What appeals to you about a kephart blade shape?

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Blues said:
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.

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The combination of these were a heavy influence on one of my knife designs, and it has been one of my better sellers and is a fantastic camp knife (biased opinion of course).
 
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moonpath said:
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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No judgements here. I legitimately wanted to know why people like them. Not saying it's good or bad.
 
I don't own any have not owned one. I do think it is a very beautiful knife. The proportions are perfectly balanced to the eye. I do not like the looks of fancy looking lots of angles multi grind knives. As others have said, it's just me.
 
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I like them for reasons of history, function, and the simple, symmetrical design. It's a knife type I don't have a lot of and 2023 is the year I plan to add a few more Kepharts to the collection.

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carnifex knifeworks said:
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.
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That’s not what I said. Don’t put words in my mouth.
 
What appeals?

Well, it’s a knife and it looks like it would work pretty well for lots of tasks.

Unfortunately I don’t think it’s likely to perform those tasks significantly better than other knives in a similar size range that simply look much more interesting to me subjectively.

I believe I’m quoting someone on this forum when I say: “Life is too short to carry an ugly knife”.
 
Ya know, it's funny... Back in like 2008 I saw all these Kepharts on here and asked myself the same thing. There's a few knives here and there that come around that I don't like the look of, however they become so popular to people I respect that I start thinking there's something they do that you'd be unaware of unless you try one. That's how I felt about the Kephart (and the Winkler Belt Knife). I remember even asking people what they like so much about it, and I got the same answers. Somewhere between then and now I started loving the look of the design. I still have never bought one, but I think I really need to finally get the Becker.
 
It's just a knife, it cuts things, it's a good size, it's easy to carry, it's not fragile, it's well balanced. Kephart himself, in his last edition of Camping and Woodcraft spent all of 2 paragraphs talking about sheath knives out of 300 some odd pages about camping. The first paragraph basically says "sheath knives are cool", the second paragraph basically says "the Marbles Woodcraft is a pretty good knife if you make a few modifications.".

So yeah, the Kephart knife isn't for people that are into nightmare grinds or multi purpose "survival"/sentry removal/axe replacement knives. I bet if Kephart was alive today and you handed him a Cold Steel SRK-C he'd say thanks and then proceed to build chairs, carve spoons, make spiral bread, cut potatoes, clean deer, and slice bacon without giving it a second thought beyond "Yeah, this is about right".
 
LimpCroissant said:
Ya know, it's funny... Back in like 2008 I saw all these Kepharts on here and asked myself the same thing. There's a few knives here and there that come around that I don't like the look of, however they become so popular to people I respect that I start thinking there's something they do that you'd be unaware of unless you try one. That's how I felt about the Kephart (and the Winkler Belt Knife). I remember even asking people what they like so much about it, and I got the same answers. Somewhere between then and now I started loving the look of the design. I still have never bought one, but I think I really need to finally get the Becker.
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I was the same way, the shape at first didn’t appeal to me but it grew on me, the usefulness of the spear point and the subtle curves of the handle, deceptively fitting your hand’s contours, and a just enough of a built in guard, then actual comments of it is use by others, finally convinced me to get the BK Kephart in micarta scales. Still need to break it in and really use it. Sort of jack of all trades shape. The only thing I am still getting used to on the BK 62 is the longer blade, my sweet spot is 3.5 to 4.5, for some reason I like the almost equal blade to handle length, 4:4 or 4.5:4.5, neutral balance, I want a good size handle for a full grip and maneuverability, but I want the blade for close up work too, where too much blade will not get in the way. Of course I have bought many kephart types to try also.
 
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As others noted, the simplicity. I admit I romanticize about just living off the land / hunting / gardening, while pausing to use my Kephart to peel an apple and read some Walden Pond...or maybe fight off some Apache who wants my woman.
Its design carries a lore and I am drawn to that lore as silly as t hat sounds. Similar to how I feel about my lever action rifles; there are better modern alternatives, but they lack that “je ne sais quoi”.
 
Thicker in the center than its spine defines the Kephart blade geometry as well as its subtle curves in profile. Flat grinds marketed as Kephart knives fail to achieve the original’s full functionality.
 
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