Would this be difficult ...

J

Jester60

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Hello all. Never posted in this forum before, if this is in the wrong place let me know and I'll close it up. I was hoping to get some opinions from some of our craftsmen here on the difficulty of doing something.

I saw a large chopper on a HoodsWoods video several years ago, I believe it was a Rob Simonich knife, that had a smaller second blade sheathed in the handle (between the handle scale and the tang). It had a lanyard on it and required a pretty good tug to get it out of its 'sheath'. The concept of course being to have a large and a small knife in as compact package as possible, easy to grab and go I suppose.

I've mentioned this idea to a couple of the makers here on the forums and no one seems interested in trying it. I'd love to have a setup like this but have yet to find someone interested in doing it.

Anyone done it before? Would it be that complicated? Dramatically increase the cost of the host knife (I know there would be the cost of the second blade, I'm curious if the process of putting it in the handle of the large knife would prohibitively raise the cost)?

Thanks,
Jim
 
wow, that is a beautiful piece. I was thinking more along the lines of a true working combo but that was defiantly worth a look. Thanks Paul
 
Jester60 said:
I saw a large chopper on a HoodsWoods video several years ago, I believe it was a Rob Simonich knife, that had a smaller second blade sheathed in the handle (between the handle scale and the tang). It had a lanyard on it and required a pretty good tug to get it out of its 'sheath'. The concept of course being to have a large and a small knife in as compact package as possible, easy to grab and go I suppose.
I've mentioned this idea to a couple of the makers here on the forums and no one seems interested in trying it. I'd love to have a setup like this but have yet to find someone interested in doing it.

Anyone done it before? Would it be that complicated? Dramatically increase the cost of the host knife (I know there would be the cost of the second blade, I'm curious if the process of putting it in the handle of the large knife would prohibitively raise the cost)?
Thanks,
Jim
Click to expand...

If the primary blade cost between $800-$1,000 and the "nesting blade" cost $500.00, is that prohibitive?

This is posited without a sheath, that would add a bit of cost as well.

The answer to you question is that it would not be difficult at all....but it would require a fair amount of thought and effort and no maker worth his steel would give that time away for free.
Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
It was a Simonich SRT with Parasite. You can see in the second picture that the smaller blade slid in between the tang and the scale. I have also seen similar knives where the smaller knife slides into the rear of the tang and is held in with an internal spring.
 
Chuck Gedraitis Knives said:
It was a Simonich SRT with Parasite. You can see in the second picture that the smaller blade slid in between the tang and the scale. I have also seen similar knives where the smaller knife slides into the rear of the tang and is held in with an internal spring.
Click to expand...

What would it cost you to make, Chuck?

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
Kohai999 said:
If the primary blade cost between $800-$1,000 and the "nesting blade" cost $500.00, is that prohibitive?

This is posited without a sheath, that would add a bit of cost as well.

The answer to you question is that it would not be difficult at all....but it would require a fair amount of thought and effort and no maker worth his steel would give that time away for free.
Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
Click to expand...

I fully understand that a makers time has value and I have no problem with them charging for their time. A new Chevy Corvette goes for about 55k and I'm sure many people think it's worth that since they seem to sell a few of them. I drive a 2004 Chevy Tahoe because it's what I can afford.

If the cost of the second knife and fitting it into the handle it is going to add 50-60% to the cost then, for me, I would consider that cost prohibitive.

I don't depend on my knives for my life or livelihood and I unfortunately don't get into the woods as often as I use to. It's also not really that big a deal for me to attach the sheath for my secondary blade to the sheath of my primary. With that in mind I would consider $1300 - $1500 for something like this to be almost triple what it would be worth, for me.

Tks,
 
I had fun thinking about how to do the retention for the small knife while reading this thread but I think expecting to get it for $400-500 is going to make it tough to find a maker to do it.

Very cool idea though..
 
The cost for me to build something like this would be less than what you estimated it to be, but even from Rob they were not cheap. The materials cost would not be much but the time involved is what you would really be paying for. A lot of planning goes into a knife like this to get it to look and function properly.
 
Doesn't look extremely hard to me, but then again i don't have the balls to try it;).

$50 for steel and heat treat at the most
$15 for micarta handle material
$20 in belts
$3 for epoxy/bolts
$? for time and power tools that need to pay for themselves
$10 for a kydex sheath
$15 for a leather sheath

That's just what i see for my costs as a knifemaker, but then again I'm probably being unrealistic for a few things.
 
Jester60 said:
With that in mind I would consider $1300 - $1500 for something like this to be almost triple what it would be worth, for me.
Tks,
Click to expand...

Then, I really don't think you are gonna get it. I think most makers would charge about $1k minimum.

If I was a maker willing to take on this project and someone offered me less than 1k, I would politely decline....in order to make it work well, there is a detent with a spring and some close tolerances...this takes a tremendous amount of planning and probably some trial fits before it comes together cleanly.

Question answered.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
This one is the concept being looked at but is a hunter with small caping knife which Larry Hendricks (deceased) called the Kangaroo and sold for $1200 in 1992. However, keep in mind that there was some terrific engraving by Lynton McKenzie (deceased) involved which of course added to the price.

medium800.jpg
 
I do thank everyone for their contribution here. It was just a thought but I suppose I'll just stick to the old tried and true method ... duct taping one sheath to the other, lol.

Tks
Jim
 
Jester60 said:
I do thank everyone for their contribution here. It was just a thought but I suppose I'll just stick to the old tried and true method ... duct taping one sheath to the other, lol.

Tks
Jim
Click to expand...

There are a fair amount of makers who do a piggyback sheath, with two different styles/shapes of knives...for a variety of different prices.

In a production version, check out the Case Twin Finn.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
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Hi Jim!

My personal favourites are Khukuriesque sets (like my current avatar set) with a Khuk and side knives all in one sheath. These are rather straight forward though and neither sport complicated retention nor are meant to reduce bulk.

Whatever you end up with, try to avoid one of these:

original.jpg

(bottom set)

;)

I still hang on to it, because it was a present of a dear one not into knives. It's probably my least liked production knife ever though

Best regards,
Alex
 
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