kephart blades from condor

P

pinecraft

Joined
Mar 4, 2015
Messages
62
If anyone is interested I received an email after an inquiry I made to condor. I was told mid April, to check with knife center. Its good to see them uncoated from the factory. I will be "making" my first knife with one of these. I use the term making loosely perhaps handling would be the proper term, or assembling.
 
Even if you got a "blackened" Kephart, steel wool or a scotch-brite pad and elbow grease will take it down to bare metal.
 
Yes, true, these are the blade only. Also two other patterns are being released blade only and uncoated.
 
Whoa! This is opening a #10 can of definitional worms!

If somebody gets a bare Kephart blade and puts a fancy-schmancy handle on it....? Maybe the real question is, how far can a "Kephart" depart from the One True Kephart of Yesteryear, and still remain recognizably a Kephart?

I mean, one could buy a bare Kephart blade, then put on a rosewood handle with silver inlay wrapped about a couple of embedded jewels. I guess it would be a Kephart, but...?

WWHT? (What Would Horace Think?)
 
pinecraft said:
I was thinking micarta.
Click to expand...

I think he'd be happy with micarta, especially once he'd tried it out under various conditions.

The big takeaway message I got from his book is that gear has to prove itself in the woods through experience — and in his experience, simple, basic gear worked best. The book, after all, grew out of the gear-oriented articles he wrote for various outrdoors publications.

I've always felt Kephart was a guy who knew his way around and had built himself a woods-going kit that he could thoroughly rely on. That's one reason I love that knife design.
 
That's a pretty neat idea from Condor, it would be awesome if they expand their idea onto other models as well.
 
AreBeeBee said:
I think he'd be happy with micarta, especially once he'd tried it out under various conditions.

The big takeaway message I got from his book is that gear has to prove itself in the woods through experience — and in his experience, simple, basic gear worked best. The book, after all, grew out of the gear-oriented articles he wrote for various outrdoors publications.

I've always felt Kephart was a guy who knew his way around and had built himself a woods-going kit that he could thoroughly rely on. That's one reason I love that knife design.
Click to expand...
He recommended the marbles ideal as well.
 
pinecraft said:
He recommended the marbles ideal as well.
Click to expand...

That's interesting. The old Ideal was a pretty heavy-bladed item compared to Kephart's design — it would feel very different in the hand. (I haven't held the new Chinese-made Marbles version.)

Unless I felt a need to hack at something with the knife, where blade mass would matter, I'd always opt for the lighter Kephart over an Ideal. (That said, the Ideal's design really does fit the "ideal" of a hunting knife.)
 
AreBeeBee said:
That's interesting. The old Ideal was a pretty heavy-bladed item compared to Kephart's design — it would feel very different in the hand. (I haven't held the new Chinese-made Marbles version.)

Unless I felt a need to hack at something with the knife, where blade mass would matter, I'd always opt for the lighter Kephart over an Ideal. (That said, the Ideal's design really does fit the "ideal" of a hunting knife.)
Click to expand...
I like that these are true to his dementional parameters. I see a lot of "kepharts" that just aren't. They are very nice made, some of them. But they aren't kepharts. It may be an improvement, it may not be. If you change the dementions of the blade the word inspired by should be in front of the words kephart.
 
pinecraft said:
I like that these are true to his dementional parameters. I see a lot of "kepharts" that just aren't. They are very nice made, some of them. But they aren't kepharts. It may be an improvement, it may not be. If you change the dementions of the blade the word inspired by should be in front of the words kephart.
Click to expand...

Agree totally. Which is why, if I ever dug deep for a Bark River, it would be one of their desgns, not their version of a Kephart.
 
AreBeeBee,

Have you seen the new Bark River Kepharts made in 3V. I don't think they deviated too much from the original design and they are even thinner than the Condor version. I have both versions and think they both do justice to the Kephart design.
 
TLA said:
AreBeeBee, Have you seen the new Bark River Kepharts made in 3V. I don't think they deviated too much from the original design and they are even thinner than the Condor version. I have both versions and think they both do justice to the Kephart design.
Click to expand...

No, I have not. But as I do have a Condor Kephart, which for me comes closest to Horace's original idea of all those on the market, I'd rather spend Bark-River-type money on something that's Bark River's design. I gots me my Kephart; I don't need another one and at a significantly higher price.

If you read his book, his message is pretty clear that spending lots of money on fancy gear is unwise. He got "a country blacksmith" to make his knife for him, and it was indeed pretty basic. I like that.

Don't get me wrong. BR makes great knives; I hope to buy one someday. And if I do, it'll be a design of BR's.
 
I have not read all of Kephart's book. However with that being said I don't consider my BRKT Kephart or my custom Gossman Kephart knives fancy gear so the money I spent to me is not unwise. Are both of my other Kepharts considered fancy gear to the Condor? If you consider micarta, CPM3V and A2 steel, better fit and finish than the Condor then the answer would be yes but I just see them as great knives that meet my needs. I just got my Condor Kephart not to long ago so I have not had time to test it out. Other than it coming fairly dull, a coated blade that I don't like which is an easy fix, I think it will be a great knife to own. Then I will have 3 great Kephart knives with a 4th that will eventually be made for me by a friend.
 
Dementionally it should be 4 and a half inches blade and handle. An 8th of an inch thick and broad centered point. Hardwood but light handled tapering. Rivited full tang. Tempered hard enough to cut green wood, soft enough to roll when a knot is encountered. A quarter inch guard in front of the finger, part of the wood. So as you search you see "real kepharts" are few and far.
 
When the Kepahart knife was being made it Coclesser Brothers it could be ordered with a 4 or 5 inch blade. My next custom Kephart will be made by Matt Lesniewski so I will have no problem in having one made close to the original if that is what I want.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top