responce on fingerguards

[Sammy Mickel]

Thanks for all your great opinions.I found my copy of Ed fowlers book and it's great.I'm leanig more toward a guard now but would like to see some pics of knives both ways,especially with marcata slabs. Does anyone know where I can find some pics? Thanks for your help, Sammy.

------------------

 

[Matt Harildstad]

If you look at the pictures in the "Hunters" section of my webpage you will see some examples of knives with the feature George calls a "self guard". One has a separate guard as well.

------------------
www.planet.eon.net/~matth
matth@planet.eon.net

 

[Dr.Lathe]

Sammy,
Both of the hunters on my webpage have integral guards. They are basically the same knife, one has SS bolsters, one has just "slabs"
The bolsterless version in the picture is 3/16 material with a very tapered blade and tang. For a using knife my preference is either rough stag or bead blasted Micarta for grip. The one in the picture is polished stabilized wood and it makes for a good picture!!! I usually make them out of 1/8 material. I also do several smaller styles with the same type of guard. Most of my customers prefer this type of knife because they are very light. I will do knives with guards like Ed Fowlers but I don't get that much demand for them. If you would like to see pictures of the small hunters, Email me and I would be glad to Email several to you,
Neil Blackwood
Neil Blackwood

------------------
http://members.aol.com/blademakr/BlackwoodWP.html

 

[Bruce Jensky]

Sammy,

If you really want a cross section of what is considered the "best" skinners, you will have to consider the best features of a whole cadre of outstanding knifemakers. You can see that many superb knifemakers have responded to your question and there are many more who have not, yet you can still see their work. When you are viewing other areas of the forum, click on their web address even if you do not agree with their particular stand on a specific subject.

Remember, most of what is shared here is subjective at best, no two makers make knives the same way as no two hunters skin their game in exactly the same way.

Below is an example of the a skinner I just finished. It's 8" overall with 3-1/4" blade by a solid 3/16ths of width. When I make a knife of this mass, I always taper the tang and this one tapers to 1/16th. The handle is cocobolo.

As you can see, It has a substantial finger guard to offer some protection from bone fragments and the deep belly gives outstanding cutting.

Good Luck in your search.

Bruce Jensky

[This message has been edited by Bruce Jensky (edited 25 September 1999).]

[This message has been edited by Bruce Jensky (edited 25 September 1999).]