Ray Mears Knife Patent

[Old member rich1608]

Unless I'm very much mistaken this patent shows a knife invented by the man himself. Doesn't look anything like the Woodlore knife but makes an interesting read nonetheless..

http://v3.espacenet.com/origdoc?DB=EPODOC&IDX=GB2171628&F=0&QPN=GB2171628

 

[ArkAngel]

No you are not mistaken, that is the good old wilkinson sword survival knife.
Very popular and freely available in the 80's (for a price...around £200 If i remember).
You either love it or hate it. I believe Monsuier Mears had a hand in the blade design, it is not entirely true to his original plan, i think WS took his ideas and "improved" them.
I understand he wasn't that happy with the end result.

 

[spamel]

If I get the chance, I'll ask him about that at Leeds. From what I gather, he designed the blade and then bottle openers, saw backs and nail files and god knows what else was added afterwards. It really is an obscene looking knife!

 

[Old member rich1608]

If I get the chance, I'll ask him about that at Leeds. From what I gather, he designed the blade and then bottle openers, saw backs and nail files and god knows what else was added afterwards. It really is an obscene looking knife!

That would be great, I would be interested to know what he says about it. I agree it looks awful, I would be embarrassed to take that out at a bushcraft meet!

 

[spamel]

It'd be good for the resale value though, they go for ridiculous money at the moment.

 

[Tengu]

It does look a bit overengineered, doesnt it?

 

[h2o]

i think a bag of dog mess would be more usefull.why patent somthing noone wants
ray mears just wants to make a bundle of cash has any1 learnt anything they didnt already know from mears

 

[Barn Owl]

Said knife was nothing like Rays original design.

 

[jameshs]

i think a bag of dog mess would be more usefull.why patent somthing noone wants
ray mears just wants to make a bundle of cash has any1 learnt anything they didnt already know from mears

Something against Ray Mears?

As it happens the greatest thing (apart from all the skills) that I have learnt from Ray is his 100% passion for bushcraft and bushcrafters the world over.

I guess he sticks his head above the parapet so should expect to have it shot at, but it would be interesting to know your beef with him??

As it is not a competition out there I guess it must be something 'personal'.

James

 

[Nightwalker]

has any1 learnt anything they didnt already know from mears

Yes, an unbelievable amount over the years thank you very much.

 

[xylaria]

i think a bag of dog mess would be more usefull.why patent somthing noone wants
ray mears just wants to make a bundle of cash has any1 learnt anything they didnt already know from mears

I have learnt loads of things off Ray mears that I didn't already know. Well he shows how to do it and than I practice it, and then I learn it. I feel his main motivation is spreading knowlegde that he has worked so hard to reclaim, not money or ego.

 

[Old member rich1608]

i think a bag of dog mess would be more usefull.why patent somthing noone wants
ray mears just wants to make a bundle of cash has any1 learnt anything they didnt already know from mears

As Barn Owl and others have said, the knife was changed significantly by WS from what Ray came up with and he wasn't happy about this. I haven't seen it but I guess his design was something similar to the present Woodlore knife. He's certainly not a money grabber!

 

[John Fenna]

In the good old days of the "Survival Club" I ended up on the phone talking to a certain Raymond Mears who asked me my opinion of this knife.
Not knowing who the designer was I gave my honest opinion that it was a load of old doo doo......
The man on the other end of the phone seemed a little taken aback and was derending each point I made against the design, but still the pennny did not drop....
Ray has not spoken to me since (though I doubt if I even apear on his radar) and probably did not know who I was even then) so I do not know how much of the knife design was his, how much WS but he did not seem disinterested....
Can I claim to be the first RM basher?

The knife was indeed awful, with an Alloy butt bolt on the tang - which ,it seemed, stripped its threads at the earliest oportunity and left yo handleless.
Worse than a plastic handled Rambo knife IMHO as it cost so much more and gave you expectations!

 

[Dougster]

Ray has taught me a lot through his books and television programmes.

But if I were moving through my career and had achieved everything he had, I would be wanting amass some wealth to ensure my retirement was sound and my children had the best possible start - hence £125 shirts I suppose.

Add to that we all make mistakes, I know I make plenty. Apart from being more wealthy and a bit more bushcrafty wise, he a lot like the rest of us.

It's a knife, not an instruction manual for life. Buy a Mora and smile knowingly.

I'll still watch him tomorrow.

 

[spamel]

Plus, peoples opinions change. His first book shows the fugly chopper alongside a self made carbon steel knife, similar in size to a No8 Opi. In fact, he suggests Opi knives aswell. A few years later, he pops onto our screens with a carbon steel fixed blade in the size he suggests in the survival handbook made by some geezer called Alan Wood. The rest is history.

 

[pothunter]

Thru the fog of time I remember it being marketed by WS and fronted by Lofty Wiseman thrashing about in a jungle somewhere.

I saw one in Remington’s, Birmingham and curious to know what the handle contained unscrewed the pommel/cap expecting this to give me access to a hollow handle. Much to my surprise the blade dropped off leaving me with the cap in one hand and the handle in the other, I swallowed hard when the blade hit the floor point first. My only other memory of it was how heavy it was.

Re. RM he's probably done more for bushcraft than anyone else past or present, I'm no groopy but would be happy to share a camp with him.

Pothunter.

 

[Tourist]

I think back when the WS thing came out there was a different wind blowing through the practical knife owning community. Mainly I think due to the Rambo / Jimmy Lile driven knife designs that were being produced - something that even commercially orientated operations like WS latched on to. I think though that since the advent of the multi-tool there has been little call for multi function knives with their inherent weakness's

Personally I always had an MOD clasp knife as far back as I can remember, my first sheath knife was a Bowie style thing I bought in Devizes and paid £2.00 for. Once I was earning reeal money and had access to PX's I bought a few Gerbers and Bucks. But, I always had the clasp knife.

Here's a pic I took in the SEAL museum, it nicely demonstrates the knives they have used since the Vietnam era. Out of interest the big Buck Master - knife, come small boat anchor, come survival kit. Looks pretty and was a nice bit of PR but it was never seriously used.

 

[FGYT]

i think a bag of dog mess would be more usefull.why patent somthing noone wants
ray mears just wants to make a bundle of cash has any1 learnt anything they didnt already know from mears

the Patent put in by Wilkinson Sword
Ray mears is just named as the inventor and ans such may have got nothing if approved

Im am inventor on one of my old company Patents and got nothing for it the company Own the rights

also it looks like the Patent was Refused or withdrawn so this isn a legal patent justa a record of a failed application (see INPADOC legal status tab)

Look at the clames page this is waht they where Claiming where the paitanable inventive bits of this knife this was 1986 and most of them look to have been avalible in production of other blades at the time
probably refused because of this ( i dunno )

 

[Tony]

Wilkinson Sword asked Ray to design a knife to their spec, they gave him the things they wanted on it and the materials to be used and he designed it.
I had this conversation with Rachel about 6 years ago as I was asking why one would buy the Woodlore knife over the Survival knife or vice versa when he designed them both.

The Survival knife isn’t what Ray would design off his own back, it was a commissioned job working to a brief.

 

[Tadpole]

i think a bag of dog mess would be more usefull.why patent somthing noone wants
ray mears just wants to make a bundle of cash has any1 learnt anything they didnt already know from mears

Just because he designed a knife 20 something odd years ago, and had that design taken over by a company bent on making money, which branded his original knife to a “jack of all, master of none” geegaw for people who buy shiny things and collect draw queens, does not make his intent any the less valuable. Like life itself, ideas evolve into new ideas, if Ray was still touting this knife as the be-all and end-all, I’m sure your criticism would be valid, but he moved on to a new and very usable knife, he learnt his lesson, and evolved his skills along with his ideas.
Watching his programmes, reading his books and meeting him in person, has given me an insight into the concept that every tradition, every method of doing things, is as valid as the ones I know, there is no ‘one right way’ to do anything. If an idea works for you, then do it. In the Australian bush, use a sleeping roll, in the jungle use a hammock.
The things that Ray has taught me to do are too many to list, not the basic things like making fire, or tying knots. Things like actually seeing, not just ‘looking’, respecting other peoples traditional way of doing things, without losing sight of your own ways.

Some one famous once said “there is no shame in failing; there is only shame in not trying”
Ray has tried, and tried and tried, he has succeeded in passing on his love of bushcraft. There are ten’s of thousands of people who will attest that Ray got them interested in bushcraft wild camping or even just being a back garden bushcrafter. Some people on this site have taken what Ray has taught them and surpassed it, there are a few, who could, I am sure, out Ray, Ray.
Jewish people believe that if you save a single Jew’s ‘life’ you save the whole Jewish nation. My grandfather believed that if you pass on what you know to a single person, you preserve that knowledge forever, Ray more than deserve his reputation as a giver of knowledge.
What does your reputation say about you? Other than, you have no idea about spellchecking your posts.