Marble's Plainsman/Gamegetter Handles

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phlatinum

Joined
Dec 8, 2001
Messages
156
I haven't seen one, so ....

How thick is the blade?
If you have one, what do you think of the blade shape, and of the knife overall? What do you feel are it's strengths and/or shortcomings?

How are the cocobolo "Gamegetter" handles attached? Are they one piece, or two? Does it look to be a solid, durable set-up? Are they more comfortable than the standard versions, in your opinion? I've read somewhere that they are, or have been made with stag/horn pommels on this version, as an option. Know anything of this?

Any info would be appreciated.
 
Made you look! :D

The Plainsman is not a hot item here, I think. (Duhhh!!)

Guess it won't cost a lot to test drive one myself myself. Thanks anyway!

Edited just to say "myself myself" one more time. Yo Yo Hubba Hubba Dik Dik.
 
There is a Marble's forum over in Knifeforums. You may get more info there.
 
Hello Phlatinum,

The Plainsman happens to be my favorite Marbles blade pattern. I ended up having a customized Plainsman done by Marbles a couple years ago. I find the blade style to be a quite stout user with and extremely strong but sharp tip. The straight spine which follows the handle all the way to the pommel ensures all the pressure and energy used for a cut will be transfered quite well to the tip. This blade style reminds me a lot of the traditional Japanese tanto style. You really can't go wrong with 52100 steel. IMHO it is the best carbon steel you can get (providing the heat treat is right). The 52100 blades are convex ground which offers a beyond scary sharp edge. I can easily shave the print of newsprint with this edge. The edge doesn't need to be sharpend often, but with regular shapenings (don't wait till it gets too dull) you can mantain the edge quite easily on a leather strop with compound.

Marbles info on the Plainsman can be found here.... http://www.marblesoutdoors.com/knives/plainsman.html

The Gamegetter handles are very comfortable to use and really melt into your hand quite well. I have a set of Marbles steak knives with the Gamegetter style handles and they feel secure with my cutting tasks. Marbles attachs these handles with a very strong epoxy. The issue did come up in the Marbles forum regarding how secure the handles are. The answer was that inorder to get the handles off you'd have to boil the handle in water for 20-30 minutes then chisel and beat if off with a hammer and still it would be no easy task. So I'd feel comfortable that these are secure handles. Nevertheless, Marbles has a lifetime warranty on there knives, if the handle did fall off, they should replace it.

As for the stag horn pommels these are called "carver" handles. Yes, Marbles has made quite a few and they are very comfortable. Marbles is streamlining it's inventory and are not making the carver styles like they used to. The are a few dealers who still have carver handles in stock, one is Bowie Corporation, who had a few at the last Michigan Knife show. Bowie Corps site is the following... http://www.marblesknives.com/

Hope this answers most of your questions, any other just post and I'll try to answer.

Take care,
Tom
 
Originally posted by GronK
There is a Marble's forum over in Knifeforums. You may get more info there.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the reply, GronK. I posted a question about an old Marble's knife over there, but on the "collectors" forum. Not much action. May have to move it and see if I get a nibble.
 
Hello Tmac .... got your mail.

Thanks very much for your generous and very informative review of the Plainsman, the Gamegetter handles, the Carvers, 52100 steel, and all.
Don't know how I missed it, but blade thickness of the Plainsman is .217", in case anyone else was wondering.

Though I haven't any experience with either of them, I've decided that my next hunting knife, whether production or custom, will wear 52100 or D2. I'm leaning very heavily toward 52100 (and the Plainsman). If you haven't read it yet, you might enjoy a current thread in the "Knife Reviews and Testing" forum by Buzzbait titled "Cardboard Massacre". A Marble's "Fieldcraft" has done itself proud there.

I found the picture of your customized Marble's knives in the archives, and was quite smitten with the look of your considerably improved version of the Plainsman. In fact, I just fired off an e-mail to Marble's to ask if they could make two more very similar to it, one for myself and one for my youngest son. Thanks again for your help. When I get a reply from Marble's regarding those custom features, I'll post their answer here.

Dan
 
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