The Shroominator

[Lorien]

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.

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

Cheers!

 

[1911bphil]

That looks awesome. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Terry M.]

Looks very cool.

 

[Lorien]

That looks awesome. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks- it's my pleasure!

Looks very cool.

 

[jfk1110]

Nice job!!!

 

[Lorien]

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.

So it looks like I'll be updating this thread on the regular

 

[Lorien]

 

[Malty Falcon]

I forage for mushrooms frequently, but never had the right knife. Your blade shape and design is flawless! Looks very comfortable to use, I'm glad the video included the 'shrooms in the end, proof that it cuts!

The sheath is also quite exceptional.

 

[Lorien]

I forage for mushrooms frequently, but never had the right knife. Your blade shape and design is flawless! Looks very comfortable to use, I'm glad the video included the 'shrooms in the end, proof that it cuts!

The sheath is also quite exceptional.

thanks so much!

forgot about these pics from this morning;

 

[Lorien]

 

[eisman]

Excellent knife. Just last week I was amazed by the huge numbers of fungi in my area. Have a space where they cleared out a number of trees a few years back and once the rains started the mushrooms exploded. I don't mess with them, as I'm not comfortable guessing their characteristics, but it's full on mushroom season here now.

 

[Lorien]

Excellent knife. Just last week I was amazed by the huge numbers of fungi in my area. Have a space where they cleared out a number of trees a few years back and once the rains started the mushrooms exploded. I don't mess with them, as I'm not comfortable guessing their characteristics, but it's full on mushroom season here now.

thank you very much!
when it comes to eating these things, I stick with what I know- easily identifiable, aka; beginner's mushrooms.
I picked up a mushroom guidebook the other day, and one thing that I read in there that really stood out to me is that the mushroom kingdom is closer to the animal kingdom than it is to the plant kindgom

of all the interesting mushrooms I've seen out in the forest this season, this fly agaric growing in the ditch is so far the coolest

 

[Jon Brand]

Really really like this one, nice work.

 

[Lorien]

Really really like this one, nice work.

hey Jon, nice to see around here- thanks so much!
I have a couple of these available....

 

[Lorien]

this little knife is surprisingly badass

 

[Lorien]

these lil puffballs are delish

near as I can tell, these are conifer tufts. The look so cool

 

[eveled]

Beautiful knife and great pictures.

Every mushroom I see, I wonder how it tastes! It’s a shame some are poison

 

[Lorien]

Beautiful knife and great pictures.

Every mushroom I see, I wonder how it tastes! It’s a shame some are poison

thanks so much!
with most mushrooms, you can take a little nibble from the cap and spit it out. That can give you a bit of idea.
I've read that it's more important to learn the poisonous mushrooms before looking for the edible ones. Seems legit