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- Feb 28, 2002
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This story begins at the Spirit of Steel show this past September where Jerry Fisk displayed the prototype of a new model named Woojack. The knife, pictured immediately below, had a 6 ½ blade with a sweeping curve, generous belly, sharpened clip and thick spine. This was coupled with substantial a wonderfully ergonomic handle derived from Jerrys full-size camp knives. I handled that knife extensively at the show (I cant quite bring myself to use Jerrys phrase coon-fingered) and was very impressed with all aspects of the knife. What struck me most about the Woojack was that it felt like more knife than its compact dimensions would suggest which was a tangible indication that Jerry had met his design goals for a tough one-knife-does-it-all offering.
(image from www.fisk-knives.com)
I was pretty taken with that knife, but given my often-expressed bias toward the larger bowies, I couldnt help wondering how this one would play out with a bit more blade. As fate would have it, I would have the answer in my hands a few months later. Pictured below is an up-sized Woojack with an 8 ½ blade of forged 5160 (overall length of 13 3/4), stainless steel quillion guard and black walnut burl handle with lanyard hole.
Much like its smaller brother, the first and strongest impression obtained after handling the knife for a while is that your eyes are playing tricks on you there just has to be more knife in your hand than there appears to be. Its almost as if Fisk somehow managed to stuff an 11 blade into an 8 ½ package. If the SOS knife was a defensive back who hits like a linebacker, this one is a linebacker who hits like a defensive lineman. The all-pro kind. The broad blade profile again shows a very strong Southwest influence with an aggressive curve and razor-sharp clip:
If you handle any quality custom knife for a while you will eventually hear its message and understand its meaning. Some say quick and slick, or maybe elegant and genteel or unpretentious and hard-working. This one says tough and aggressive and doesnt mince its words. As Jerry describes it, in his own inimitable style: What I was trying for was to make that one knife that you would grab before all others as you run out the door with the screaming hordes running after you. I would have to agree that this blade would be a valuable ally in just such a situation. There is a fair bit of attitude baked into this design.
Every bit as important as the blade to overall design of this knife is the superb contoured handle, crafted for a comfortable and secure grip under heavy use. If the handle alone were to whisper its message power and control are the words you would hear. But Ill let Jerry tell you a bit about it in his own words:
This knife has what I call "pulls" in a number of places. A "pull" in my definition is a place for the hands or fingers to pull against as the blade momentum goes forward in the swing or at the point of percussion. The forward finger has a pull and gives control for fine cuts, the bottom back of the handle allows the lower fingers to pull for the swing and to continue the cut after striking the object, the heel of the hand has a pull up on top of the handle as well. This is my thoughts of what a competition handle would be like as well at this point. The handle is so important in the overall design and usage of the knife and really dictates what purpose the knife will used for as much or more so than the blade. In a sense and you would have to put them side by side to see, but the handle is an evolution of the old Arkansas Camp knife handle that I had.
I would only add to that my impression that this is and extremely thoughtful and well executed handle design that maximizes the ample potential of the blade.
I doubt that Ive ever been more tempted to use so valuable a custom knife before. It really has an eager ready to chop feel to it. If my daily routine were more Grizzly Adams and less desk jockey, I probably would. Then again, this knife would be an attractive and welcome distraction sitting on my desk, with the added benefit alarming the sheeple and keeping a goodly number of them out of my office.
My thanks to Jerry for this terrific knife and for the detailed information about its design and construction.
Roger Pinnock
(image from www.fisk-knives.com)
I was pretty taken with that knife, but given my often-expressed bias toward the larger bowies, I couldnt help wondering how this one would play out with a bit more blade. As fate would have it, I would have the answer in my hands a few months later. Pictured below is an up-sized Woojack with an 8 ½ blade of forged 5160 (overall length of 13 3/4), stainless steel quillion guard and black walnut burl handle with lanyard hole.
Much like its smaller brother, the first and strongest impression obtained after handling the knife for a while is that your eyes are playing tricks on you there just has to be more knife in your hand than there appears to be. Its almost as if Fisk somehow managed to stuff an 11 blade into an 8 ½ package. If the SOS knife was a defensive back who hits like a linebacker, this one is a linebacker who hits like a defensive lineman. The all-pro kind. The broad blade profile again shows a very strong Southwest influence with an aggressive curve and razor-sharp clip:
If you handle any quality custom knife for a while you will eventually hear its message and understand its meaning. Some say quick and slick, or maybe elegant and genteel or unpretentious and hard-working. This one says tough and aggressive and doesnt mince its words. As Jerry describes it, in his own inimitable style: What I was trying for was to make that one knife that you would grab before all others as you run out the door with the screaming hordes running after you. I would have to agree that this blade would be a valuable ally in just such a situation. There is a fair bit of attitude baked into this design.
Every bit as important as the blade to overall design of this knife is the superb contoured handle, crafted for a comfortable and secure grip under heavy use. If the handle alone were to whisper its message power and control are the words you would hear. But Ill let Jerry tell you a bit about it in his own words:
This knife has what I call "pulls" in a number of places. A "pull" in my definition is a place for the hands or fingers to pull against as the blade momentum goes forward in the swing or at the point of percussion. The forward finger has a pull and gives control for fine cuts, the bottom back of the handle allows the lower fingers to pull for the swing and to continue the cut after striking the object, the heel of the hand has a pull up on top of the handle as well. This is my thoughts of what a competition handle would be like as well at this point. The handle is so important in the overall design and usage of the knife and really dictates what purpose the knife will used for as much or more so than the blade. In a sense and you would have to put them side by side to see, but the handle is an evolution of the old Arkansas Camp knife handle that I had.
I would only add to that my impression that this is and extremely thoughtful and well executed handle design that maximizes the ample potential of the blade.
I doubt that Ive ever been more tempted to use so valuable a custom knife before. It really has an eager ready to chop feel to it. If my daily routine were more Grizzly Adams and less desk jockey, I probably would. Then again, this knife would be an attractive and welcome distraction sitting on my desk, with the added benefit alarming the sheeple and keeping a goodly number of them out of my office.
My thanks to Jerry for this terrific knife and for the detailed information about its design and construction.
Roger Pinnock
....it looks a little small for you Roger 
