Looking for a Mushroom Knife

B

Beaver

Joined
Nov 24, 1999
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616
I am looking for a Mushroom knife for a gift. A quick google search comes up with the French made Opinel, as well as Joker, Lindner, Maserin, Mercury, and Mora brands.

I'm finding that Mushroom knives tend to have a hawkbill blade, some with a brush either fixed, or that folds out from the back of the knife.

Does anyone have experience in this area folding knives?

Jay
 
I've used everything from a Spyderco Police to a Vic Tinker in Chantrel harvesting.I've not used any knives specifically made for that purpose.
 
Like GRIM 62, I've harvested a bunch of mushrooms over the years, and always just used whatever knife I was carrying at the time.

-- Mark
 
Grim and Mark,
Thank you for your quick response. As a Mycologist (sp?), would you find it helpful to have the brush attached to the harvesting knife, or more of a hindrance? This is to be a 60th birthday gift, so I'm open to suggestion.

Is there a preferred blade shape? hawkbill?, sheepsfoot? spear? clip?

A possible alternative I was thinking about was giving him the Traditional Bladeforums 09 barlow that we had built with a clip and sheepsfoot blade.
 
All I can tell you is based on my experience "mushrooming" in the Czech Republic (my wife is Czech and I've spent a ton of time there over the years). Generally speaking, Czechs just pull up the mushroom (or houba) and sort of whittle off the dirt and roots at the foot. I do this, then use the back side of the blade to knock off any pine needles, dried leaves, etc. After the hunt, you'll slice up the mushrooms for drying. A handful of dried wild mushrooms is a killer addition to a soup, chili or just about anything else! :thumbup:

Here's a pic from a long-ago hunt (sorry it's so small) ...

SummerCamp2007038.jpg


They DO sell those special knives with the curved blade and brush in Prague. But again, I can't ever remember seeing anyone using one. Mostly you see Swiss Army knives or cheap, Czech-made folders.

By the way, I do reckon any product made by Opinel would make a fine gift. They don't make junk, period.

Beaver said:
A possible alternative I was thinking about was giving him the Traditional Bladeforums 09 barlow that we had built with a clip and sheepsfoot blade.
Click to expand...

My preference would be to have a slightly longer blade than that. Something like a trapper or an Opinel no. 8.

Hope this helped!

-- Mark
 
I prefer a hawkbill, but that's just me.

Used my PE Spyderco Tasman Salt with yellow FRN scales once and it worked fine, but any slender blade with a good edge will be fine.
 
I am starting to get serious about Morel's. I have been using a GEC #48 and it has worked very well. The thinner blade profile has a lot of advantages, particularly for the smaller mushrooms, like Morel's. At least for Morel's, I can't see the advantage of having a brush on the knife. Maybe for other varieties it would be a nice? I wonder if your friend's choice of fungal prey should be considered when deciding on a knife? Form follows function.
 
Mushrooming, one of the few practical uses I've found for the Spyderco Civilian :thumbup:
 
I'm not big on eating fungus, so I've never collected mushrooms. I do have one of the Opinel Mushroom Hunters on my desk here that I use for cutting apples and peeling oranges. It was the dullest Opinel out of the box I've ever had. I don't know wether that was intentional or not, but it sharpened up nicely and now cuts quite well. It is quite nice for the price point.
 
yablanowitz said:
I'm not big on eating fungus, so I've never collected mushrooms. I do have one of the Opinel Mushroom Hunters on my desk here that I use for cutting apples and peeling oranges. It was the dullest Opinel out of the box I've ever had. I don't know wether that was intentional or not, but it sharpened up nicely and now cuts quite well. It is quite nice for the price point.
Click to expand...

A pic would be appreciated. Thanks.
 
If I can beat Photobucket into submission, I'll oblige.

Okay, I had to sneak up on them, but I got a few uploaded.

DSCF1035.jpg


DSCF1038.jpg


With my old 8OT for size comparison.

DSCF1039.jpg
 
Here in WA I guess it is out of vogue to pull the whole mushroom up. I've got a friend that uses a non-traditional knife so I'll just say its a large folder. Probably the closest traditional to it would be a larger saddlehorn pattern knife.
 
Thank you all for the input on my search for a mushroom knife. It was good to hear what mushroom hunters are actually using to harvest their finds. I suspect my friend is likely using his trusty SAK, as thats is his preferred EDC.

Again, than you for your comments.

Jay
 
Fun thread! I've only harvested mushroom on a few occasions, and have always used an Opinel or sometimes one of my Scandi-type fixed blades. I want to do more, though, and my daughter remembered this and gave me this cool mushroom knife for Father's Day:

Photo here: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/abonamici/5851806630/>

She got it at a mushroom cave in France. It is a well-made, solid lockback folder with cocobolo scales, a stainless hawksbill blade, and boar's hair brush. Based on pictures at World Knives, I'm guessing it is made by Linder, and would be curious to know what kind of stainless they use. Thanks, and happy Fathers Day to all of the other dads out there.

Andrew
 
Looks exactly like the Linder mushroom knives - they mark them as "knives made worldwide" - can't find the steel type, but most of their other knives in the same price range use 420 stainless.
 
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