Post your thoughts about and photos of Kephart knives

M

Mike-The-Knife

Joined
Dec 6, 2011
Messages
1,301
The Kephart knife is like the original "bushcraft" knife . And still seems pretty popular to this day . Named after the man who designed the knife after spending a lifetime outdoors actually using different knives . He put what he thought was the best traits from all those knives into one knife that he felt would be the most useful to him out in the wilds .

I think it still holds up pretty well as a good allrounder to have in the woods . Here's mine . It's a custom knife made by Kris Klammer who resides in the Canadian mid West .

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Ok guys and gals , lets see those Kepharts and hear your thoughts on them .


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That is One Beautiful Knife! :thumbup:
What wood is the handle?

I have the Bark River hidden tang, in stainless Sandvik 12c27.
It's nice even very nice, but not in the same way as Your Klammer knife.

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Regards
Mikael
 
Thanks Mikael . I know the blade 1/8" thick and the steel is 1084 . I don't remember what wood the handle is though , as I didn't order it .

The knife was actually GIFTED to me by Kris Klammer in our "Canadian Christmas Exchange" in 2012 . It IS a beautiful knife and it's razor sharp too .

I have to say that Bark River looks pretty nice too ;)


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HOLD MY BEER AND WATCH THIS !
 
I don't own a Kephart. I don't know, I like my knives with more of a point. From the angle of your pic yours looks more pointy than some Kephart's I've seen. One reason I say this is I own a Nessmuk pattern. I know, but the the Nessmuk is pretty much useless for field dressing a deer or gutting a rabbit. Great skinner tho! I want a point for opening an animal of any kind up. And that's what I use a fixed blade for most of the time.
 
Wow ! I guess I was wrong about how popular the Kephart knife is . Oh well , not the first time I've been wrong lol .


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HOLD MY BEER AND WATCH THIS !
 
I didn't even know who Kephart was or what was special about his knife until I picked up a Condor Kephart for my son for his first fixed-blade/bushcrafting knife (here it is next to my BK16 and my other son's Mora Bushcraft):

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So far, it's done a great job at making a bow-drill, doing some light (smaller) wood splitting/notching/carving, making feather sticks, and whittling. I started reading about Horus Kephart and he was apparently quite the character. There seem to be plenty of good and bad written about him, but he definitely knew his outdoors and woodsmanship.

I've started looking more and more into the Kephart design and I love it - it's simple and very usable. I'm pro-FFG, and find it very useful for any medium-sized tasks (and a few larger ones). I don't typically carry big choppers when in the woods, so the design is perfect for me. I'm actually going to attempt to make a Kephart-style knife for myself in the next few months.

Here's a pic from the family backpacking trip we took in the Ouachita National Forrest a couple of weeks ago:

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I like that knife Hardball ! It has that nice old time look and it looks very well made .

To be honest I didn't know anything about Kephart knives until I received this one , but once I had it I started looking into them a lot more . They look a little odd at first , without a pointed tip , but they are a great functional design once you put them to use .

Here are a couple of better pics of mine .

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HOLD MY BEER AND WATCH THIS !
 
I like the design a lot, and had a couple made for me. One is in O1, the other in 52100, both are convex. I wanted them super simple, close to the original which wasn't an ornate knife.

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This one is my favourite. I made the sheath and had the bladesmith use copper pins (and a copper lanyard tube).

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The BRKT Sperati Point uses the same blade as their Kephart.

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I also have a smaller "pocket Kephart" by another local maker but I haven't got any photos.
 
Hi Guys,

M the K, I'm sure you are proud to own such an excellent well made knife! MY (what's old is new again) "Old Hickory" Kephart is also my first Kephart.
I only received it a few weeks ago so, I haven't really used it as of yet other than to cut paper as a demo of it's sharpness, and it is SHARP! Francis, those are some pretty awesome knives you have in you collection! I too like the one you call your favorite.

Regards,
HARDBALL
 
Sorry no pics but I have a survive knives 4.1. It easily qualifies as a kephart IMO. That bk16 above qualifies as one too if you ask me. It sure is a practical design.
 
Oh yeah ! I like how Blind Horse did their Kephart/Bushcrafter knife :thumbup:


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HOLD MY BEER AND WATCH THIS !
 
The sexiest Kephart made.

The Fiddleback Forge Kephart.

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5/32" o1 full height grind.

Natural G10 over white G10 and natural micarta liners.

Natural micarta pins and bullseye lanyard tube.

Fitted to my first sheath, it's probably my favorite edc.
 
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Osa1970 , I'm not sure , but I think you might have a thing for Kephart knives :eek:

Nice collection for sure . Makes me want another Kephart :D or maybe two


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HOLD MY BEER AND WATCH THIS !
 
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