Out with my Knatchet and Talfuchre fire kit.

[pitdog]

Not too bad weatherwise today, little cool but that's nice, so off I set with some of the kit that Talfuchre sent me !

We've had tons of rain, there was water coming from every direction ya looked, even the main trail was like a small stream !

Maisy deciding whether to take a polar bear swim or not !

Onto the kit....

Talfuchre has covered every angle in these kits, there is Fatwood,Jute, Char cloth, tinder fungus,Rubber inner tubing, Ferro rod and striker ! This was the first time I'd used Char cloth, I didn't use the tinder fungus today !

This fire-starter was something that I was keen to try....

As I struggled to get it to light I added some char cloth, man this stuff takes an ember straight away ! I could still only manage to get smoke though and so then added some fatwood shavings.....you can just make out the smoke to the left......

A little more blowing, man I felt like a proper bushcrafter blowing my tinder, hey fire !

In trying to get pics of stuff I managed to let this go out before I could get it under my fire bundle....most of which had been taken by the Tiny terror !!!!
As time was getting on it was back to using what I'm used to and shaved some of the fatwood from the tin onto my fire bundle ( what was left of it) and a few strikes of the ferro rod later I had fire !

To give ya an idea of how wet and damp everything is on the West coast, in the time I had taken this pic of the Terror sniffing where some Otters had been and drinking a cup of tea the fire had gone out !!! Yeah I know I didn't tend it but once you get one to that stage it doesn't usually go out eh !!!!

I have been using my Knatchet quite a bit now so what would I change on it ? NOTHING AT ALL !!!!! Thanks again John this thing rocks and is proving far more versatile than I'd even imagined !!!!!

 

[pitdog]

Oh John there is one thing I should mention incase ya get an order for another Knatchet !

I did find that the blade was hard to remove from the sheath due to the position of the fastening strap and did also cut the strap a few times, I finished up removing that and have used a paracord retainer as can be seen in this pic ( the sheath works perfectly now).
All you would have to do on any future orders ( and if everyone knew how useful these are ya should get plenty) is place the closure strap further up the handle !

I can't wait to take this thing camping this coming summer !!!!

 

[JK Knives]

I was kind of worried about that, it seemed to take two hands to remove it, but otherwise, I`m glad it`s working out for you. These special sheaths are why I asked Noah to come on board. I`m hoping some of you will use his talents with leather. The firekit in the square tin looks very similiar to one C Bryant sent me a while back.

 

[GRIM 62]

Great pics pit!The more you post pics of that knatchet,the more I'm digging it!!!

 

[Mentor]

Great thread, pit. Both the knatchet and the Talfuchre fire kit / flame pot look really useful. The knatchet has grown on me. This little voice in the back of my head is saying that it might be a good substitute for a tomahawk for snowshoeing adventures.

Re: the sheath, I find that retention straps are tricky business. With some sheaths, it seems almost inevitable that regular use will eventually shear through the strap. The Grohmann #4 comes to mind - awesome knife, and a great sheath, but you have to two-hand draw or you'll end up slicing the strap. With some of my straps, I have taken to applying medical tape (or steri-strips under a layer of tape) for protection. This has the added benefit of keeping gunk (especially pine sap!) away from the underside of the strap.

Awesome shot of TTT, by the way!

Best,

- Mike

 

[pitdog]

Great thread, pit. Both the knatchet and the Talfuchre fire kit / flame pot look really useful. The knatchet has grown on me. This little voice in the back of my head is saying that it might be a good substitute for a tomahawk for snowshoeing adventures.

Re: the sheath, I find that retention straps are tricky business. With some sheaths, it seems almost inevitable that regular use will eventually shear through the strap. The Grohmann #4 comes to mind - awesome knife, and a great sheath, but you have to two-hand draw or you'll end up slicing the strap. With some of my straps, I have taken to applying medical tape (or steri-strips under a layer of tape) for protection. This has the added benefit of keeping gunk (especially pine sap!) away from the underside of the strap.

Awesome shot of TTT, by the way!

Best,

- Mike

Thanks buddy !

The Knatchet slices and dices just as well as any of my smaller blades but chops better than my large ones...it seems you really can have your cake and eat it !!!

 

[NoahL]

Great kit pitdog! As for the retention strap, I think I have the perfect remedy for your problem, but I will have to explain it later tonight, because I don't want to type it all up on my Blackberry

~Noah

 

[NoahL]

Well, I finished a concept drawing, and this is the most complicated sheath I've ever tried to draw up! Some clearances may not be exactly correct, but the picture will give you somewhat of an idea of what I'm thinking.

Now let's see if I can explain this thing

The top of the sheath will have a sewn "pocket" essentially, which the back of the butt of the knife will rest in, while a retention strap comes around to snap onto a button stud on the top of that "pocket". This means that the pocket will keep the Knatchet from coming straight up or tilting back, and the retention strap will keep it from tilting forward, thereby keeping it in the pocket.

This system would effectively keep the Knatchet securely down, and its blade securely in the sheath, without having to use two hands to access it. It would be necessary to account for a slight tilt of the knife handle once the retention strap is unsnapped, in order to remove the handle from the pocket, which is why in the picture, the tip of the sheath is not clipped down to follow the spine of the blade.

Make sense?

~Noah

 

[pitdog]

Well, I finished a concept drawing, and this is the most complicated sheath I've ever tried to draw up! Some clearances may not be exactly correct, but the picture will give you somewhat of an idea of what I'm thinking. I have no scanner, and the camera is currently nowhere to be found, so you get a cell phone picture of the drawing--sorry in advance!

Now let's see if I can explain this thing

The top of the sheath will have a sewn "pocket" essentially, which the back of the butt of the knife will rest in, while a retention strap comes around to snap onto a button stud on the top of that "pocket". This means that the pocket will keep the Knatchet from coming straight up or tilting back, and the retention strap will keep it from tilting forward, thereby keeping it in the pocket.

This system would effectively keep the Knatchet securely down, and its blade securely in the sheath, without having to use two hands to access it. It would be necessary to account for a slight tilt of the knife handle once the retention strap is unsnapped, in order to remove the handle from the pocket, which is why in the picture, the tip of the sheath is not clipped down to follow the spine of the blade.

Make sense?

~Noah

P.S. In case you're wondering about the little sketches to the sides of the sheath drawing, the one on the left is just showing the riveted integral belt loop, and the one on the right is the pocket side of the sheath.

Yeah that would work, thanks for taking the time buddy, maybe John could try something like that on any future orders !

I must add though that the way John had done it would have worked had the strap been placed further up the handle !

 

[NoahL]

Yeah that would work, thanks for taking the time buddy, maybe John could try something like that on any future orders !

I must add though that the way John had done it would have worked had the strap been placed further up the handle !

No problem! I agree that John's design would work with a higher retention strap--I just wanted to have a plan to keep it snugly in place if you were to fall or something and cause the sheath to go upside down. I'm paranoid like that

~Noah

 

[Rockywolf]

I saw something cool recently on Ragnar's site. The sheath for the Helle Harding hooks over the knob that sticks out the handle end of blade. On my phone so no picture. It might retain the knatchet well.
Or maybe a deeper pouch? I love the darn thing. Very cool.

 

[NoahL]

I know that we've kind of let this go by the wayside, but it just occurred to me that the sheath for this could be a quick-draw khukri sheath style. I don't have any pictures at the moment to show what I mean, but it would basically be a khukri-shaped sheath with a partially open back and a retaining strap over that. I'll try and find a picture one of these days

~Noah

 

[Snow]

That little tinder oven looks like the gadget that came with my fire piston from EB Primitives. I am a big fan.

 

[Rockywolf]

I know that we've kind of let this go by the wayside, but it just occurred to me that the sheath for this could be a quick-draw khukri sheath style. I don't have any pictures at the moment to show what I mean, but it would basically be a khukri-shaped sheath with a partially open back and a retaining strap over that. I'll try and find a picture one of these days

~Noah

I like this except the sheath really doesn't need to come up that far for you to do the retainer, does it?