Sylvan Camp Knife

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I've made "machetes" in 3/32" that terrorized the hard woods. This knife with its tall forward balanced 11 1/2" blade, and 1/8" stock ground to a thin edge will bite and send chips flying. No question at all. And because of its speed, it will do so much more easily than you might think.
 
David Mary said:
I've made "machetes" in 3/32" that terrorized the hard woods. This knife with its tall forward balanced 11 1/2" blade, and 1/8" stock ground to a thin edge will bite and send chips flying. No question at all. And because of its speed, it will do so much more easily than you might think.
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thanks. I have no experience with a larger knife in anything smaller than 5/32 so I appreciate the input.

So it’s more so the thinner bite be weight. Using the theory velocity will make up for the loss in mass. While a side effect being less tiring.

Heck yeah. This sounds cool.
 
JearBeatus48 said:
thanks. I have no experience with a larger knife in anything smaller than 5/32 so I appreciate the input.

So it’s more so the thinner bite be weight. Using the theory velocity will make up for the loss in mass. While a side effect being less tiring.

Heck yeah. This sounds cool.
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There's tradeoffs between thickness and thinness from a chopping perspective for sure. If you can get through in one slice, thinner almost always wins because you get tired faster (usually) swinging more weight. However, thin can get sticky and thus increase the overall work. This is also affected by many other things, like blade grind.

One thing about the sylvan's design is that it's already pretty balanced so thicker blade stock to increase weight doesn't necessarily increase chopping as much, just increases weight. For weight forward designs, the increased weight is more noticeable.

For snap cuts and things, the sylvan works nice. Because it's not overly weight forward like many large knives, it's not completely ridiculous when trying to carve or do other non-chopping tasks. It also cuts well.

I'll have to get a pic of my sylvan next to my well-used barax/barong seax and share.
 
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bikerector said:
There's tradeoffs between thickness and thinness from a chopping perspective for sure. If you can get through in one slice, thinner almost always wins because you get tired faster (usually) swinging more weight. However, thin can get sticky and thus increase the overall work. This is also affected by many other things.

One thing about the sylvan's design is that it's already pretty balanced so thicker blade stock to increase weight doesn't necessarily increase chopping as much, just increases weight. For weight forward designs, the increased weight is more noticeable.

For snap cuts and things, the sylvan works nice. Because it's not overly weight forward like many large knives, it's not completely ridiculous when trying to carve or do other non-chopping tasks. It also cuts well.

I'll have to get a pic of my sylvan next to my well-used barax/barong seax and share.
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Please do. This is an awesome explanation and helps mentally visual the balance.
 
JearBeatus48 said:
Please do. This is an awesome explanation and helps mentally visual the balance.
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So you can see how close to the handle the balance point of the sylvan is. That means thicker blade stock would add more weight, proportionally, to the handle side than a weight forward design like the parang (I think it's technically called a golok by martindale, but really resembles a parang shape IMO). The reverse is also true. Of course, blade width also affects that, not just thickness, like with the martindale golok and kukris, but you can also see that with the Barax, being fairly even width across much of the blade length whereas the sylvan tapers in width.

The design genius of the barax, IMO, is the handle. It allows both a "fast" front grip where the balance point isn't too far from your hand for nice snap cuts, but also a very rearward grip so it's a very weight-forward blade in the rear grip. I think this is a 1/8" thick, 16" barax of AEB-L David and I thought up (mostly David, I just specified the steel characteristics I wanted as we were still new-ish to AEB-L's real world toughness potential at this point).

That's all I have for now. I think the pictures should help demonstrate what I'm trying to explain and then some.

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JearBeatus48 said:
I really like the looks of the sylvan. Really does look like something straight out of Rivendell
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It's a great looking knife and a lot of fun to mess around with. I think the 1/8" version will be really great. As you can tell, mine is a bit bigger so I've done "dumb" things with it, like baton a bit. That's one way to make up for a well-balanced knife that doesn't chop the best to do chopper-like things. Let's be honest, even most choppers are batoned through wood if splitting is the task at hand. Dedicated choppers just make wood shorter better, which is also fun and useful.
 
All together for me at least, the versatility of the Sylvan is in the lighter weight and nimble balance, yet also sturdy enough blade which to bang around most ways, whether in the woods or the mountains. While on the smaller side for chopping, the easier pack-ability of a the lighter but capable design means more to me these days, even if better or more effective pure choppers exist.

Sometimes I pry woody objects, sometimes I chop wood, sometimes I'm off-trail in less then flat terrain, working in confined woody under-story and so, generally, I prefer the balance of big blades over an ax or hatchet (not a knock against or disparagement of axes, just do not find the design as useful for my needs).
 
Hurrul said:
All together for me at least, the versatility of the Sylvan is in the lighter weight and nimble balance, yet also sturdy enough blade which to bang around most ways, whether in the woods or the mountains. While on the smaller side for chopping, the easier pack-ability of a the lighter but capable design means more to me these days, even if better or more effective pure choppers exist.

Sometimes I pry woody objects, sometimes I chop wood, sometimes I'm off-trail in less then flat terrain, working in confined woody under-story and so, generally, I prefer the balance of big blades over an ax or hatchet (not a knock against or disparagement of axes, just do not find the design as useful for my needs).
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See I want one for the WA coast where it’s thick jungle vegetation and blackberries and would excel there.
 
If I get six preorders for the Sylvan I showed in post 59, in .136" AEB-L at 60-61 HRC, I will pull the trigger on the run.

Base price will be $525, including a black Boltaron taco sheath, natural wood scales from what I have in stock at the time of build (which is usually a good variety, and only getting better as time goes on), and FedEx Ground shipping. I already committed to running the Samurai Pierre chef knife not quite enough preorders to justify it, so this one is not happening without at least six preorders.

So anyone willing to put 30% down on that and expect completion early 2027, let me know. I won't take any deposits or buy the steel and waterjet services until I have six confirmed orders. Once I do I will reachout to everyone to make it official.

Anyone interested in synthetic materials for their handle, those will be available at some additional cost, to be determined on a case by case basis near to the build date when such estimates can be made with reasonable accuracy.
 
David Mary

Pre Order Thread 'Sylvan Camp Knife 2027 Preorder'

The original Sylvan and variants were discussed in another thread, along with the possibility of a refined design being offered for 2026/2027.

Here is the offical preorder thread. If I get six preorders for the Sylvan I showed in post 59, in .136" AEB-L at 60-61 HRC, I will pull the trigger on the run.

17" Overall
Cutting edge will come out to just over 11"

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Base price will be $525, including a black Boltaron taco sheath, natural wood scales from what I have in stock at the time of build (which is usually a...
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