Laconico light but stout backpacker knife (lots o' pics)

[tknife]

A few months back lambertiana posted a pic of a backpacking knife that Ray had made him. That knife just spoke to me. I drooled over the pic for a couple months before finally ordering my own.

Specs:
OAL 9"
Cutting edge 4 1/4"
1 1/8" at it's widest
3/16ths" 1095 steel
Here's the kicker it only weighs 4 1/2 oz! (Almost 7oz in the sheath)
For reference my SAK Farmer weighs 3oz! I'm not really an ouce counter, but when I'm going for longer distances a little weight reduction here and there is nice. Needless to say, this thing is a pure pleasure to carry and use. The secret is in Rays awesome framed tang. So while not quite being a full tang knife, it's close and still retains strength while being much lighter. On to the pics

The design has sort of a Kephart/bushcraft look to it

It feels great in hand, the balance point site right at the index finger

Ray asked if I wanted a different color Micarta for the center piece, I thought black would look cool between the natural Micarta

Here's a clearer pic and it shouws the slight palm swell in the handle

It's a cutter, and carving with it is pretty effortless

The spine is square and worked great for scraping wood, magnesium and a ferro rod

Even at 3/16ths thick, it sliced soft cheese and summer sausage easily. The flat grind is flawless

I had to do some gratuitous batonning and chopping as well

The Kydex sheath suits it perfectly. It has a small adjustable clip on the back which is great for my pack or belt carry.

Ray really created nothing less than a tough, light weight piece of working art here. I couldn't be happier with it.

 

[KuRUpTD]

Very nice write-up, Ray makes awesome knives.

 

[mtwarden]

very nice! is there a pic floating around of the boxed tang? curious what it look like

 

[ratamahatta]

looks like a good knife!!!!

 

[j williams]

Right on T......Thats a nice knife. Rays da man.

 

[paleojoe]

Very nice write-up, Ray makes awesome knives.

+1!:thumbup:

 

[blgoode]

that one got knocked out of the park!!!!!! EGGGCELLENT

 

[raylaconico]

T, Thanks for the review. I wanted a knife that would be lightweight and still be tough. Lambertiana said he's done a lot of battoning with his. When he went camping in the snow last month, the guy who brought firewood forgot to bring a hatchet. He used his knife to split the wood and make kindling for the fire.

 

[tknife]

Thanks guys, and especially thank you Ray for another awesome knife. Brian is right, you did knock it out of the park!

Here are a few more pics from my little hike too. We got a ton of rain recently, so it's a lot greener than it will be in a couple months. The cooler weather is nice too, better enjoy it while I can

I think with a little TLC, this dump truck could look new again!

 

[Shotgun]

How the hell do you get a 3/16 thick knife of that size that light? A master at work I guess.

 

[mtnfolk mike]

awesome looking knife T.. great pics too...i really like that one..:thumbup: i got to check it out last weekend at the hammer in... like all of Ray's knives, it was flawless and super sharp...

 

[tknife]

How the hell do you get a 3/16 thick knife of that size that light? A master at work I guess.

Some kind of knifemakers voodoo I'm guessing


Hey Mike, I thought I saw it on the table on that knife group shot. It looked at home with all the other sweet cutlery!

 

[BlackHills]

That's a beauty. :thumbup:

 

[ZombaiO]

Now that's a great knife !

 

[raylaconico]

How the hell do you get a 3/16 thick knife of that size that light? A master at work I guess.

Knifemaker fairy dust sprinkled on the knife is the secret ingredient

 

[IUKE12]

One heck of a nice looking knife. I love the maker name on spine, nice one Ray:thumbup:

 

[banana-clip]

Thats a really beautiful knife.

Looks like a great bushcraft knife.

 

[remmmm]

Beautiful, man I see how you guys get addicted to customs...

 

[untamed]

Sweet-looking user!

 

[lambertiana]

Is that the one that Ray showed me last Saturday? He must have shipped it off quickly this week!

I really like mine, it works well. As Ray said, I had to baton some firewood (the logs you buy at the grocery store) on our snow campout recently, and it worked like a champ. Yours is interesting - it has the light micarta scales with the black micarta frame. Mine has black paper micarta scales and black linen frame, you have to look at it closely to see it. And it is quite light for a 3/16" blade. Here is the brother of tknife's version: