A friend of mine was so good to introduce me to his friend Fred Carter, a US knife maker.
My friend knew I was into bushcrafting and asked Fred if he could make such a knife.
Fred never heard of 'a bushcraft knife' but was interested in making one.
I showed him the obvious Ray Mears Woodlore designs to give him an idea.
My own favorite hiking/camping/bushcraft knife has always been a Fallkniven F1.
Reason for that was the versatile shape (allthough a bit too much belly) and the pretty much indistructable design.
What I didn't like on the Fallkniven F1 was the handle material.
It was a bit thin, and I would have liked a more "natural" material in a bushcraft knife.
I also would like a bit more pointier tip.
So when Fred suggested to make one, I made a drawing based on Fallkniven F1, but a bit more pronounced handle shape, longer blade and a pointier tip.
Together we made a final drawing and Fred started making the knife. Even the tang was drilled and tapered to reduce weight in the handle, and some red-liners were added.
Communication was great during the process, it's great to see someone build a knife. I wish I had the skills...
The blades turned out great.
The square spine is very hard and sharp, as requested, and throws an enourmous amount of sparks from a firesteel. The handle is comfortable and not too bulky.
The tip is thinner than the Fallkniven F1, but it held up great when I hammered on it when batonning through some dead wood.
Some might wonder why it doesn't have a scandi grind, but I prefer a flat-grind. I personally never understood the reasoning for a scandi-grind on a bushcraft knife.
I do understand that when properly maintained, you can get a great edge on a scandi grind and that it has some benefit with wood working, but IMHO, the should would make slicing difficult, and I don't understand the often stated reason that a scandi grind is easy for field sharpening?
I prefer a secondary edge that can be easily touched up. To fix a damaged edge on a scandi grind and too maintain the scandi grind, one would need to remove a lot of metal, and that's not something I would prefer to do in the field. As I said, just a personal opinion.
I gave mine a little exercise in fire making. We made some shavings on wood and some maya wood, and with a few strikes on my friend brand new firesteel, we had a small fire in minutes.
Didn't have a chance yet to give it a full outdoors exercise, but hopefully somewhere in february on a small camping weekend.
I plan to have another one made with some small adjustments. Just normal maple wood, maybe shorten the blade with 0.5 cm, a tiny bit more belly and move the lanyard hole more the bottom of the handle.
Anyway, I'm perfectly happy with this knife. And it was made amazingly fast, in a month or so. Better then waiting 3 years for Woodlore
The darker one of my friend has a bit more sabre grind, so is a bit thicker near the tip.
The sheath is very basic as I wanted it. No tube for a firesteel. I prefer to carry that seperatly.
Final specs:
OAL - 22cm
Edge - 10.5cm
Handle: Stabalized Box Edler Burl & Stabelized Died Box Elder Burl (the darker one)
Steel: O-1 & C-1084 (the darker one) (HRC about 57 or so)
Thickness 3/16" (4.7mm)
Some pics of the process
First drawing
Final drawing
Blade cut-out
Drilled, grinded and polished
Final blades:
Some "glossy" pics that Fred made: pic1 & pic2
My friend knew I was into bushcrafting and asked Fred if he could make such a knife.
Fred never heard of 'a bushcraft knife' but was interested in making one.
I showed him the obvious Ray Mears Woodlore designs to give him an idea.
My own favorite hiking/camping/bushcraft knife has always been a Fallkniven F1.
Reason for that was the versatile shape (allthough a bit too much belly) and the pretty much indistructable design.
What I didn't like on the Fallkniven F1 was the handle material.
It was a bit thin, and I would have liked a more "natural" material in a bushcraft knife.
I also would like a bit more pointier tip.
So when Fred suggested to make one, I made a drawing based on Fallkniven F1, but a bit more pronounced handle shape, longer blade and a pointier tip.
Together we made a final drawing and Fred started making the knife. Even the tang was drilled and tapered to reduce weight in the handle, and some red-liners were added.
Communication was great during the process, it's great to see someone build a knife. I wish I had the skills...
The blades turned out great.
The square spine is very hard and sharp, as requested, and throws an enourmous amount of sparks from a firesteel. The handle is comfortable and not too bulky.
The tip is thinner than the Fallkniven F1, but it held up great when I hammered on it when batonning through some dead wood.
Some might wonder why it doesn't have a scandi grind, but I prefer a flat-grind. I personally never understood the reasoning for a scandi-grind on a bushcraft knife.
I do understand that when properly maintained, you can get a great edge on a scandi grind and that it has some benefit with wood working, but IMHO, the should would make slicing difficult, and I don't understand the often stated reason that a scandi grind is easy for field sharpening?
I prefer a secondary edge that can be easily touched up. To fix a damaged edge on a scandi grind and too maintain the scandi grind, one would need to remove a lot of metal, and that's not something I would prefer to do in the field. As I said, just a personal opinion.
I gave mine a little exercise in fire making. We made some shavings on wood and some maya wood, and with a few strikes on my friend brand new firesteel, we had a small fire in minutes.
Didn't have a chance yet to give it a full outdoors exercise, but hopefully somewhere in february on a small camping weekend.
I plan to have another one made with some small adjustments. Just normal maple wood, maybe shorten the blade with 0.5 cm, a tiny bit more belly and move the lanyard hole more the bottom of the handle.
Anyway, I'm perfectly happy with this knife. And it was made amazingly fast, in a month or so. Better then waiting 3 years for Woodlore
The darker one of my friend has a bit more sabre grind, so is a bit thicker near the tip.
The sheath is very basic as I wanted it. No tube for a firesteel. I prefer to carry that seperatly.
Final specs:
OAL - 22cm
Edge - 10.5cm
Handle: Stabalized Box Edler Burl & Stabelized Died Box Elder Burl (the darker one)
Steel: O-1 & C-1084 (the darker one) (HRC about 57 or so)
Thickness 3/16" (4.7mm)
Some pics of the process
First drawing
Final drawing
Blade cut-out
Drilled, grinded and polished
Final blades:
Some "glossy"
pics that Fred made: pic1 & pic2
