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Hollow Handled Knives.
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I have always thought the Chris Reeve hollow handle knives were cool bits of engineering, but never liked the feel or style for my own use. Partly that was the handle ergonomics and partly the blade geometry which I found a bit too obtuse.
Anyway.
TLM,
You might find this interesting. It doesn't answer why people might want such a knife now, but it does shed some light on how the best known maker of the style arrived at the design.
en.wikipedia.org
"Background
Christopher Stanley Reeve was born on December 4, 1953, in Durban, South Africa. His original vocation was that of tool and die making.[2] Reeve trained at the Pineware Manufacturing Company, serving a four-year tool- and die-making apprenticeship that finished in 1978. Reeve credits his experience in tool and die for developing his grinding skills and giving him the manufacturing and materials knowledge he needed to jumpstart him in professional knife making.[3]
.....
Early knifemaking
Chris Reeve "Survival Knife" -- a custom piece that was the forerunner to the One Piece Range manufactured at Chris Reeve Knives Reeve began his knife-making career by chance. Before being called up for a 3-month compulsory military service period in 1975 on the Mozambique / South African border, he noted that the standard army kit did not include a good all-purpose knife. As a result, Reeve decided to design and make one.[3]
A subsequent three-month military service period in 1978 was spent on the Angola/ Namibia border. Reeve had previously designed and made for himself a hidden tang knife with a wooden handle, inlaid with silver wire. The climate in Durban where the knife was made is hot and humid, while the Angola/ Namibia area is semi-desert. After a few days in the dry air, the wooden handle had dried and large cracks appeared. This set Reeve thinking about a knife that could be used across all climates without such damage. The idea of an all-steel knife, with both handle and blade made from a single solid bar, started to germinate.[5] Reeve’s resulting one piece knife concept was first produced as a custom knife in 1982. The one piece concept hit production as the 7 inch bladed MK IV, with 40 pieces becoming available for sale early in 1983.[6] Chris stopped tool making and became a full-time knifemaker in January 1984."
That tool and die training showed through in many of Reeve's designs which made use of milling more than is the norm. I didn't know that the man famous for hollow handles and Sebenzas also made possibly the fanciest"Opinel" style knives in the world!
www.bladeforums.com
Anyway.
TLM,
You might find this interesting. It doesn't answer why people might want such a knife now, but it does shed some light on how the best known maker of the style arrived at the design.
Chris Reeve - Wikipedia
Christopher Stanley Reeve was born on December 4, 1953, in Durban, South Africa. His original vocation was that of tool and die making.[2] Reeve trained at the Pineware Manufacturing Company, serving a four-year tool- and die-making apprenticeship that finished in 1978. Reeve credits his experience in tool and die for developing his grinding skills and giving him the manufacturing and materials knowledge he needed to jumpstart him in professional knife making.[3]
.....
Early knifemaking
Chris Reeve "Survival Knife" -- a custom piece that was the forerunner to the One Piece Range manufactured at Chris Reeve Knives Reeve began his knife-making career by chance. Before being called up for a 3-month compulsory military service period in 1975 on the Mozambique / South African border, he noted that the standard army kit did not include a good all-purpose knife. As a result, Reeve decided to design and make one.[3]
A subsequent three-month military service period in 1978 was spent on the Angola/ Namibia border. Reeve had previously designed and made for himself a hidden tang knife with a wooden handle, inlaid with silver wire. The climate in Durban where the knife was made is hot and humid, while the Angola/ Namibia area is semi-desert. After a few days in the dry air, the wooden handle had dried and large cracks appeared. This set Reeve thinking about a knife that could be used across all climates without such damage. The idea of an all-steel knife, with both handle and blade made from a single solid bar, started to germinate.[5] Reeve’s resulting one piece knife concept was first produced as a custom knife in 1982. The one piece concept hit production as the 7 inch bladed MK IV, with 40 pieces becoming available for sale early in 1983.[6] Chris stopped tool making and became a full-time knifemaker in January 1984."
That tool and die training showed through in many of Reeve's designs which made use of milling more than is the norm. I didn't know that the man famous for hollow handles and Sebenzas also made possibly the fanciest"Opinel" style knives in the world!
Picture history of early CRK's
For a while now I've wanted to do a picture thread of the early hand made and custom knives made by Chris Reeve. Some of these were made in South Africa, others after the family and business move to the US. They're an absolute collecting passion for me but I feel I've only scratched the...
www.bladeforums.com
Supporting members have the ability to post pics and attachments etc. Otherwise the best way is to host them somewhere and then link them into a post.
Edgematters is a closed forum. You can’t host them there to use them to show them somewhere else.
After the first batch of South African knives, and when Chris moved to the USA, the knife blanks were still machined in South Africa, even though marked as USA made.
Chris ground the point and grind on each blade in Boise, and the HT was also done by him.
When his maker in South Africa retired, Chris stopped production of the one piece series.
I spoke to him when he moved to the USA, about making my version, and he said that he did not care what I did, as long as I did not use his logo, as if I would...
Chris ground the point and grind on each blade in Boise, and the HT was also done by him.
When his maker in South Africa retired, Chris stopped production of the one piece series.
I spoke to him when he moved to the USA, about making my version, and he said that he did not care what I did, as long as I did not use his logo, as if I would...
This link may be of interest?
www.asgmag.com
Full Circle: Hollow-Handled Knives Revisited - American Outdoor Guide
Remember the 1980s? It was a decade filled with the smell of Aquanet hairspray, the sounds of synthesized rock songs and action movies with stars like Schwarzenegger, Van Damme and Stallone. It was a decade of excess and over-the-top culture. For the knife carrying outdoorsman, the ‘80s also...
www.asgmag.com
A long time ago I saved up and bought an original Buckmaster - it was designed for use by the Navy Seals. It was advertised as the ultimate survival knife and as a youngster I thought I should own one at some stage of my life.
I think it cost me about 80 pounds in Hong Kong and was matt black. It looked like a beast - today might even be classed as a zombie knife. I thought it would be good for Brunei's jungles and after I had arrived there I took it for a trial run.
The round handle was much heavier than the blade, completely unbalanced, and had a very rough grip like extreme sand paper on it. After chopping a pole for my hammock bed, my right arm was numb from the shock-wave going up to my armpit and my grip weakened completely. After cutting just one tree! I didn't think of batoning back in those early days.
Then the knife kept spinning in the palm of my hand thereafter and all the skin came off. I managed to finish setting up the pole-bed but the damage was done. Even with gloves my hand just couldn't grip the knife properly anymore and it ended up being put in a box, never to be used again.
Looking back on those times, my hands were soft and I didn't think to add rubber inner tubing or paracord to the handle. The knife was impressive to look at though but that's not what I bought it for. Maybe it was better for slashing through tangled fishing nets underwater but I reverted to using my Wilky Type D knife from then on as well as the issued Martindale golok, with an improved edge.
I gave the Buckmaster to a good friend. No regrets there, but I recently had a minor stuttering moment when I saw a second hand one sold online for around USD$700..
Am glad to have owned one and got that out of my system. Sad though not to have considered ways to try and improve it. I had much to learn about practical jungle knives back then.
I think it cost me about 80 pounds in Hong Kong and was matt black. It looked like a beast - today might even be classed as a zombie knife. I thought it would be good for Brunei's jungles and after I had arrived there I took it for a trial run.
The round handle was much heavier than the blade, completely unbalanced, and had a very rough grip like extreme sand paper on it. After chopping a pole for my hammock bed, my right arm was numb from the shock-wave going up to my armpit and my grip weakened completely. After cutting just one tree! I didn't think of batoning back in those early days.
Then the knife kept spinning in the palm of my hand thereafter and all the skin came off. I managed to finish setting up the pole-bed but the damage was done. Even with gloves my hand just couldn't grip the knife properly anymore and it ended up being put in a box, never to be used again.
Looking back on those times, my hands were soft and I didn't think to add rubber inner tubing or paracord to the handle. The knife was impressive to look at though but that's not what I bought it for. Maybe it was better for slashing through tangled fishing nets underwater but I reverted to using my Wilky Type D knife from then on as well as the issued Martindale golok, with an improved edge.
I gave the Buckmaster to a good friend. No regrets there, but I recently had a minor stuttering moment when I saw a second hand one sold online for around USD$700..
Am glad to have owned one and got that out of my system. Sad though not to have considered ways to try and improve it. I had much to learn about practical jungle knives back then.
I designed a hollow handle knife with an oval profile, after I made the Skeletons.
But the CNC work was going to be cost prohibitive, and the tail cap was hard to figure out.
Then it came to me...
Sorry, the solution is mine for the time being, just in case I can do another run of Oval-tons...
But the CNC work was going to be cost prohibitive, and the tail cap was hard to figure out.
Then it came to me...
Sorry, the solution is mine for the time being, just in case I can do another run of Oval-tons...
It explains why he ended up with a solution like that. Not what I would do but that is a different matter, BandB's last post lists quite well the arguments I would have too.
I also had a Marto Brewer Explorer knife which I won in a raffle. It was a very good knife and the hollow handle was comfortably-shaped. I do not have the knife anymore but dug out the handbook for it today. It contains many pages about survival navigation, using the knife as a navigation tool for estimating your position etc. A few images attached.
Attachments
Here is a Rambo style one.
Ian Bailey is the maker of the knife. As far as I know, another UK maker (Farid) also used to make hollow handle style knives. Personally, I had never thought those Rambo style knives to be actually functional as I had discovered when I was a kid and buying cheap knockoffs. But it seems Mr Bailey's ones actually do the job.
Ian Bailey is the maker of the knife. As far as I know, another UK maker (Farid) also used to make hollow handle style knives. Personally, I had never thought those Rambo style knives to be actually functional as I had discovered when I was a kid and buying cheap knockoffs. But it seems Mr Bailey's ones actually do the job.
Ahh, now that explains a lot.
My Jereboam 1 serial number is 15 and says Made in the USA (or words that that effect) but I've seen ones in the hundreds advertised as being made in South Africa.
Pretty sure the sheath says made in South Africa though.
The sheath would have been made by John Leth, an expat NZer living in RSA at the time.
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