Back from our cabin - some Woodlore/OSF comparision notes

[TAHAWK]

Thank you for the great review.

I also dislike the "high carry" sheaths. I have solved the problem on a couple of knives by placing a platted leather thong through the belt loop and carrying with the belt through that throng, rather than through the belt loop. It gives the effect of the classic puukko sheath - no poke in the ribs and swings away when I sit. Years ago, I was worried that such a carry would cause tangles in the brush, but it never seemed to happen.

 

[Stew]

I fitted a lot of knives with snakewood last year. (I got a large plate of it chreap) It is a bugger to work with and it will crack when you put too much stress on it while fitting the scales. But once you are past that stage and have epoxied and finished the handles, it will be a great handle material. I always curse it until I see the end result. It looks and feels great and when your hands are wet, it is not slippery. Oh, and when you grind it, your whole workplace smells like coconuts.

I think I know were this comes from. As the Bark River Northstar production pictures show - they clamp the handles in the epoxy process with 3 clamps. If you apply too much pressure on one clamp or the holes are not perfectly aligned (causing stress), you risk breaking the wood. Happened to me too.

I beat the hell out of my snakewood Eklund with batoning tasks on the spine. I have had no problems with handle-cracks.

-Emile

That makes me feel better. I'm slowing making a stick tang knife, the main body of which is snakewood. It will be very annoying if it cracks, especially at the pace I work!!

 

[eraaij]

That makes me feel better. I'm slowing making a stick tang knife, the main body of which is snakewood.

That should become a very nice knife. Please post pictures when it is ready!
I never had any problems with cracking snakewood while drilling. The stuff is very hard, so some splintering on the exit hole can occur. But that should not be a problem if you use something else as a ferrule.

-Emile

 

[Stew]

That should become a very nice knife. Please post pictures when it is ready!

I never had any problems with cracking snakewood while drilling. The stuff is very hard, so some splintering on the exit hole can occur. But that should not be a problem if you use something else as a ferrule.

-Emile

Hopefully it will be nice. It's at a stage where I'm ready to start sticking all the bits together. I've not had to worry about the exit/entrance hole (didn't splinter anyway) because of how I'm constructing. It will be constructed with knife blade-ebony-silversheet-ebony-snakewood-ebony. I drilled the snakewood right through and the ebony will cover the holes either end.

It might be ready in a few months!

 

[rapidboy]

Just heard from Nick Wheeler that he's about to start the last batch of OSF blades ): ): ):

 

[Schwert]

Excellent review and comparison Emile. If Nick is starting the last round my stock removal should be in that set. I went with a shorter grind on it so I cannot wait to compare it to my forged model.

 

[rlinger]

I was very pleased to read how well Nick's blade held up under your testing. I may be biased but it sounded as if his blade came up on top (over all). Nick is on our collaboration team of a damascus hunting knife over on Bladeforms. He made the damascus bar we are making the knife of. It has jade liners and guess who is grinding and laping the jade (uhhh).

RL

 

[bushwacker bob]

This is some knife you guys are on. At times like this I wish I had been computer literate when you first designed it! doh

 

[eraaij]

I was very pleased to read how well Nick's blade held up under your testing. I may be biased but it sounded as if his blade came up on top (over all).

Well, I for the tasks I performed, the OSF came out a bit more comfortable in use due to the higher grind and the -for me- better handle configuration. But it is very hard not to like the Woodlore. Both are excellent knives.

I would say that for carving & whittling (which covers a lot of bushcraft) the OSF came out a bit better. If your activities include more rugged use, like pounding the knife tip-wise into logs or a lot of batonning - the woodlore would be the more obvious choice. So there is no real winner, just the better knife for your specific tasks.

I will need to use both knives more to conclude for myself which to take on future bushcraft trips and courses. Nick Wheeler does do a great heat treatment on the blades, however and his grinding is flawless. I would not hesitate to order more blades from him, if needed. He makes also fantastic bowies

-Emile

 

[Hoodoo]

My only wishes in this blade are a flat grind and the removal of that irritating edge notch at the beginning of the edge. I am sure that he could do that when asked.

Emile, I received the same blade as you did from Eklund and asked him to grind it flat, which he did. Still haven't fitted it with a handle though. Probably going to be a winter project.

 

[JakeR]

My bisons on its way! I think im gonna order another WS woodlore as well as i agree with Emile, its certainly up to heavier tasks.

He makes also fantastic bowies

Martyn loves bowies

 

[rapidboy]

I ordered mine with a flat grind also.
rb

 

[NickWheeler]

Thanks guys

Nice review Emile, I appreciate your straight-forward and honest evaluation!

Thanks to Roger for pointing me in the direction of this forum and this thread.

I read Emile's similar thread on the Lean-to but for some reason could not reply.

I'm not being thin-skinned or anything, but I would like to point out that the OSF's were ground to the specs of the design I was given. Personally, I would prefer it with just a touch of convex added.

I had a real nice chat on the phone tonight with Roger and discussed the geometry of these. I would like to make some test blades in which they are flat-ground to 0.015" (sorry, I know you folks like metric) and then convexed to an edge.

This would allow equal or better toughness to the Woodlore while retaining the slicing ability of the 1/2 width ground OSF.

I believe I have come up with a desirable design of my own for a blade that could be both fully flat-ground or "Scandi" ground and work very well. I am going to try to make these available as both blanks and possibly completed knives. This is yet to be decided on for sure...but it's all something I'm working on.

Thanks guys
Nick

 

[bushwacker bob]

Hello Nick and welcome to the forum.
The knife you have produced is superb,I also like the one Schwert has that you collaborated on. :You_Rock_