Phill Hartsfield KWAIKEN - AIKUICHI - KOZUKA (VIDEO) New VIDEO Page 17

Truly a great thread.
Phill will go down as one of the best knife makers… ever.
Thank you all for honoring Phill.
rolf
 
That sucks, when you spend a lot and don't get good customer service it does seem to happen a lot more now then in the past. I think they should a least give you what you wanted and send you the coffee table mount.
 
VicS said:
That sucks, when you spend a lot and don't get good customer service it does seem to happen a lot more now then in the past. I think they should a least give you what you wanted and send you the coffee table mount.
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Yes me too :)

I have dealt with a lot of taxidermist and their customer service was the worse
 
Lycosa said:
Truly a great thread.
Phill will go down as one of the best knife makers… ever.
Thank you all for honoring Phill.
rolf
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It is good to see such talented makers do the tribute knives and there are so many others out there who "get it".

Back in the day I was guilty of walking past Phills table and shaking my head at the rough finished knives. I walked past him and ordered that Ivory Micarta blade I showed earlier.

I then walked back to talk to Phil because the handles really intrigued me, and then he gave me an education on why he makes his blades the way he did. At the time I did not have the $450- 800 to buy one of his knives. But he had me.

I would go to his shop when I was in the neighborhood and talk with him over the years at his shop and at shows those knives seem to get fused in my consciousness. And decades later when I started to make knives those imaged just came out and I started to try my hand at them. I make many styles from Bowies, skinners, hunters and fighters and I do love them all, but a chisel ground cord wrapped blade is always a pleasure for me and their performance is always astonishing to their new owners.

I must have watched Joes videos on his Hartsfield knives 10x each by now. It is so nice to see Joes collection, I wished I could have bought one all those years ago.
 
I have learned a lot in this thread about a blade style I never paid much attention to, got to see the work of some great knife makers. I hope it keeps going with more video's/stories and knives to see.
 
Yes, thank you, Adam.
The Hartsfield knife: "You'll either love it or hate it; it all depends on your level of understanding."
From the book; Tanto, by Russ Maynard.
rolf
 
Vic's

It will :)

I have the KWAIKEN with the jacked up Sori that I am going to do a video on and other pieces as well

Matt is making a large double ground variant also

Adams is going to be my companion in the deer woods for the rest of the season also due to its excellent hard use nature (unlined sheath)
 
Your a good guy Joe to make these video's to keep us informed and entertained, I would like to see how Adams knife would do field dressing a deer.
 
VicS said:
Your a good guy Joe to make these video's to keep us informed and entertained, I would like to see how Adams knife would do field dressing a deer.
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I Am blown away by Adams knife

Once upon a time I carried a KWAIKEN in the field extensively

I carried a Hartsfield KWAIKEN in Afica even

I skinned a Cape Buffalo with it

It was like using a large scalpel :)

A million years ago







Than one cold winter day here in Pa I shot a big whitetail way back in on a snowy day

I zipped hip open with the KWAIKEN

When I was done I had n access to water only snow

As much as I tried because of the freezing conditions I could not get the blade clean

Well clean enough ...... It would just freeze

So when I got it as clean as I could I slid it into its aluminum saya that was lined with paper and I drug my deer out

It was a long night and when I got home the A2 blade was already rusting

The sheath was contaminated and yes this is when a Kydex sheath is a nice thing :)

For along time it would keep rusting the blade which ............ Sucked

Eventually it stopped and I refinished the KWAIKEN and for good measure mailed it back to Phill and he made another even cooler Cape Buffalo covered from a Bull I shot sheath ........ So it all worked out :)



But alas I stopped carrying my beloved Hartsfield Kwaikens in the field

Well along came Adams variant

ATS 34 steel blade which is a lot more resistant to rust than A2

No lining in sheath .... Harder to contaminate and flushable

A rubber coated sheath ......... A lot better to clean out and rinse than leather

So now thanks to Adam Vigel I am back in the field with my favorite style of Utility knife

Thanks Adam



Now I can fish with my KWAIKEN

Now I can boat with my KWAIKEN and not worry about falling in :)

I do a lot of Salt fishing and even when I was in South America it was so hot the sweat alone would wreck a Carbon steel leather KWAIKEN

Now I can hunt with my KWAIKEN again

In reality as much as I love all of these variants since I'm a hard use guy Adams piece will probable get the most hard use of all

I will say as much as I like the rubber it is wearing in spots but I've been climbing trees and such

I would like to see one covered in bed liner and than done to look like leather like Adam does
 
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great story and pic's Joe, how was the handle to clean on the Kwaiken blood and fat seem to get in every corner ? I used a cord wrapped handled knife once to field dress a buck, big mistake had to rewrap the handle no way to clean it took me longer to rewrap the handle then to gut the deer. It would be cool to see a Kwaiken made out of S35vn with a handle wrap that would be easy to maintain and a sheath that could take out door use. A outdoorsmen model Kwaiken.

Vic
 
VicS said:
great story and pic's Joe, how was the handle to clean on the Kwaiken blood and fat seem to get in every corner ? I used a cord wrapped handled knife once to field dress a buck, big mistake had to rewrap the handle no way to clean it took me longer to rewrap the handle then to gut the deer. It would be cool to see a Kwaiken made out of S35vn with a handle wrap that would be easy to maintain and a sheath that could take out door use. A outdoorsmen model Kwaiken.

Vic
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Vic

The Hartsfields are heavily treated with Epoxy

So is My RJ Martin

Much more than these

It makes the handle not as pretty looking but they are impervious almost to anything and you can scrub them with a tooth brush and they get clean

Adams seems to have a good amount of epoxy on it so we should be good to go
 
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My handle is soaked to the core with System 3 marine epoxy. It is UV resistent and 100% water proof. System 3 is even more expensive then West Epoxy per oz.

It is so tough you literally can not cut it off or pull it off. It has to be ground off. While it looks like cloth, it is no longer cloth. It is solid and hard. (just like Joe :)

I have had mine covered in blood, body fluids, dirt, mud, sand etc. and all I do is rise it off with water and it is good to go. To make it bright and shiny and bring it back to new some soap and water, or even windex will return it to looking new.

It is far stronger then woods and totally water proof. Plus when your hands are covered in blood and cold the texture of the grip keeps you in control of the knife.

I love cord wrapped blades in case you could not tell :)
 
JParanee said:
In reality as much as I love all of these variants since I'm a hard use guy Adams piece will probable get the most hard use of all

I will say as much as I like the rubber it is wearing in spots but I've been climbing trees and such

I would like to see one covered in bed liner and than done to look like leather like Adam does
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What a coincidence I have one planned for bed liner. I have used it on guns stocks and it works great. So it is going on a sheath.

Remember you can always touch up that sheath with a spray can of the stuff.
 
I use System 3, as well, for my cord wrapped handles. Takes a lot longer to cure, but it's bulletproof. RJ left his on this for the reasons Joey outlined, but I prefer the additional texture and grippiness when it's wiped off a bit. Looks cleaner, too.

Double ground biggie is coming along. Going to have to be a machine finish, as the wear resistance of this stuff is off the charts. My best sandpaper won't even touch it.:eek:
 
Adam,
So I think you said you like cord wrapped handles:)So what cord do you use ? Is one better than another if your going to soak it with epoxy ?

thanks
Vic
 
Joe, what rifle did you use to shoot the Croc. ? Do you have any idea how much it weighed ?

Vic
 
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