What Do You Use Your Kephart For?

redsquid2

redsquid2

Free-Range Cheese Baby
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As a hobbyist knifemaker, whenever I am designing a new pattern, I aim for "simple and versatile".

I was not familiar with a Kephart knife, until I discovered bladeforums, about 3 years ago.

Recently, I took pencil and paper and started drawing Kephart patterns. Great phone pic, haha.

kephart 2.7.jpg

I thought, Wow! You could do about anything you want to with this knife! Push-cutting, skinning, Drilling with the tip. You could design it with scandi, convex, or saber bevel, wider blade, narrower blade. You could give it more belly, less belly, more/less tip strength. There are so many options, while still keeping close to the original Kephart pattern.

If I don't make myself a Kephart in the near future, I will probably buy one.

I am curious, what is your experience with using this type of knife?

Thank you.
 
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First, I prefer it with a flat grind and convex edge, the way that Scott Gossman makes his. I have the 5" blade, 4" blade and a 3" blade, including a type of Kephart EDC Scott made, with a 3.5" blade. Scott used cocobolo on the 5/4/3" models. J Neilson made one for me, with cocobolo scales also. 52100 I believe on the Neilson, Scott used A2 on the first three. Carbon or tool steel is a must, a patina looks great on this pattern. My skills are not that accomplished, but I have gotten some good use out of the 3" and 3.5" blade models, as EDC fixed blades. In the winter, my 3" model serves as my knife, instead of a folder. I have carried the 4" in the woods, and have tried a little woodwork. Nothing that I am proud of, but I got out and did it. One stick fire and some wood carving. Need to do more instead of sitting on my wide load watching movies every time it snows.

I think it is a great pattern. Very comfortable to use too. I look forward to seeing what you come up with.
 
I decided to include a kephart in the batch of profiles I cut out yesterday. These are all 1/8" A2 tool steel.



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I have the BHK Bushcrafter and it probably gets the most use of all my knives. I do a lot of backpacking and canoe tripping and its always on my belt. Knife use for me is primarily fire prep, also setting up tarps and lines, and lastly for eating. My Kephart does everything I need it to while Im out there. I only see one of those patters really resembling a true Kephart, unless you still have a lot of grinding to do. I know absolutely nothing about knife making but those all look good so far :)
 
HardTripper said:
I have the BHK Bushcrafter and it probably gets the most use of all my knives. I do a lot of backpacking and canoe tripping and its always on my belt. Knife use for me is primarily fire prep, also setting up tarps and lines, and lastly for eating. My Kephart does everything I need it to while Im out there.
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BHK. Very nice. Good to know that it is useful for so many things. Does it have a wide bevel, or a narrow steep, bevel? I have seen some bushcrafting knives that have just a narrow Scandinavian bevel, but I have seen others that have a wider bevel.

HardTripper said:
I only see one of those patters really resembling a true Kephart, unless you still have a lot of grinding to do. I know absolutely nothing about knife making but those all look good so far :)
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Thanks. I have lots of grinding to do. The steel cutouts you see there are very rough. The paper patterns are visually closer to what the finished product will be.

I googled and found pictures of many variations on the original. I will post more pics later.
 
I have it with a full flat grind and a convexed edge. Honestly at 3/16 with that type of grind it doesnt slice that well, I bought it more for robustness than precise cutting.
 
The Kephart is probably my favorite fixed blade pattern. It seems to work extremely well for most woods tasks, and paired with something like a muskrat style folder and a small pocket axe, and you have your bases covered, IMO.

Here is my knife, a Bark River early hidden tang version that, other than the swedge grind, is closely modeled on the original.



Your knife looks like a winner to me! Good steel and thickness choice. This pattern seems to want to be a little thinner, in the .125 to .145 inch range, which makes for a great slicer that can still handle processing wood for camp tools, fire starting, etc. I do prefer a full convex grind, per the BR knife I have. More in keeping with the original, I think. Oh, and I like the two small middle pins on your knife design. Nice touch, there! :thumbup:

Please keep posting more pictures as the knife progress. I'd love to see how it turns out!

Bob
 
Condor makes a super accurate version, looks like its probably closer to what Kephart wanted than the Marbles version haha.
 
TheBead said:
The Kephart is probably my favorite fixed blade pattern. It seems to work extremely well for most woods tasks, and paired with something like a muskrat style folder and a small pocket axe, and you have your bases covered, IMO.

Here is my knife, a Bark River early hidden tang version that, other than the swedge grind, is closely modeled on the original.



Your knife looks like a winner to me! Good steel and thickness choice. This pattern seems to want to be a little thinner, in the .125 to .145 inch range, which makes for a great slicer that can still handle processing wood for camp tools, fire starting, etc. I do prefer a full convex grind, per the BR knife I have. More in keeping with the original, I think. Oh, and I like the two small middle pins on your knife design. Nice touch, there! :thumbup:

Please keep posting more pictures as the knife progress. I'd love to see how it turns out!

Bob
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Thanks, Bob. That's a nice BRK.

I have pretty much got the cutting end of it profiled the way I want it.

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The blacked-out parts on the handle still need to be ground off.

I am not too experienced with making convex bevels, so I think I will make it a flat bevel, and make it wide/shallow enough to have some slicing ability.
 
I'm going to pick up the Condor just to check it out, just traded my full tang Bark River Kephart. The only reason is because I have quite a few custom Kepharts.
 
Looks like it will be 4" tip-to-handle, 3 7/8" cutting edge, 8 5/8" OAL.
 
redsquid2 said:
I have pretty much got the cutting end of it profiled the way I want it.

12118743805_be127ca839_h.jpg


The blacked-out parts on the handle still need to be ground off.

I am not too experienced with making convex bevels, so I think I will make it a flat bevel, and make it wide/shallow enough to have some slicing ability.
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Looking good! So what kind have handle material are you thinking?
 
silenthunterstudios said:
I'm going to pick up the Condor just to check it out, just traded my full tang Bark River Kephart. The only reason is because I have quite a few custom Kepharts.
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I had high hopes for the full tang BR Kephart, but they completely changed the handle geometry from the hidden tang version. A real shame, as the hidden tang model was just about perfect. :(

let us know what you think of the Condor. The pictures look nice, but I can't imagine the steel would be very good at that price. hopefully I am wrong!
 
I had a Condor kephart and it was pretty decent - they do a good job on the HT of their 1075.
ended up giving it as a wedding gift for a buddy's new wife - she loves it.

1/8 with a full flat or high flat saber grind should work well.
I like the proportions you're planning, too.
looking forward to the finished project.
 
testing. got a new phone.

ok. handle materials. i would like to put some black ash on this knife.

i have also been thinking of buying some Shadetree Phenolics, but have not yet pulled the trigger. the nicer the blade turns out, the more money i am likely to spend on handle material.
 
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Bevels, bevels, bevels.

So here ya go, roughed in bevels. Since I've got six projects going at once, the going is kind of slow.

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Cutting edge came out to 4", and it will be another ~1/4" to the handle. I think Mr. Kephart's original was longer, by about 3/8". I just say that based on pictures I have seen.
 
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