CPE_Knives
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
- Joined
- Oct 29, 2012
- Messages
- 1,720
Good Afternoon,
I thought it would be cool to make a Kephart according to the dimensions given in Horace Kepharts book.
From Camping and Woodcraft by Horace Kephart
“Its blade and handle are each 4 ¼” inches long, the blade being 1 inch wide, 1/8” inch thick on the back, broad pointed, and continued through the handle as a hasp and riveted to it.”
“The handle of this knife is of oval cross-section, long enough to give a good grip for the whole hand, and with no sharp edges to blister one's hand. It has a ¼” inch knob behind the cutting edge as a guard, but there is no guard on the back, for it would be useless and in the way. The handle is of light but hard wood, ¾” inch thick at the butt and tapering to ½” inch forward, so as to enter the sheath easily and grip it tightly. If it were heavy, it would make the knife drop out when I stooped over. The sheath has a slit frog binding tightly on the belt, and keeping the knife well up on my side. This knife weighs only 4 ounces. It was made by a country blacksmith, and is one of the homeliest things I ever saw; but it has outlived in my affections the score of other knives that I have used in competition with it, and has done more work than all of them put together.”
This blade came out very close to this description. The only deviation is my construction came out at 5.5 ounces instead of the listed 4 ounces. The tang is skeletonized and fullered so the only thing I can figure for the additional 1.5 ounces is the density of the wood. Kephart describes the wood as hard but light but doesn't list the wood type. In this construction I used kingwood which is very oily and dense so that is probably the additional weight. The book didn't describe the small false edge on the top of the spine but a picture I saw of an original Kephart from a museum had it so I included it. The spine is also a crisp 90 degrees for the rest of the length.
Because of the symmetrical shape of the knife and handle I was able to make the leather sheath ambidextrous and included the split frog type belt loop as described in the book.
One of the handle pictures has a bit of a smudge on the underside of the handle this is just a bit of oil.
Price SOLD , shipping is included to continental United States via USPS. Preferred payment is via paypal.
Blade Steel: 1/8" 5160
Grind: Full Flat
Blade: 4 1/4"
Useable Handle not counting the small guard: 4 1/4"
Handle Material: Kingwood, Orange G10 liners / pins, and brass lanyard hole.
Overall Length: 8 7/8"
Sheath: Ambidextrous leather sheath with split frog style belt loop.
If you would like additional pictures or have questions please contact me at cpeknives@gmail.com
Comments are welcome thank you for looking,
Paul
I thought it would be cool to make a Kephart according to the dimensions given in Horace Kepharts book.
From Camping and Woodcraft by Horace Kephart
“Its blade and handle are each 4 ¼” inches long, the blade being 1 inch wide, 1/8” inch thick on the back, broad pointed, and continued through the handle as a hasp and riveted to it.”
“The handle of this knife is of oval cross-section, long enough to give a good grip for the whole hand, and with no sharp edges to blister one's hand. It has a ¼” inch knob behind the cutting edge as a guard, but there is no guard on the back, for it would be useless and in the way. The handle is of light but hard wood, ¾” inch thick at the butt and tapering to ½” inch forward, so as to enter the sheath easily and grip it tightly. If it were heavy, it would make the knife drop out when I stooped over. The sheath has a slit frog binding tightly on the belt, and keeping the knife well up on my side. This knife weighs only 4 ounces. It was made by a country blacksmith, and is one of the homeliest things I ever saw; but it has outlived in my affections the score of other knives that I have used in competition with it, and has done more work than all of them put together.”
This blade came out very close to this description. The only deviation is my construction came out at 5.5 ounces instead of the listed 4 ounces. The tang is skeletonized and fullered so the only thing I can figure for the additional 1.5 ounces is the density of the wood. Kephart describes the wood as hard but light but doesn't list the wood type. In this construction I used kingwood which is very oily and dense so that is probably the additional weight. The book didn't describe the small false edge on the top of the spine but a picture I saw of an original Kephart from a museum had it so I included it. The spine is also a crisp 90 degrees for the rest of the length.
Because of the symmetrical shape of the knife and handle I was able to make the leather sheath ambidextrous and included the split frog type belt loop as described in the book.
One of the handle pictures has a bit of a smudge on the underside of the handle this is just a bit of oil.
Price SOLD , shipping is included to continental United States via USPS. Preferred payment is via paypal.
Blade Steel: 1/8" 5160
Grind: Full Flat
Blade: 4 1/4"
Useable Handle not counting the small guard: 4 1/4"
Handle Material: Kingwood, Orange G10 liners / pins, and brass lanyard hole.
Overall Length: 8 7/8"
Sheath: Ambidextrous leather sheath with split frog style belt loop.
If you would like additional pictures or have questions please contact me at cpeknives@gmail.com
Comments are welcome thank you for looking,
Paul
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