What appeals to you about a kephart blade shape?

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Henry Beige said:
It’s not about how it looks, it’s about how it works. It is the kind of knife you keep in your cabin or in your pack for years and years, and you use it for everything. It does not do any one thing brilliantly, it does a lot of things very well. If you ride a KLR, you will understand.

It is curious to me that such a plain-Jane, utilitarian knife has so many designer variants. If you want similar utility in an inexpensive knife, try the Dexter-Russell Green River 4215 fish knife.
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I'm not a fan of kepharts. It's just not my personal preference.

Personal preference seems to be the biggest factor in determining if a knife is good at specific tasks or not, with obvious exceptions (i.e. a cleaver with a flat tip won't be great at drilling holes, a 3 inch blade isn't great at batoning, etc.). I may think a knife is great at a task, but someone else may feel it's deficient at performing that same duty.

I was curious if this was the case with kepharts or if I was missing something. It seems like that generally holds true here. It's just preference. Good to know.
 
I like the aesthetics- simple and straightforward.

The spear point places the blade tip in a more accessible place, as opposed to an ESEE 4 or most puukko style knives. I’ve been told that spear points and Spey blades make gutting animals easier, because it reduces the chance of puncturing the guts.

I like that there’s no ricasso on this particular model. Like with a puukko the blade comes very close to the handle and allows the user to gain back some leverage on the cut.

The blade is long enough for most chores.

Horace Kephart’s design is currently popular, but I’m sure other designs could have fit his requirements. People have lived in the woods with other knives just fine.
 
I make knives for fun and have made everything from karambits to large Bowies. Recently with some input from MolokaiRider MolokaiRider we tried to make a medium sized fixed blade with some intentional features to provide function.
If you look at the Kephart, you see that the handle flares to help secure the hand, but also protrudes below the cutting edge which limits cutting on a board. The tip could be sharper also. Our design actually started with an old Loveless pattern, but certainly is Kephart-like. There is no choil to snag, and the plunge actually angles slightly back. There is a swedge making the tip more effective. The flare is retained in the handle, but the protrusion is replaced by finger grooves. This was made in Magnacut at 63 HRC and quite thin at 0.1" at the spine.
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It's a simple, basic design, that just works well. Ugly, yes, but functional. The blade shape shape makes it really easy to sharpen compared to something with a recurve or more aggressive belly.

I like the look of clip points much more, but greatly enjoy the utility of the spearpoint blade. Around the camp especially, the stronger tip design
is nice to have.
 
I guess it really depends on your use. I'm not an outdoorsman, I don't really use my fixed blades. 10+ years ago when I was still camping, canoeing, etc I got by with a folder and a (gasp!) SOG Seal Pup. Also a hatchet.

Even if I were still doing that stuff, I'd prefer something like my Becker BK-5 or my Warpath Strategies camp knife.

I don't see myself hunting/skinning in the future, so I don't need a knife for that.

Also, to be brutally honest, the kephart design is anemic to me, aesthetically.
 
Kephart is associated with two blade patterns,,,both of which are classics imho.

The first, (below), is generally what is considered a "Kephart" on the forums...but the second is depicted in an illustration within his classic "Camping & Woodcraft".

Both superb knives, each in their own right.

CPK Kephart - Walnut.jpg



woodcraft3_001.jpg
 
Crag the Brewer said:
I'm a believer it's close to perfection. Probably the Best Knife design.

The hardest thing to design, is simplicity.
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I understand your point, I consider it to be complex in its simplicity.

It may seem simple, but a true Kephart has a lot of subtle details that are easily over looked. The tapered tang, the double ground blade, the handle swells, chamfered edges, distal taper.

A real work of art IMHO.
 
The Kephart was designed as a general-purpose outdoor knife, by someone who really spent a lot of time outdoors. It was need-driven, not driven by someone sitting at a drafting table trying to come up with something that looked cool. If you don't do much outdoors, it's likely you'd see no value in the design. It was also designed to be used in tandem with other tools (like a hatchet), so if you're looking for a "one tool for everything including hacking down the forest" solution, it's probably not be the best option.

It was never a tool designed to have aesthetic appeal - it was a tool designed to do work. There is a beauty in that, though it may not be immediately apparent. If "does it look cool?" is one of your knife criteria, then it's probably not the knife for you.

I find it to be a far more versatile design than a Nessmuk style, or the "Woodcraft" for that matter. I also find that it's a knife you have to spend time with in order for the lightbulbs to click.
 
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Smithhammer said:
The Kephart was designed as a general-purpose outdoor knife, by someone who really spent a lot of time outdoors. It was need-driven, not driven by someone sitting at a drafting table trying to come up with something that looked cool. If you don't do much outdoors, it's likely you'd see no value in the design. It was also designed to be used in tandem with other tools (like a hatchet), so if you're looking for a "one tool for everything" including hacking down the forest solution, it's probably not be the best option.

It was never a tool designed to have aesthetic appeal - it was a tool designed to do work. There is a beauty in that, though it may not be immediately apparent. If "does it look cool?" is one of your knife criteria, then it's probably not the knife for you.

I find it to be a far more versatile design than a Nessmuk style, or the "Woodcraft" for that matter. I also find that it's a knife you have to spend time with in order for the lightbulbs to click.
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I actually agree with you 100%

I think it's a knife that says more about the user, than itself.......
 
I own two Kepharts currently, one in almighy D3V from CPK, and the Becker BK62.

My take on it is that I have an appreciation for a classic, tried-and-true design that does many things entirely fine, and is a knife that's covered in small, subtle details.

Speaking entirely slash and burn candidly:

- Are these favorite knives of mine? No.

- Are either of those knives the first ones I reach for when stepping out for an impromptu woods walk? No. It's usually going to be a large chopping knife and a smaller EDC sized fixed blade.

- Is the Kephart my favorite blade shape? No. I do like it, it's just not my favorite.

- Is the handle the most comfortable? No. In fact, it's really juuuuuuust enough handle to grasp the knife properly, but that's about it in my size XL hands. The lack of a lanyard hole means that I am definitely not reaching for either knife for wood processing duties.

- Do I like the leather sheathe on the BK62? No. The CPK's sheathe works well enough, however.

All of that said, I do like them, and am glad to own them because they both (especially the BK62 with its provenance and design cues from Ethan's actual Kephart) give me a feeling of owning a piece of knife history, a classic in its own right, and a design that was working for people decades and decades before most of the knifes we enjoy today were even an idea sketched on paper (or these days, CAD). I'm glad to have them in my collection, now I just need to find a good Nessmuk or two to kinda round things out. I love my Work Tough Nomad, which functions as a modernized take, but yeah. I'll find the right one eventually.
 
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I like Kepharts a lot and think it is a nice looking knife design. That is me. I use mine camping and for fishing. My kepharts are fixed blade and I can do stuff with them that I would not do with my folders. For instance, baton wood. I think knife design like many things in life depends on the beholder and user. The OP asks why people like this specific type of knife and that is a fair question, yet the same could be done from other knife designs, lambs foot, drop point, and so forth. For some reason, many people like to pillory people who like Kepharts. If you don't like them, then do not buy one. End of story.
 
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