Ken Erickson Knives: A Retrospective

Careful what you say about "cattle knives", Charlie, or I won't let you post in my thread anymore. ;)
 
waynorth said:
Watching, watching - just totally fascinating. All the details that go into that knife are brain-boggling!
It's gotta be 3-4 times as complex as say, a Cattle knife!?!?
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Every knife has its challenges and quirks at build time, but these horseman's knives are a complex build. And this is only a 2 thick without tweezers or toothpick! :eek: That is one of the reasons I picked this particular pattern, a way for me to get my feet wet without jumping in head first. Also what intrigues me about these Sheffield made sportsman's knives is that I can imagine, the same self-reliant rough individuals that settled the west and carried a Cattle knife might be inclined also to have one of these knives kicking around:cool:;)

I did have the good fortune of getting my steel in yesterday and burned the midnight oil and made the hoof-pick/nut cracker. All heat treated, with 95% of the fitting done. In the second picture you can see the file lines that grip the nut and keep it from squirting out. The original had 6 punch marks with raised teeth but I think this way looks a bit more refined.

I can hardly believe I am just about ready to finding and cutting the stag for this knife. I will be spending time now refining the insides/bolsters/grinds and implements.

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oh my. I knew it was going to happen one day. Very exciting to see this come about by Ken.
 
Bastid said:
oh my. I knew it was going to happen one day. Very exciting to see this come about by Ken.
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Gus, I was afraid this was going to happen one day also!:eek: At times I think life would be easier building single blade 3 1/2 EDC's all day.


supratentorial said:
You don't sleep much do you, Ken? ;) That was quick! I look forward to seeing it fitted with stag handles. :)
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Jake, the problem is when I sleep, I am dreaming up new patterns to try!


All kidding aside guys, I really appreciate the words of encouragement and comments when I take a pattern like this on. It really does mean something to me, in a good way.
 
Mornin' Ken,

Great job! Pushing yourself only makes you better, and in the long run it makes each day seem a little bit more important, at least that's what I've have found.

When I retired, i tried my hand at carpentry, simple repairs at first, now I am building furniture for my family and reconstructing my home. I am now standing

more upright and sort of puffing out my chest. I am sure you'll be happy to know that I have NO intention of trying to build a pocketknife, I'll leave it to the PROS

like you! Great people, recreating tools from the past, wonderful to participate at any level.

All the best, Jeff
 
the knife is looking great, Ken!
I have a question - did you forge the curve in the hoofpick, or did you cut out the arch??
 
waynorth said:
the knife is looking great, Ken!
I have a question - did you forge the curve in the hoofpick, or did you cut out the arch??
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I used the old hoof-pick as a pattern, laid it flat on the steel(.290 thick) cut out profile. I then surface ground down to my final thickness, and then shaped the pick as far as the rounded surface. The thing about the arch is that it has to fit the cap end of the knife perfectly. The finished pick must "snap" over the rounded cap end and retain it, while still being able to be disengaged with your thumbnail. Forging is a skill I do not possess or intend to learn:eek:. My hats off to those guys that beat a knife out of a chunk of red hot metal.
 
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ken erickson said:
I used the old hoof-pick as a pattern, laid it flat on the steel(.290 thick) cut out profile. I then surface ground down to my final thickness, and then shaped the pick as far as the rounded surface. The thing about the arch is that it has to fit the cap end of the knife perfectly. The finished pick must "snap" over the rounded cap end and retain it, while still being able to be disengaged with your thumbnail. Forging is a skill I do not possess or intend to learn:eek:. My hats off to those guys that beat a knife out of a chunk of red hot metal.
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That was a great question Charlie. Ken, I seem to remember a bit of a problem with one production company's hoof pick that was saw cut to shape. The problem was due to the grain of the steel being transverse within the arc of the pick. Heat treated to a low-ish Rc it might not be a problem but, if too hard, the picks could easily break with the grain. You probably already took this into consideration but it may not matter since I bet this baby will never touch a stinky hoof. :D (been there, done that)

Great looking piece, Ken.:thumbup::cool:
 
KnifeHead said:
That was a great question Charlie. Ken, I seem to remember a bit of a problem with one production company's hoof pick that was saw cut to shape. The problem was due to the grain of the steel being transverse within the arc of the pick. Heat treated to a low-ish Rc it might not be a problem but, if too hard, the picks could easily break with the grain. You probably already took this into consideration but it may not matter since I bet this baby will never touch a stinky hoof. :D (been there, done that)

Great looking piece, Ken.:thumbup::cool:
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Kerry,

Thanks for your insights, always appreciated.
When I choose the steel for this project, I had decided to make the corkscrew and hoof-pick out of CPM154 while the blades and other implements are 154cm. Of course one of the benefits of using a CPM steel is greater strength. I have no concerns what so-ever about the strength of this pick. I think I could lift and hang the weight of a horse!:D Of course, the week link is still the 3/32 pivot pin, which is actually larger than the Geo. Wostenholm knife measured at .080. I am curious about the problems with the pick by the production company. Was their hoof-pick flat construction or semi-circle? I am personally impressed by the design of this hoof-pick, Semi-circle with a comparatively large cross section.
 
It was a flat pick stamped from straight grain material and seems like a design destined for failure.

You should be very proud of this piece when it's done.
 
That's really looking great Ken. Thanks for sharing the process with us. It is fascinating. Looking forward to seeing the finished knife.
 
Funny you should say that, Ken...it's the first thing I thought. I think it needs either some very gnarly, popcorny, antique (looking) stag or some very vintage looking bone to complement the pattern.

The knife itself is stunning!. :thumbup:
 
I agree. The knife is fantastic. The stag doesn't quite have that days of yor look to it. Something a little more like the pruner scales would fit nicely.
 
The stag definitely needs finer grain or "gnarls". The large scale of the texture bits disrupts that beautiful form!!
 
Thanks for the input guys, this stag is not going to work on this knife. I sent John L. a email and hope to get some stag that will work. I was hoping to get the knife finished, but agree that I need to pick the stag carefully.
 
Empire used to blacken the stag on some of their upscale knives. To my eye, it is a nice touch, and the surface can be quite gnarly, yet no disrupt the flow of a nicely styled knife!
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ken erickson said:
Had a chance to fit some stag.

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Not sure if I like the look,
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You know, I actually really like that stag. Just not on that knife. I feel like it has a BIG pattern to it while the rest of the knife seems to be so detailed, intricate and subtle. I am not sure if you even want my feedback or not, so take it for whatever it is worth, but I think an elephant ivory of the textured bark variety would look really nice on this knife. Something like the grips on my 1911 but even nicer :)

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Or a nice rich Ivory with lots of grain. I took this today and it doesn't show it all that well, but I think something even nicer then this would make your knife really stand out.

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Or Sticking with stag I really think the style of stag on my granpa's old knife is really striking

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Or maybe even some crazy bark mammoth ivory with some good texture?

KEV_8379.jpg


Well, now that I am done trying to help, I am sure you have something much better up your sleeve :)

I look forward to seeing this one finished. It sure is impressive so far.
 
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