My wilderness knife design

[UnixDork]

After thinking about it for a long time and trying various other knives, I've designed my own. I've sent this to my favorite maker for his input, but I'd like to see what other people here think about it. The blade will be S30V (and pretty thick) stainless pins, and the handle is micarta. It's a simple design, but what would you change? Thanks for any input.

 

[elvenbladesmith07]

id put a saw on the back maybe? give it a few grooves in the handle for grip, and add a thick steel bolster for a hammer, or just make the bolster part of the blade? just a thought, maybe make the scales removable with screws and a nut instead of pins so the blades tang can be lashed into a split stick for a spear. thats about it though. looks good simple design i like it! mind if i borrow it?

 

[Bill Siegle]

The only thing I'd add is some grooves in the handle to make sure your grip is secure. Sandblasting the micarta would work too. Other than that it looks good to me

 

[bishop85gt]

If Bill Siegle says it looks good you must be on the right track!! I think it is a fine design as well not that it means much

 

[Marcelo Cantu]

Looks very simple and useful. I'd give it a nice palm swell. and perhaps with hollow pins for lashing.

 

[x39]

Unles you've got really big hands, I'd shorten the handle a bit. Otherwise I'd leave it just as is, looks great!

 

[UnixDork]

elven: sure you can borrow it.

Bill: Thanks! I like your designs, too.

bishop: Thanks to you, too.

Marcelo: I might do hollow pins, thanks for the suggestion.

x39: I do have big hands, but I might take a quarter inch off. Thanks.

 

[Jeff Clark]

You design is nice and clean. I would tend to add a guard to it if you plan on cleaning any game. A reasonable compromise would be to get a Buck Vanguard from Cabelas with an S30V blade. http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/t...tId=&parentType=&rid=&cmCat=search&hasJS=true

 

[bishop85gt]

I like the longer handle. Some of my design's have longer handles as well.

 

[Thomas Linton]

Material refinements aside, it reminds me of a shortened "Sticker" -- a very useful configuration indeed as made by Green River and others. Neutral handle allows multitude of grips. Good point for boring.

Looks flat ground.

How do you plan on edging? Convex?

 

[m_calingo]

The blade has a classic look to it, something like what I'd expect someone out in the Old West would have used.

I do suggest that the handle be tweaked a bit to reduce the chance of your hand sliding up onto the blade.

Trust me...I've done that, and it's no fun.

 

[Andrew Lynch]

Looks great.

My suggestions:

1.) Guard or similar to protect from hand slippage forward.

2.) Don't make the blade very thick.

3.) Use a carbon steel--I don't see the necessity for stainless, but YMMV.

 

[rlinger]

I like it. I agree with Andrew about the finger guard. Just drop the steel down a little bit behind the ricasso so as to provide a finger guard.

Properly heat treated S30V is a good choice. I have made several bushcrafts using S30V and they seem to have performed quite well. On the other hand a good tool steel or simple carbon can be a killer choice also.

RL

 

[pict]

I've toyed with the idea of grinding a small, sharp, shallow, half moon cutout on the back of my survival blades that matches the curvature of my firesteel. This would provide a secure notch with plenty of contact for scraping the steel and making lots of sparks. A squared off portion of spine throws sparks well but I'd like MORE SPARKS. If it's made right it should also concentrate the sparks at a focal point. The sparks would bounce off the inside of the hole and redirect inwards.

I haven't settled on the exact form the notch should take but it is something I'm going to try to add to one of my knives with a rounded off knife spine. In my case it is my Livesay NRGS that I like to carry as a small bushcraft knife. The only problem with it is you have to use the edge to spark a steel. Mac

 

[ckc]

The design looks good..

if the knife is for "survival" then there are two things you should consider about the knife.

1) it will be used in replacement for an axe (Eg, whacking the sping with a small peice of wood, to split small logs) (impact would be on thickness of the blade, angle of the edge etc)

2) drop point edge.. I'm not sure if you want to take into consideration the "penetration" aspect of the tip and how much you drop the point., or thickness you grind the tip too.

3) Size of the blade.. is 4 1/4 long enough to do "survival" tasks, (like making firewood)

4)shape of the handle (if you are going to chop through a large branch, then a "squarer" handle will be harder on the hands)

 

[Quiet Storm]

I'd recommend choosing a steel better suited for wilderness survival purposes - A-2 or a carbon steel like 52100 or M-2 will require a bit more maintenance, but they're much easier to resharpen in the field - and it will probably reduce the price significantly.

And its Micarta handle should have a rough, grippy finish.

 

[RokJok]

The blade will be S30V (and pretty thick) stainless pins, and the handle is micarta. ...what would you change?

Sorry, can't give you a very relevant answer without knowing two things:
1. the specific uses for the knife
2. the environment in which it will be used

The answers to those two issues could dictate a huge range of modifications.

Overall, I like the simplicity and clean lines of your design. Drop point blades IME are a good compromise between utility/control and durability of the point. Good materials choices IMHO. But the intended uses of the knife may dictate a different steel.

As an addendum to Andrew & Roger's recommendation for a guard extension of the ricasso steel, I would insure that the micarta slabs follow the shape of that guard. That will give your finger a wider/broader surface to bear against, which yields even better protection against your hand sliding forward onto the blade, more comfort in use, and protection from your hand getting damaged through the focused force of it getting jammed up against a narrow steel guard.

As a personal preference, on knives with such a straight handle (especially if you don't add a guard), I like to add a single-finger groove for both indexing the edge by feel and to create a pseudo-guard. (see modified pic below) Note how the rear of that finger groove "fades" into the cutout at a much gentler angle than the rather right-angle (to the line of thrust of your hand) front of the cutout. That right-angle is what makes the front edge of the cutout a more effective guard against your hand sliding forward onto the blade.

 

[UnixDork]

First of all, I thank you all for all of your suggestions. It's great to get this kind of feedback from so many people who are likely much more experienced. My plan for this knife was more towards a bushcraft type knife rather than survival.

Thomas Linton: I'll go with a V edge, I like a convex edge on a bigger knife, but I think a V will be easier to maintain in the field. I use a diamond stone, I've had good luck with diamond stones and S30V.

Andrew Lynch: I've never had a problem with knives with no guard but I grew up using slipjoints with no guard so it's probably because I'm paranoid about my hand slipping. Do you think thicker stock would hurt the slicing performance? I'm thinking 3/16" thick at the thickest.

rlinger: I might just do that, dropping the ricasso down is a good idea.

ckc: I see what you mean, and those are good points. I'll be pairing this knife with a hatchet or a sven saw, depending on where I go with it. I want the blade to be rather thick if I have to baton it but I'm hoping I wont ever need to. I also want it thick because inevitably other people I go out with will be using it and I want all the idiot insurance I can get.

RokJok: I'll be using this one for camping/backpacking/hiking in the midwest. More of an outdoors utility knife rather than a an all-out survival knife. I think I should have had you do the drawing.

Thanks again everyone!