NASA Bushcraft; thoughts on design

I 'll add to what others here have said and say that the metal choice isn't good for this application. If you are out in the bush and the knife goes dull and you can't sharpen it easily it is pretty well useless.
 
From what I understand, the purpose of the project was a new knife, not necessarily a bushcrafting one, using the bushcraft's handle and designed for more urban tasks and slicing ability? FFG paired with the ergonomic bushcraft's handle sound fantastic for that.
 
GundaManiac said:
From what I understand, the purpose of the project was a new knife, not necessarily a bushcrafting one, using the bushcraft's handle and designed for more urban tasks and slicing ability? FFG paired with the ergonomic bushcraft's handle sound fantastic for that.
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The only problem I have with that is that most people who live in cities are perfectly covered with their EDC, kitchen knives and maybe a utility fixed blade.

Now if this knife is supposed to be a utility knife then the steel doesn't matter as much.
 
agree with chris, a less alloyed stainless is more in the lines of the project. rwl34, niolox, 14c28n if treated harder than what can be found, the new take on bg42 that i cant remember the name, cts xhp .... whatever doesnt have the abrasion resistance of s90v.

cpm3-4v sounds good but even though it's not 1095 its not quite stainless either. i'd see it more on an upgraded scandi bushcraft.
 
GundaManiac said:
From what I understand, the purpose of the project was a new knife, not necessarily a bushcrafting one, using the bushcraft's handle and designed for more urban tasks and slicing ability? FFG paired with the ergonomic bushcraft's handle sound fantastic for that.
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I agree with this. I don't think this should be looked at as a bushcraft knife but rather a more general purpose fixed blade that has the wonderfully ergonomic bushcraft handle.
 
Boy, I just gave my self a shock. I looked at the dates of the photos of the first prototypes I did for BCUK that contained what was to become the Spyderco Bushcraft. July 2005! First Spyderco prototypes, February 2008. Dang, where has all the time gone?!?

The idea of this knife, as it started at that meet-up in Leeds way back in 2008, was to simply up-spec the materials, and give it a flat ground blade. Blade profile, length, stock thickness, and handle shape would all be the same. That was the concept, but nothing was ever formalised or really discussed further. What seems to have happened since then is that everyone who has heard about the idea has overlaid their own imagined ideal version of the concept and kinda assumed that everyone else has been talking about the same thing. :D I know that I have!

Every one of the knives that I posted up at the start fulfil my idea of a general purpose knife ;) The thing is, that my general purposes and those of the people that I made those knives for, overlap what some people term "bushcraft", which is itself a slippery concept to define. There is another thread over on the Spyderco forum and it seems that the folk there are leaning more towards a utility slicer than the folk here. Between the Southfork and the upcoming Serrata I reckon that the needs for slicing knives are pretty well covered. I have doubts that there is room between them for a knife which can't do more than slice with a fat handle.

Interesting ideas about the steels. I hadn't thought about 3V as I assumed that a stainless would be better for a more general knife. While I think I would be happy with 3V for myself most of the time, I would be happier still if this project was fully stainless. Anyone got any advances on a stainless that holds a good fine edge, rather than the usual situation where they hold a dull toothy edge for ages?
 
I would certainly go for 3V or 4V with the same black G10 handle

For S90V you have the South Fork or a sprint run of a S90V Moran would be great.
 
C_Claycomb said:
Anyone got any advances on a stainless that holds a good fine edge, rather than the usual situation where they hold a dull toothy edge for ages?
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Niolox is such a steel that can take a very fine edge.

Elmax might be a better overall stainless
 
I like the knives very much but personally I prefer a knife of which the blade is a bit longer than the handle.
A 5" blade would be nice for this knife

PICT4095.jpg
 
Maybe also a thought
I've seen a Canadian bushcraft knife with a 4V blade sandwiched (laminate) in S35VN :D
 
Yeah, I'm not a big fan of fixed blade knives with more handle than balde either.
 
A whole new ball of wax! Keep the existing 4 1/8 inch blade, or push it out up to 5 inches?

I liked the 5" knife I had for everything other than cleaning fish and game, where the extra inch made it feel less precise.
 
I thought the reason Sal picked S90v was because it stayed sharp long enough and wouldn't need sharpening while camping. That's what he said in the other thread.
 
Make this full flat grind & k390. Blade shape looks good... I would say 5" (better for batoning IMO)
 
mr_anderson said:
I thought the reason Sal picked S90v was because it stayed sharp long enough and wouldn't need sharpening while camping. That's what he said in the other thread.
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If it is meant to be a utility knife that is fine but if it is supposed to be a true bushcraft knife you'd like to have the option to easily sharpen it. With some steels you can look around and find rocks to sharpen it enough to be useable if needed, once S90V needs sharpening out in the bush you are probably SOL.
 
If your taking a knife, why not a diamond or ceramic sharpener as well. I can't imagine you would get any kind of decent usable edge from sharpening freehand on a rock...;)
 
bladefan said:
If your taking a knife, why not a diamond or ceramic sharpener as well. I can't imagine you would get any kind of decent usable edge from sharpening freehand on a rock...;)
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You can. It won't be as good as you can do at home with a nice set of stones but in a pinch you can make it sharp enough to skin with.
 
Neo said:
I like the knives very much but personally I prefer a knife of which the blade is a bit longer than the handle.
A 5" blade would be nice for this knife
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Other than aesthetics (and beauty is in the eye of the beholder anyway), why would you spec a knife based on the blade being longer than the handle?
For most purposes (i.e. not a sword where balance really comes into play), the blade and handle do separate jobs. One is for holding on to, the other for cutting.
I think a 4-4.5" handle is plenty (for my hand size), but short blades can be really useful for some jobs (think paring knife for kitchen knives) and some jobs need long blades (chefs knife). But my hand is still the same size. Unless for weight balance, or if hand position is really different, why not use the same size handle?
Regarding the BC knife - I think 4" is an excellent choice for an all-purpose outdoors knife whose primary purpose is cutting things (as opposed to chopping like a machete). 5" is ok but getting to be less convenient to carry and the convenience goes down as the length goes up from there.

I'd love an S90V blade for this application. I have 2 folders that hold an edge great and cut great for a long time. I'd give 4V a try too - better edge holding than 3V, according to Mike Stewart/Bark River.
 
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