Random Thought Thread

Saturday side hustle

20210213_175151.jpg
20210213_175233.jpg

~Ships Log

Day 9

Still buried. Continued snow tonight, more coming Tuesday. Supplies low. Mens morale, wavering.

I'm getting too old for this..I understand now why folks move south..

Hey Nathan, how about an ice axe...and some cleats in D3V?

You're right, AEBL would be the way to go..

Waiting for the drop. At this rate..we'll still be buried.
 
Last edited:
Lorien said:
UlszyEU.jpg
Click to expand...

This looks very interesting from a handle/blade design perspective... extremely promising even!
 
Lorien said:
am I right in understanding that as an appleseed grind?
Click to expand...

Yes, sort of. That's the plan anyways. The OG Kephart knives had a convex grind that was durable and lended itself to carving whittling wood projects, wood processing, splitting small wood without binding. While not as thin and narrow and slicey as a nice hard modern super steel sporting a full flat grind they worked pretty well in the woods. Most reproductions sport a saber grind which is a pretty good option but I wanted to try a bi-bevel on this project where the primary is a pretty stout but reasonable geometry taken to a thin edge and add a narrow primary grind behind that to reduce drag on hard objects. It's an attempt to approximate the function of the original rather than just the appearance. It's an experiment.
 
SharpPancake said:
That bi-bevel looks interesting. I wonder how it would compare to normal flat grind with just one primary bevel.
Click to expand...

More resistance penetrating a hard object with less binding. Optimized for wood working and bushcraft.

You will probably never see me do a scandi grind, but this is leaning away from a FFG towards the thin edge and robust primaries you see on bushcraft knives.

I'm trying to address the biggest shortcoming that I see with production Kepharts today, which is their tendency to look like the original without incorporating the design intent of the original. This is a natural consequence of people buying things based upon pictures on the internet without really grokking the geometry.

I could be completely off-base. But I don't think I am. I'm a geometry nerd and I've been mulling this over...
 
Last edited:
Nathan the Machinist said:
More resistance penetrating a hard object with less binding. Optimized for wood working and bushcraft.

You will probably never see me do a scandi grind, but this is leaning away from a FFG towards the thin edge and robust primaries you see on bushcraft knives.

I'm trying to address the biggest shortcoming that I see with production Kepharts today, which is their tendency to look like the original without incorporating the design intent of the original. This is a natural consequence of people buying things based upon pictures on the internet without really grokking the geometry.

I could be completely off-base. But I don't think I am. I'm a geometry nerd and I've been mulling this over...
Click to expand...

I don't think that you're off-base at all with prioritizing function and performance over form. I do think that one of the biggest issues in the knife industry on the consumer end is that most people go through at least a few knives before they find what they want regarding form and performance. I think that it might come down to an education component as to how geometry affects performance, probably because most people haven't been able to de-mystify the technical details and translate them into how a blade performs for a given task (I know that this is a continuing journey for me in the knife world).

If someone were to break this information down as an accessible and informative resource, I think that it would be extremely useful without going into the detail that Knife Steel Nerds (for example) go to, which can overwhelm many people who aren't hardcore knife nerds.
 
Nathan the Machinist said:
More resistance penetrating a hard object with less binding. Optimized for wood working and bushcraft.

You will probably never see me do a scandi grind, but this is leaning away from a FFG towards the thin edge and robust primaries you see on bushcraft knives.

I'm trying to address the biggest shortcoming that I see with production Kepharts today, which is their tendency to look like the original without incorporating the design intent of the original. This is a natural consequence of people buying things based upon pictures on the internet without really grokking the geometry.

I could be completely off-base. But I don't think I am. I'm a geometry nerd and I've been mulling this over...
Click to expand...

I think the only makers who have managed to reproduce a Kephart somewhat correctly are ones who have actually had the opportunity to handle an original. As simple as the knife looks, there are a lot of design elements and subtleties that get overlooked if one is simply going off of pictures.

Even with Ethan Becker, the Kephart held no appeal for him until he actually had the opportunity to handle one in person.

I am thrilled with your approach though, there is something to be said for modern manufacturing and design. Though the likelihood of me getting to experience an original is slim to none, I do have a custom Kephart being made (the maker having had the above opportunity), I have yours in the works (IIRC, you also had that opportunity), and I have a number of production examples (Ka-bar and others). Once they are all in hand, I will be doing an extensive study - utilizing Kephart's philosophies and demonstrating how they all comparatively perform.

I am really looking forward to it.
 
Last edited:
gunslinger387 said:
View attachment 1509961
My happy place, glamping with my family at the beach.
Glamping = glamorous camping (RV)
Click to expand...

Where’s that at? Local? Torrey Pines State Beach? The free ocean front is what has always caused me the biggest inertia against moving out! No. Cal also has some heavenly state beaches but it’s also full of Birkenstock and Ugg wearing hippies :D
 
Bilateral said:
I think that it might come down to an education component as to how geometry affects performance, probably because most people haven't been able to de-mystify the technical details and translate them into how a blade performs for a given task
Click to expand...
This seems to be the biggest issue these days because our generation doesn’t have to use these types of tools like previous generations had to.
I honestly think tutorials or diagrams would be cool, but I also think that the only way to “learn a tool” is to practice by chopping branches, splitting lumber or even something as easy as carving a trystick like these.


View attachment 1509990
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top