Stewart Marsh Bushcrafter knife

[riddleofsteel]

I got a Stewart Marsh Bushcrafter in the post today. Excellent service I must say. It was shipped from High Seats in the UK last Monday, today it arrives in North Carolina, USA. Still amazes me how quick mail service is considering the distance.
The cream colored ivory Micarta handle is stunning. Several folks I showed it to had to look twice to tell is wasn't real ivory! Excellent grain and shaping, the handle welds to your hand in ANY posistion.
You can tell it is not a production knife. Little mistakes here and there but nothing that will stand out after a couple of trips to the bush and a few sharpenings. Several small dents in the tang portion of the bar stock drew my attention.
The grind is a little off center to the bar stock and the transistion between the ground and unground portion of the knife is rough/hurried.
This is a very ROUBUST knife. Holding it the word tool comes to mind. It is built like a tank the spine of the blade is thick almost all the way to the tip. I have no doubt it will stand the test of bushcrafting in the Southeast US.
I tried shaving with it when I pulled it out of the sheath. Only one portion of the blade would pop hair. This will no doubt change on the flatbed hone. However, when applied to paper it engaged the paper edge and sliced cleanly, without drag, the full length of the blade. It seemed to be just sharp enough to cut wood but not thin edged enough to dull fast at heavy work.
When I got it home I made a few easy fuzz sticks from limbs in the yard. Then I drilled a hole in a piece of willow and carved a hearth board in just a few minutes. Not much of a test so far but it was superbly comfortable and easy to control. I have to say I am not sold on the zero grind. Most of my knives are convex.
We shall see. My Bark River Northstar and Fallkniven A1 better look out, it may be on the way to becoming my favorite woods bumming knife.

Pics and detailed review to follow after a woodland weekend.
Campsm

Cheers

 

[riddleofsteel]

This weekend was hectic. I had a chance to get in the woods but not much chance to do any bushcrafting. Anyway, here are some shots of my new baby, a ivory Micarta Stewart Marsh Bushcraft with a handmade laynard slide from white tail deer antler.
Enjoy

I could not resist adding my screen name to the blade as I have a friend that does engraving.

If you look closely at the sheath you can see a blemish. I got a nice discount of the knife due to this. Maybe enough to make up for the loop sided exchange rate between pounds and dollars.

LOL

 

[Cliff Stamp]

It seemed to be just sharp enough to cut wood but not thin edged enough to dull fast at heavy work.

This should not be a problem with quality steel, I run most of my utility knives at very low angles, my Sebenza has a 5.6 degree edge. Nice looking handle, I would want more of a guard. It would be informative to compare it to a decent similar blade from Ragnars Forge.

-Cliff

 

[riddleofsteel]

I have found a guard can be a real problem doing fine wood work. Most Moras don't even have any guard.

 

[Cliff Stamp]

There is a fairly large divergence of opinions on guards, some run no guards on slick and tapered handles (some Mora's), and some run really large guards on highly indexed handles (Fowler).

I tend to fall in between, something like :

http://www.physics.mun.ca/~sstamp/images/meuk_side.jpg

is what I would tend to use for most utility, though I have lots of knives with no guards and knives with larger guards, they just get used for different things.

-Cliff

 

[riddleofsteel]

I do a lot of bushcraft work with a Fallkniven A1

all of the "experts" tell me it is to big. However it is still hanging on the belt of my survival/bugout fanny pack I keep in my truck. I guess it is my answer to the "if you could have one knife" question. I guess it does have pretty medium guard.

Of course I do not leave home without my Ritter MK1

It kinda has a substantial finger guard if you count the shape of the handle. I do a bunch of fine woodwork with this knife.

But I have to say my favorite knife for all around bushcraft, shelter building, skinning, ect is this;

It is a handmade knife I bought at a flea market from a guy that makes them from big saw blades. It is convex ground and holds on to an edge like grim death. I guess it has no guard at all. I like the way I can choke up on the blade for precise control.

I am currently evaluating the Bark River Northstar as a Bushcrafter and I like it for its control and blade shape. However, I have issues with the grip.

Bark River will be coming out with a convex ground bushcrafter knife, the Aurora, in 2006. I guess it will give my new Stewart Marsh a run for its money.
I think hand guards are mostly for stabbing protection. If I find out different I will let you know from the emergency room.

LOL

 

[Cliff Stamp]

[A1]

...tell me it is to big.

I have a H1 which has an interesting combination of abilities, the very thick spine and sabre grind give it high blade and point strength so it can do very rough wood craft easily.

At the same time the edge is very thin and thus it can carve well also. As a general utility knife it suffers from the thick spine, but for wood carving and other shallow cutting it works nicely.

It is a handmade knife I bought at a flea market from a guy that makes them from big saw blades.

Does that knife have a primary grind, or is it just flat stock with an edge grind? How thick is the blade? There is a guy who sells similar blades on ebay, utility, kitchen and fillet blades.

I think hand guards are mostly for stabbing protection.

Generally most cutting doesn't need a guard, lots of my knives don't have them like this :

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y269/CliffStamp/Alvin/johnson_paring.jpg

It helps when stabbing/thrusting, but can also be of benefit when your grip is compromised with blood / oil or just really fatigued.

Know what your knife can and can't do and use it accordingly.

-Cliff

 

[riddleofsteel]

Stewart Marsh knife

I dont know the thickness but I will measure it for you. The blade is flat stock end ground to convex.

There is a guy who sells similar blades on ebay, utility, kitchen and fillet blades.

I do not know. Got a link?

 

[Cliff Stamp]

His name is fishingfool90, he is currently not selling anything. You could drop him an email though through ebay. Direct ebay links are not permitted on Bladeforums by the way.

-Cliff

 

[riddleofsteel]

I doubt it. The guy you mentioned is in Missouri. This guy was local yokel from NC. Plus the only grip material this guy uses is the dense white plastic shown in the pic. The guy on e-bay had previous auction with stabilized wood grips, ect.

 

[Grapevine]

The saw blades that FishingFool90 on Ebay uses is quite thin, about 1.5 mm thick by my measurement of putting a ruler up to it. I have two of his knives. They wouldn't do well in bushcraft methinks. But in the kitchen they work great, and I would presume would work great for hunting also. He's Don Hanson's brother btw.

 

[riddleofsteel]

My handmade knife shown here has a 4mm or 1/8" spine. By the way it is the same thickness as the Stewart Marsh knife shown above.

 

[Cliff Stamp]

Just noted a similar guy, not they were the same person.

-Cliff

 

[DGG]

There is a fairly large divergence of opinions on guards, some run no guards on slick and tapered handles (some Mora's), and some run really large guards on highly indexed handles (Fowler).

I tend to fall in between, something like :

http://www.physics.mun.ca/~sstamp/images/meuk_side.jpg

is what I would tend to use for most utility, though I have lots of knives with no guards and knives with larger guards, they just get used for different things.

-Cliff

Ask anyone who hunts or ranches regularly about the usefulness of blade guards. If they have someone else gut,skin, and quarter the big deer, elk, cow, sheep, etc. they won 't care. Also if you are working in cold weather and wearing gloves it may not make any difference to an extent. But if you are working blind within the ribcage cutting the lungs loose or the trachea, then it is very nice to know that your fingers will not slip up on a sharp blade and be seriously damaged when spending hours doing the task. I'm not talking bird-trout knives here but real working knives.