The Shroominator

Lorien

Lorien

Nose to the Grindstone
Moderator
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Dec 5, 2005
Messages
27,652
Hello friends!

As some of you may know, I've taken a bit of an interest in foraging and mushroom identification. I mean, how could I not? We live on the west coast of Canada, in a temperate rain forest type environment and there are plenty of interesting and useful things growing all over the place.

I like designing knives for actual uses, and The Shroominator is one useful little knife. The handle design allows for just about any grip you'd want to hold the knife in, in addition to putting your index finger along the spine in order to get into those hard to reach places and still know exactly where the edge is at.

The razor sharp blade is AEB-L, cryogenically quenched for maximum radness, and the full tang is tapered to reduce weight and to give the knife a nice, neutral balance. The primary bevel is hollow ground, and left with a belt finish, while the secondary bevel has an appleseed shape to it which is applied by hand. The flats are hand rubbed. G10 is laminated to burlap micarta scales, and they are held to the tang with aluminum pins.

Sheath-wise, we're looking at 9oz veg tan leather, hand stitched with burly, waxed polyester thread, dyed and hot packed in house. It carries nicely on the belt, or in other words, is unnoticeable until you need it.

Approx weight of knife; 4.5oz
Approx weight of sheath; 2.2oz
Blade length; 3 5/8"
Overall length; 8 1/8"
Steel thickness; .125"
Handle width; .69"

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Thank you for checking out my work, and as always- your comments and/or questions are welcome.

Cheers!
 
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I loved the blade of the knife. You should definitely design this for a tactical purpose. It would make a great slicer. The blade reminded me of Dwain Carrillo's (rip) blades. The blades of the knives he made also felt like a lot of effort had been put into them. I have a similar feeling about this knife. I can see how much thought you put into the details.
 
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Seriously, I love mushroom hunting. I don't have a go-to knife really for those pursuits but I generally like them to be simple and on the smaller side.

What are the dimensions on this beauty? (If you have posted them somewhere else and I missed them, I apologize)
 
whereismyknife said:
I loved the blade of the knife. You should definitely design this for a tactical purpose. It would make a great slicer. The blade reminded me of Dwain Carrillo's (rip) blades. The blades of the knives he made also felt like a lot of effort had been put into them. I have a similar feeling about this knife. I can see how much thought you put into the details.
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Thanks very much! As a general thing, I think the whole 'tactical knife' phraseology is meaningless. That said, foraging for mushrooms is kinda tactical by its nature, so you might be on to something 😂 I think if one were to think of this knife as a pikal, then some tactics might be involved.
I've always been drawn to and have admired Dwain Carrillo's work, and could never understand why, (mostly they just don't seem super practical and I'm kind of obsessed with practicality) but I think you may have put your finger on it. Sometimes I think it's good to appreciate a thing for what it is, and not overthink how it should be used, or even if it can be.
Pàdruig said:
wXtqjSy.jpg



Seriously, I love mushroom hunting. I don't have a go-to knife really for those pursuits but I generally like them to be simple and on the smaller side.

What are the dimensions on this beauty? (If you have posted them somewhere else and I missed them, I apologize)
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that's fucking hilarious! Thanks for that😁
I haven't posted any specs for any of the knives I've posted up in the past few days, but I will. This one has a 3.5" blade
clinton1 said:
I have a tapered tang fetish........
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I hear you- I do too! I made three of these knives, and have only done a tapered tang on one other knife before. Learned quite a lot! The next time I do one it'll be pretty easy, but these three knives KICKED MY ASS!
 
Lorien said:
Thanks very much! As a general thing, I think the whole 'tactical knife' phraseology is meaningless. That said, foraging for mushrooms is kinda tactical by its nature, so you might be on to something
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Of course, a knife can be used for this purpose regardless of its nature. You are right, but as you pointed out, if you need a knife even for picking mushrooms, you need it for military purposes and I think this knife blade is great. So you can be sure that it is not that meaningless. Especially for those who use it for their work. Personally, I would like to see something you do with this goal in mind. I'm sure it will be an incredible knife.
Lorien said:
I've always been drawn to and have admired Dwain Carrillo's work, and could never understand why, (mostly they just don't seem super practical and I'm kind of obsessed with practicality) but I think you may have put your finger on it. Sometimes I think it's good to appreciate a thing for what it is, and not overthink how it should be used, or even if it can be.
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I totally agree. As for practicality, dwain's works are actually quite practical for some purposes. However, the reason I draw the similarity is that every detail I see in his knives has been carefully considered. I see something similar in your work. Maybe the fact that you attach so much importance to practicality causes you to think more than others about what to put and what not to put in the knife. Whatever it is, it works and you do great work. I also really appreciate that these knife handles have a similar theme. I think designing a knife in a way that makes it known who made it is one of the signs of mastery.
 
whereismyknife said:
Of course, a knife can be used for this purpose regardless of its nature. You are right, but as you pointed out, if you need a knife even for picking mushrooms, you need it for military purposes and I think this knife blade is great. So you can be sure that it is not that meaningless. Especially for those who use it for their work. Personally, I would like to see something you do with this goal in mind. I'm sure it will be an incredible knife.

I totally agree. As for practicality, dwain's works are actually quite practical for some purposes. However, the reason I draw the similarity is that every detail I see in his knives has been carefully considered. I see something similar in your work. Maybe the fact that you attach so much importance to practicality causes you to think more than others about what to put and what not to put in the knife. Whatever it is, it works and you do great work. I also really appreciate that these knife handles have a similar theme. I think designing a knife in a way that makes it known who made it is one of the signs of mastery.
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man, that is a well thought out post! I really appreciate you taking the time to flesh things out👍
 
That is really cool Lorien! I keep telling myself every year I need to go out shrooming more then just one day out of the year.
 
Murphjd25 said:
That is really cool Lorien! I keep telling myself every year I need to go out shrooming more then just one day out of the year.
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Thank you very much! I love looking around for mushrooms, don't really know what it is about it, but the older I get the more I seem to enjoy it.
 
well, I made 3 Shroominators, and somehow I managed to screw only one up so I'ma keep it for testing. I cut a large russula stem today and the geometry is good it sailed right on through. I'm really appreciating the inverted curve to the edge- apart from a SAK I had when I was a kid, and a couple full size bush hooks I've used for trail building, I haven't really used a blade with this shape much before.

Whacked the knife through a bunch of little twigs and stems as well, on the hike today, which is a pretty good way to test out how tough the steel is and whether or not the heat treatment worked out as planned.

It's a really fun little knife- I thought it would work pretty well when I finished designing it, but you can never really be sure until you have the actual knife in hand and can put it to use.

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So it looks like I'll be updating this thread on the regular🍄
 
this little knife is surprisingly badass
 
Insipid Moniker said:
At some point I'm gonna pinch my pennies and end up with a Shroominator. That's a really cool, handy pattern.
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sweet! I've been really surprised by how useful this thing is. Cuts like a banshee!

There are two available now.
I'd be happy to set one aside for you and help make arrangements that suit you. Just get at me any time.
 
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