Purple! Because Ice cream has no bones!

It can be a year(s) long project.
 
protourist said:
This entry into the Best Hunting Knife thread got me thinking.
Since thinking is something I do very little of, it is extremely painful, I hope I don't need to explain my thoughts.
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Tim Steingass makes beautiful knives, but for my uses/experiences I only see much function in the knife all the way on the right. But different strokes for different folks and all that.
 
cbwoods67 said:
Tim Steingass makes beautiful knives, but for my uses/experiences I only see much function in the knife all the way on the right. But different strokes for different folks and all that.
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I was looking at the set thinking that while they're beautiful, a Magnificent 7 set designed by the clowns here would be far better. 5 fixed blades with leather and hardwood, 1 folding hunter with matching wood and a matching cutting board.
I'm starting a savings account today.
 
Thing is, I'm too small to carry 6 knives AND a cutting board at one time on my belt and/or shoulder harness :(
so maybe I can just have 2 please :). Or, not to hold up shop time for others, one - yeah one # 2 would be good :thumbsup:

Ray
 
protourist said:
I was looking at the set thinking that while they're beautiful, a Magnificent 7 set designed by the clowns here would be far better. 5 fixed blades with leather and hardwood, 1 folding hunter with matching wood and a matching cutting board.
I'm starting a savings account today.
Click to expand...

That would be awesome. Definitely one heck of a project to tackle.

When John asked if I would be interested in designing a couple knives for deer processing, I was definitely intrigued. I kind of got caught up in the end of semester crap and and pushed knife stuff to the back of my head for a while. After thinking about it I came up with these two knives, obviously heavily influenced by knives I have seen in the past. If I had a deer hanging in front of me, something like these is what I would want.

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When using my Redmeadow this deer season it performed great in butchering. This mostly entails de-boning the meat from the carcass and cutting it up into grinder sized pieces. I usually only save the inner and outer loins for steaks and it did a great job of carving those off. The only thing I would have changed would be to make it a tad shorter in height for a little bit of increased maneuverability. The bottom knife in the drawing reflects that and has slightly more cutting edge for a little more reach.

The little bullnose/nessmuck would be well suited for many tasks, but skinning would probably be where it shines. Having that hump at the nose seems like it would be an ergonomic place to rest you finger when in areas that may be out of sight, where you have to go by feel more than anything. I have always been fond of that blade style, but have never really used one quite like it. One of the most important things when using a knife is how intuitive it feels. The Redmeadow I have is like an extension of my hand, and it seems like a proper nessmuck/bullnose styled knife could be the same.

I had said that I prefer a drop point for the actual gutting process, but I think the little nessmuck/bullnose or clip point would be more than adequate. Given the choice, I would have 3 knives for processing a deer. One for gutting, one for skinning and one for meat duties. Realistically, any one knife would be fine to accomplish all three of these tasks, including the one already in my possession.:D

Usually when putting designs on paper, I have several different iterations of any given knife. For the nessmuck, I had originally drawn it a little slimmer with more belly and a narrower tip. You can kind of see some marks where I erased and redrew. I am still not sure which I like better. Also unsure about whether they should have guards or not. Both of those designs are pretty tentative, but this is a fun idea and a decent place to start. Thanks for asking me to do this John.
 
Three or 4 file marks on the spine just forward of the handle and a 1/2 guard as you show in your bottom knife and you have designed the perfect pair IMHO - AND - for more tasks than dressing game. 4-3/4" to 5-1/4 " blade for the bullnose and maybe as much as 3-34" for a smaller "pointy blade". John's stacked leather versions would be usurpassed.
DIBS!!! :cool::)

Ray
 
An early warning on this project, you've got to trust me on the bullnose. I have more work in designing this handle and blade shape than probably all of my others combined. No matter how you pick it up, it finds your hand, which comes in handy inside a carcass or with cold hands. I'm gonna stretch the blade out a bit, this one has a 3 1/4" edge (perfect in my opinion but I know everyone likes at least a 4") I doubt it will go over 4 1/2" though.

I still have this knife and if it ever shows up for sale then you know aliens have taken over my body. Picture this paired with a thin clip, I think you could cover coyotes to Mule deer.
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That is a great looking knife. 3 1/4" seems like an ideal length. At least in my experience, a shorter more controlled knife is better for skinning. There is a certain length when knives just get a little cumbersome for that task.

Are you planning to keep these full tang?
 
I've become quite fond of the Blackwood as well.... unless it's too pretty for this project.
Lovin the looks of your earlier bullnose, and agree 3 1/4" is a comfortable length.
 
I've got a lot of blackwood, and a lot of Red Palm. We's got options.
 
Oh oh oh, let me know what size scales you need i might have the perfect set for this project.
 
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