Your opinion wanted on NEW Premium Scout

A

A. G. Russell

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Mar 10, 2001
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I am designing a new scout knife and want to put in an old fashioned forged leather punch and two cutting blades, while putting the best can-opener I know of on the bail. Here is a photo of the old Premium Scout (no longer available) with the P-38, GI can-opener on the bail.

What do you think?
 

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Well , I was a Scout as was my Brother. Now my nephew is a Scout.

In my opinion a can opener would be far more useful than a leather punch as far as blade configuration in concerned, in the knife itself.

Hell even the ubiquitous combo screwdriver/bottle opener would get more use than a leather punch.
My reasoning ? I work in leather every so often, I am the only person I know who works in leather or would even bother to repair a leather item. Yea a leather punch has more uses than just for leather but nowhere near the utility a can opener or combo driver/bottle opener would.
If the knife is being marketed towards kids in the modern scouts I would find a leather punch most un useful , especially these days where near everything is sadly... disposable.

My three cents :)


Tostig


Not sure I answered your question... If you are asking what I think of the knife in picture , it looks great and who cant use another P38.
 
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Hi,

I think the leather punch is more useful than a can opener. And a cap-lifter for my beer crucial. What I don't like is the bail. See you just can't please everyone can you. :D

What are your size constraints if any? A good forged punch will be a bit thicker than a stamped one. Are you thinking the classic blade combo of spear and pen? Or something more upscale like a Wharnie or other less seen blades.

I think you could get it all in there. Just might be a little portly around the middle.

dalee
 
Yup Huge fan of the scout knife, and love the punch. Especially if the edge is ground on it, great for ferro rods. Love the bail. Great for a active kid or adult. Ehat I dont like is handle materials on them. Get rid of the fake stag, and put G10 on it. Maybe even micarta.

keep the can opener, and caplifter, but add a phillips to it, somehow.
 
What I am thinking is the best leather punch, the old Remington, it was forged. A caplifter with a machined gun-type screwdriver hardened to a spring temper and a main blade of high-end steel, more of a drop-point than the old spear and a thicker Wharncliffe.

I need your input.
 
I would like to see a knife as you describe with a spear point blade, an awl/punch, and a saw. Ideal for me would be to also have a caplifter/screwdriver/canopener (like a vic bantam).

It would be like a cross between a vic farmer and a wenger SI.



Short of that, a knife with a punch, main blade, and wharnie/spey blade with a p-38 would be pretty useful as well.
 
I have a cheap Remington version that has two blades with a cap lifter/screwdriver and a can opener. I would rather sacrifice blade #2 for the punch. Especially if it can strike a fire starter.

An upgrade of known materials would be better than mine's 'surgical stainless'

The bail stays. Traditions.
 
A punch that won't close up under moderate use (non leather semi-abuse) would be nice.
 
My son uses the leather punch to undo knots, so I know that is useful. A whittling blade shape would be better than the standard SAK-shaped spear point. After those two, I might suggest something pull out fish hooks, or a good can opener and maybe small scissors?

In my experience, bail lanyards get snagged and break off. We attach the bail to carabiners on our packs, so keep that.
 
Nothing wrong with the P-38, but I wouldn't want it attached to the knife on a chain. I'd be concerned that it would scratch up the knife.
 
The Old remington one also though had the brass liner that moved over and avted as a lock. Plus didnt it also have the Eye hole?

But remember G10
 
Oh ya No D2 However. These are still used as camp knives, and that just makes them to hard to care for in the field.
 
A. G. Russell said:
I am designing a new scout knife and want to put in an old fashioned forged leather punch and two cutting blades, while putting the best can-opener I know of on the bail. Here is a photo of the old Premium Scout (no longer available) with the P-38, GI can-opener on the bail.

What do you think?
Click to expand...

I dunno, AG. I think that if you are set on making an opener part of the knife, I'd rather have the opener as one of the knife blades instead of on the bail. (I carry a can opener as a separate item, anyways and would prefer not to have anything hanging on the bail.) If I were picking the blades, and were limited to three blades, including a can opener blade, I'd pick:
main blade
Leather punch
Can opener.

But, truth to tell, I'd rather forget the can opener and have
main blade,
leather punch
bottle opener.

I use a bottle opener more often than a can opener.

All goods worth price charged, and this was a free opinion.

um.. as long as you are reading this, could you make a dogleg trapper like that other one you got, but 3 3/4" closed length? I think that 8Cr13MoV is perfect for a traditional blade alloy and I love the blade shapes, but that other one is just too big for me to carry all the time, so I had to pass.
 
A good screwdriver tip on the bottle opener is important - it provides an alternative to using the main blade when it's time to pry something.

I like the awl. It works as a punch, a drill, and a marlin spike for untying knots.

Do people still carry cans afield that need openers?
 
A. G. Russell said:
What I am thinking is the best leather punch, the old Remington, it was forged. A caplifter with a machined gun-type screwdriver hardened to a spring temper and a main blade of high-end steel, more of a drop-point than the old spear and a thicker Wharncliffe.

I need your input.
Click to expand...

SOLD!!!

Seriously, everything that you listed above is what I am looking for, but have yet to find. Especially the two blades and their respective shapes in premium steel.

:):thumbup:
 
A.G., If you're going to go the scout knife route, you have to figure a way to fit it all in the handle, without a componant dangling by the bail. Anything hanging off the knife will eventually be lost or just used and misplalced, not to mention it looks too, well, not totally thought out. People are used to seeing sak's with all sorts of tools fit into it, and for the scout/sak type of knife, it's sort of an industy standard.

I like the idea of a nice scout knife, if it gives me a neat package that gives me everything a sak does, but with better steel.
Carl.
 
The Government said:
SOLD!!!

:):thumbup:
Click to expand...

Yeah, I agree.

If I were in the market for a scout knife (and, admittedly, I am not) this is exactly what I would like, too.

I consider the can opener the least useful blade nowadays. A sturdy Wharncliffe is an ideal secondary blade, a compliment to, rather than a duplication of, the abilities of the main blade. A tough punch is a fine, if underrated tool, and the screwdriver/caplifter is the ideal finishing touch.

Honey bone scales and a tasteful shield, maybe a long pull on blades, brass liners perhaps? Perfect.
 
I'm looking at my old Ulster and remembering my old lost Camillus which was the same pattern "camp knife." I love those knives. There was nothing they couldn't do. But, a better drop point blade would be wonderful. Refine the can opener to match the best SAKs. Lose the bail. It just gets in the way, unless you smooth it out and attach some neon colored shoelace. A second blade is definitely not needed. The P-38 can always be carried, but shouldn't be part of the knife. When I was a kid in the '50s and went camping which was often I carried a real can opener in my backpack for the beans and other veggies. The can opener on the knife was just for emergencies. Like others have said, get some good steel in there and some tough scales that retain the staglike look. Remember you're competing with several versions of SAKs. What makes someone want your version is your classic roots. Oh, and keep the balance of the old knives. I can't count the number of hours we played mumbledy-pegs with the awl as the blade of choice. A Boy Scout knife that can't be used for mumbledy-pegs is not worth much to a kid.
 
AG, I think you hit a home run with this one. I love it! This configuration is very useful.
ry%3D400
 
Ulster's Scout knife for the 10th Mountain Division had a secondary blade. A scout knife based on the 10th Mountain Division knife would be interesting.

One other neat thing about the 10th Mountain Division knife is that it also had a Phillips style screwdriver for ski bindings. The Phillips driver is lacking on many scout knives even though its somewhat of a modern necessity and most multi-tools have them. Even Victorinox Swiss army knives that lack a dedicated Phillips driver have a combination tool that may be used as a Phillips screwdriver as well as a can opener.

Some of the old Ulster Scout knives had a Phillips driver and also added a combination flat screwdriver and bottle opener. These scout knives lost the small blade though.

I'd like to see combination of the two. Basically the 10th Mountain Division knife with a combination bottle opener and flat screwdriver instead of the can opener (the P38 can serve that purpose). One important thing for me would be that the Phillips driver is similar to the original rather than the poorly formed Phillips drivers that are used in some replicas and generic multi-tools.

I'd also make the changes that you had in mind: "What I am thinking is the best leather punch, the old Remington, it was forged. A caplifter with a machined gun-type screwdriver hardened to a spring temper and a main blade of high-end steel, more of a drop-point than the old spear and a thicker Wharncliffe."

Some examples from Ebay:

10th-mountain.jpg

Ulster Scout knife for 10th Mountain Division

scout-knife.jpg

Ulster Scout knife
 
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