Ray Mears SWC Bushcraft Knife

[JDO330]

Woodlore admitted to me that several people had sent knives back with the same issue, and there are at least 10 people on BB with the same problem, so not as isolated at it would seem. My two knives were from 2 different batches, or so I was assured when I asked for my first replacement. Shame, as I have said it was a great knife, let down, and for nearly £300 it should be perfect and stay perfect. AW's do, StuMs do and so on.

Mine isnt great, love the knife but the scale / tang ridge is annoying. I must call Woodlore and get it sorted.

Atb, Jon.

 

[MartiniDave]

Oh go on Martin, you know you want too!

 

[m.durston]

i know what you mean chris, if i lost my job i think i would find it difficult to get rid of the knives especially if one was as rare and collectable as the 25th anniversary edition.
still you could always use the excuse that you need your bushcrafty bits to help you hunt and forage for foods when times are hard

 

[wizard]

I finally after many years came to the top of the Woodlore knife list, I was away from home by about 1000 miles and had no way to call and purchase my Woodlore. I thought about it and hated to cancel but decided that the knife was 270 pounds when I signed up and now 395 plus shipping. That is just more than I can justify spending on another knife right now, sad for me, I had been anticpating that Woodlore for many years. I emailed Woodlore and took my name off the list. I can't speak on the availability of the SWC RM knife, I do see that they were available for some days this month, a first. I can say that they look nice, I like the idea of the tapered tang like the Woodlore but again, I can't see the cost right now. I own too many fine knives and have to control my spending more now since I retired last year.

 

[demographic]

Remember it's not only the scales that move. A blade, tang, bolts and lanyard tubes that were made in a cold workshop in the Winter will expand dramatically in the Summer and vice versa.

Very little I would have thought.
Yes it will expand but it won't be much at all over something the length of a knife between the temperatures of a cold wotkshop and body temp which is about the maximum it would be used at.
Even taking the differing linear-expansion-coefficient between wood and metal, its not much.

The timber getting wet and or drying out will make a far bigger difference IMO.

 

[Xunil]

Very little I would have thought.
Yes it will expand but it won't be much at all over something the length of a knife between the temperatures of a cold wotkshop and body temp which is about the maximum it would be used at.
Even taking the differing linear-expansion-coefficient between wood and metal, its not much.

The timber getting wet and or drying out will make a far bigger difference IMO.

I wondered if anyone would go down this particular road.

What about the rate of expansion/contraction/recovery ?

Steel, brass, copper, and different types of wood et al - they all shift different amounts (doesn't really matter how slightly - it can still be enough to shear a glue joint which, by definition, is not meant to be stressed in that fashion) and, more importantly, they all move or recover at very different rates.

Let's say the tang shifts a tiny bit, the scales shift a little more, and the bolster or guard somewhere in between.

That's got to hammer any epoxy joint's capacity to remain intact if the materials joined are moving a bit.

Especially if the materials also do their own thing at different rates/speeds.

I think we're talking about very real contributory factors here rather than individual sole cause.

I'd put money on the scales being cut from large blocks and used without leaving them to settle for many months. My own rule of thumb is cut the scales to just oversized and let them lie for 6 - 12 months minimum. A few years is better if you can arrange it, but that's hard to achieve when you're cranking out 30 knives a week and is in no way meant as a criticism of SWC.