- Joined
- Feb 3, 2006
- Messages
- 8,250
So my girlfriend and I are getting into backpacking and my setup now is just too heavy. Right now I'm sporting a tomahawk and want to switch that out to a medium fixed blade with the addition of a saw possible in the winter. What I want is a knife that is a wood processing machine but can also double as a good last ditch weapon. My experience is the farther down the trail you get the less you find undesireables so the weapon part is definitely a secondary concern. As to wood processing, mostly it's going to be batoning with the grain, avoiding knots, to split out kindling however I want the knife to be able to baton cross grain to make shelter poles, splints, etc in an emergency so a little extra insurance in strength is desireable. Also, the knife may be called on to do light prying to get at fatwood in rotten stumps. I'm still in the early stages of the design so I'd really like to hear everyone's input on this. Note, this is not a "bushcraft" knife as I'm not a bushcrafter and if I wanted to do bushcraft I'd just throw a mora in my pack. Which at 4oz, really is no bid deal.
What I'm thinking so far is a knife that's kind of a cross between a traditional tanto and a leuko. Something with a straight spine.
Blade length in the 5-6" area. I'm leaning toward 5" but open to thoughts on going longer.
NO choil. Blade will come right into the guard so the 5 inch blade will actually be 5 inches.
O1 steel or something stronger?
Blade width 1-1.5" wide with a thickness of 5/32-3/16". Not sure on this. I want strength but I also want light weight. Any ideas?
Brass pins. Loving brass at the moment so that's a for sure.
Handle material. I think ideally I'd want orange G10 for visibility but I'm a little apprehensive on the grippiness of it. Does this get slick when wet? If so tan canvas micarta would be my runner up.
Palm swells I'm torn about. Swells can be hit or miss because everyones hands are different. I'm not going to use this for any prolonged carving projects so I'm thinking just a simple oval cross section on a straight handle would do. More like the traditional tanto with maybe a swell at the butt.
Oh, and did I mention NO CHOIL.
I just don't get choils on small knives.
What I'm thinking so far is a knife that's kind of a cross between a traditional tanto and a leuko. Something with a straight spine.
Blade length in the 5-6" area. I'm leaning toward 5" but open to thoughts on going longer.
NO choil. Blade will come right into the guard so the 5 inch blade will actually be 5 inches.
O1 steel or something stronger?
Blade width 1-1.5" wide with a thickness of 5/32-3/16". Not sure on this. I want strength but I also want light weight. Any ideas?
Brass pins. Loving brass at the moment so that's a for sure.
Handle material. I think ideally I'd want orange G10 for visibility but I'm a little apprehensive on the grippiness of it. Does this get slick when wet? If so tan canvas micarta would be my runner up.
Palm swells I'm torn about. Swells can be hit or miss because everyones hands are different. I'm not going to use this for any prolonged carving projects so I'm thinking just a simple oval cross section on a straight handle would do. More like the traditional tanto with maybe a swell at the butt.
Oh, and did I mention NO CHOIL.
