bump. In the last 6 months it has replaced pretty much every chopping/slicing knife in my kitchen. Now I am a simple man with simple needs, but this is such a great design It has enough belly to slice through meat but enough weight to power through tough veggies. Holds a really nice edge too
Guys, All props to HI for everything they do. Even though CS has its followers, and I have owned several, I have given all away save one, the folding Bushman. IMO~ the folding Bushman is pretty much bomb proof. I would like it a lot better if it did not have such an odd way to open the blade. By far my favorite knife from CS is the Natchez Bowie. Mine is sharp, and in a chopping contest I held in my back yard last, out performed ever knife I own. That did not make me happy, but the truth is the truth. As for the HI Survival knife, I will support HI in whatever way I can. With that in mind I wish they would look beyond CS to a true artist...Here's what I mean... http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v...tion=view¤t=EcomomyBushandSkewKnife.jpg I hope the link works. TAI GOO' is the man when it comes to making ART quality using knives. His wraps are second to none. The pic has two knives which TAI uses in his shop. They are made from 1/8 inch 1095. TAI hardens the entire knife rather than doing a zone heat treat. He says this makes the 1095 "springier" and more lively in the hand. All I am trying to say is, if you need inspiration, look to the best and fall short, rather than looking to the least and equalling. You know? Shane
I have admired his work for some time. Ron Hood did a video a while back on Tai Goo's knifemaking techniques. I noticed many similarities between Tai Goo's technique and what I saw with HI kamis in Nepal. Inspiration for an artist is where he (or she) finds it.
I emailed Yangdu after reading this thread and at the moment there are none in stock. When they due come in, I will most certainly pick one up as it looks tough as nails.
Having received my HSK awhile ago I have had ample oportunity to use it around the farm. the only mod that I made was to use Plasti Dip on the handle. its a rubber coating that insulates the handle. I left the coard wrap in place and covered the whole handle. For those of you who dont know what it is its a liquid rubber coating that is used on plyers and screwdrivers to insulate them. It comes in about 4 different colors. It makes a nice confortable handle. Its rough on the hands to use a steel handle in cold weather and this solved that problem. You can obtain it at lowes or home depot. Jim
Awesome mod, Jim I meant to do that to my original bushman, but I never got around to it. I've heard it makes a night and day difference:thumbup:
I need to apologize if the tone of my post was crabby. Pain will do that. Howard, Many years ago, I can remember when TAI was writing articles, and had a huge shop full of every tool imaginable. I can remember reading some of the articles he had written, and thinking that he was on the way to becoming one of the top makers on the planet. Then , at least to me, it seemed like Tai just sort of faded away. Next thing I knew he was smithing in his outdoor shop in Arizona and had returned to "the CIRCLE". Gone were all the tools and fancy whizz-bangs. All he was using was fire,hammers and his creative mind. The last of the three, had somehow, "broken free of its moorings" and set a TAI on a new course. At first I thought..."What the?" Then I realized TAI had evolved so far in his craft that he arrived at the same place he began. Then he discovered he did not need tools to express his craft any longer. Yes, TAI is one of my top ten modern knife making heroes, along with Ray Richard, Larry Harley, Bill Burke and so on.... Having said that I am happy that HI is finding ways to expand it's product line. Stagnation in this business is the same thing as gangrene in a healthy body. Eventually the organism ceases to exhibit life signs. IMO ~ HI and it's NEPALI tradition are too special to be looking to CS for design ideas. I will not say that the idea behind the CS Bushman came from TAI and his knife making tradition. Especially since Lynn T. is a life long student of edged tools of every kind. He may have just seen this and said, "HEY! I can DO that!" http://www.vikingsword.com/ethsword/ifugao/index.html Shane
Shane, the ideas circle around. If you ever get a chance to talk to Tai Goo, let me know if he is arrogant or humble. Here's a Phillipine knife from my collection. It predates both the CS bushman and Tai's work. Notice any similarities? Take a careful look at the handle. These ideas have been around for a long time. Tai Goo has indeed gone through some circles, or perhaps ascending spirals, in his development. At a certain point you may realize that when you thought you were looking down, you were in fact looking up. In any case, I don't agree with your expressed opinion on what is worth drawing inspiration from, and what is not. That is an individual decision for each of us to make for ourselves. People may find inspiration in the most unusual places if that is where they care to look. They are hearing, perhaps, Thoreau's "different drummer." If any particular work is not your cup of tea, that's fine. I don't like everything I see either.
Dear Howard, I have exchanged e-mails with Tai over the last couple years, and find him to be a good guy. He has a "funny" sense of humor. (Excuse the pun) By that I mean, people who are very creative see life and the World from very different perspectives than folks who lean toward the more intellectual. I don't mean to say he is not smart...he is wicked smart. Let me give you an example...a number of years ago I haunted Mr. Fogg's website, where Tai used to post as well. Tai had been posting A LOT of pics of the work he was doing. And if you know his work, it is always pushing a new idea. I was having trouble finding a muse, so I e-mailed Tai and asked him where he gets his inspiration. I fully expected some long drawn out response that wound round and round... I will never forget Tai's response... He said, and I quote," I am plugged into the Universe." People could take that many different ways. And yes, it might rub a scientist the wrong way, because he would see it as a ludicrous comment, since scientifically, there is no known "UNIVERSAL PLUG IN". An artist, martial or otherwise, might "GET IT." See what I mean? Honestly, I am vaguely aware that Tai has gotten into "trouble" because he speaks his mind, and that mind might not respond in accepted ways. I realize I am not doing a good job of answering your question. I find Tai to be a down to Earth, craftsman who has reached Mastery by following ,"NOBODY ELSE'S ROAD". He has never been disrespectful to me or rude in any way. Tai is like any other person on the planet. I think, as much as anything, this industry, is driven by EGO. If you do not have a strong will, and thick skin you will wither and die. If you try to "go it alone" the way Tai has, you had better be ready to stand on your own and face whatever they throw at you. Not sure if any of this really makes sense, and I have stolen enough from this thread already. TAI is the kind of guy who walked the planet 150 years ago. Good or bad, he would have been successful, on his own merit, without asking permission form anybody. Shoot him an e-mail and see what happens. Shane I emailed him and asked
We all have our opinions and need to respect those of others. Each must find his own inspiration in his own time. There is no right or wrong, as it is an individual thing. It also should be respected. @shane justice- This is aunties showroom floor. It is appreciated that you like Mr. Goo's work, but poor form to derailing this discussion with it. Please do not do so in the future.
That is the type of response I would have expected from such an artist. I think it is part of what gives him the ability to create at the level of quality and originality that he does. We get ourselves in trouble when we start laying too many layers of judgement between the universe and our perception of it. Then we cut out a lot of possible creativity and end up producing "conventional" work, because it went through a "conventional" filter where we edit out things we and our society have deemed bad. Tai Goo has obviously drawn some inspiration from the Phillipine traditions, and that's why I posted the old hollow-handle forged knife from that tradition. Cold Steel in all probability took it's inspiration for the Bushman from that same tradition. Cold Steel didn't produce a Phillipine bolo imitation in it's Bushman, nor are all Tai Goo's hollow-handled knives Philipine bolo imitations. One of our forumites was kind enough to send over a Bushman to the kamis, just to see what they thought of it. The kamis sent back a wordless zen-type response, which seems to have struck a responsive chord with many here. In my mind, the Kami's are not imitating anything and no one is trying to make HI into a poor Cold Steel imitation. The kamis are dancing the same dance Tai Goo, and even Lynn Thompson, each dance in their own special ways.
