Rustic mushroom knife for a friend. Finally complete!

[Samon]

Yo, I've had a play with some old stuff I half finished and completed a knife that's for a friend of mine. A mushroom knife made from an old English 'Stubbs' file, a recycled steel ferule cap and a bit of curvy antler.

With this exceptionally crude homemade coal forge (helium barrels, scrap pipe and a blow dryer..lol)



And a make shift anvil (I have a real anvil now thankfully) I beat a few files into rough form for some blade ideas. The curved one being the knife that was completed today.



CLeaned up, hardened but not tempered. Infact the mushroom knife has not been tempered back much, a little but not alot as it doesn't need to be 'tough'.



I didn't take any in progress pic's as I had to get it finished before I succumbed to my new medications ill effects! But I shaped the antler to fit the ferule, the hand and drilled for the tang. I gave it a thorough polish as it was all a bit mucky using a dremel tool mop with autosol. Worked a charm. Then a pin peened over and polished to hold the ferule just incase the epoxy should fail? (aesthetics mostly)

And after a sharpen it's done!



As you can see it's single beveled and likely perfect for a mushroom stem and his vegetables/garden work. Left the rustic looking file pattern on the blade but hammered them down and softened them so they are merely aesthetical.

Anyway, it's done and I quite like it. I think my friend will too.

 

[Toddy]

That is perfect it's almost a mini sickle. Useful and it looks secure in the hand too, even when pulling agin something like brambles or nettles. It's a right gathering knife.

I'm sure your friend's going to like it too

M

 

[ValeTudoGuy]

Very nice! I would buy something like that

 

[Macaroon]

What an excellent bit of work, a beautiful little mushroom knife.........Extremely good stuff.

 

[Samon]

Thanks guys!

I'm terrible at taking pictures but the edge is mirror polished, the black is shadow or reflection of my fay head lol.

If anyone is interested I guess I could make some more mushroom knives and trade them? this was just a trial run so I hope to improve on nearly every aspect of the whole forging process and mirror polishing, as I rarely ever shine steel so much apart from the very very edge of the bevel.

 

[Dreadhead]

I love your style mate, that's braw

 

[ValeTudoGuy]

What would you be after in a trade?

 

[Samon]

Thanks again for the kind words gents and gent-ettes! I have ran out of decent shaped antler atm but I think some straighter handled ones in range of varying woods would be fun to make. Different blade lengths, thickness etc too. I'll dig out my more appropriate sized files/steel/saw blades parts etc and do some rough plans for more. (this one felt great in the hand and on testing with toward body cuts was very fun and effective)

To those of you who use these sorts of knives, what lengths, thciknesses and curvature do you prefer? handle shape? I'm keen to learn more!

What would you be after in a trade?

Hey, I'm always looking for vintage cutting tools and shooty stuff.

If you are interested please pm me for further details.

 

[Nice65]

That's a very elegant looking knife, I like it. Your handle shape is perfect for the pull cut, naturally drawing the blade harder into whatever is being cut.

A mushroom knife needs to be thin stock, 1.5 - 2mm. A garden bramble scratcher would probably need to be a bit thicker.

 

[Adze]

I handled my spoon knife blades (from Dave Budd, top chap well worth a look if you'd like a quality bit of metalwork) with antler tines like that, it makes for a surprisingly strong and versatile grip, notwithstanding that I like the way it looks too. Top job Samon.

 

[sunndog]

Toddy is spot on, a gathering knife. I'd have one for sure


size wise?
2mm stock is plenty
Maybe a tad longer than this one maybe, hard to be sure from the pic
Curvature? Dunno how to quantify it but you want it to be inclined to bite in on the pull stroke more than slide off.
The handle on this one is near perfect. you don't need a death grip to stop it pulling out of your hand....less fatigue when yer doing a lot of cuts, plus it pulls the knife into the cut

Nice work dude

 

[Janne]

Your mushroom knife has one bonus feature I like, the long thin handle. Can be used to loosen up the soil around the root so it does not get damaged.
Also the curved blade is nice.
But I also have two critical points. I hope you do not mind me mentioning them!

Firstly the blade is unnecessary long.
Secondly it is missing a brush made from stiff bristles. To remove soil and dirt from the fungi, a brush is a very important part of a fungi knife.

Edit: A brush is also useful in cleaning veg in the garden.

 

[Toddy]

Sorry Janne, no offence intended, but I'm going to disagree.

I know that the 'mushroom knives', like the opinel, come with the wee brush at the end, but I really don't like the brush there. It's much the better to carry a separate small paintbrush (somethink like a 1"one ) to brush off the mushrooms or to clear away the roots a bit.
The brush gets mucky and can be easily washed and hung to dry; it doesn't do the knife any favours to be soaked too often, and to be perfectly honest, the brush in the handle makes it an uncomfortable thing to carry or to use.

That little gathering knife is multi purpose

M

 

[Janne]

I personally like those brushrs. I have a plastic handled Mora that I have used for years.
I like the all-in-one package as I am too forgetful to remember more than one piece of kit !

Before I discovered the Mora I only used a normal knife.

Never owned an Opinel.

 

[Toddy]

The opinel folds tidily enough, probably why the brush annoys me though, apart from the cleaning issue.
I have a 'foraging' bag….think something like a breadbag….and wee brush lives in there with my soft handled pruners and the tack lifter digging thingie
Leaves, fruits, flowers fungi, bulbs, roots, bark….they're all easily managed.

M

 

[Janne]

A bit off topic....
In our picking days, we had a basket each, with one large and several smaller compartments.
I never left the abode without a plastic bag in my pocket. You never knew what crossed your path!

 

[badoosh]

Hats off to you samon,very nice.
If you need any more friends to make knives for give us a shout

 

[crosslandkelly]

That looks really nice. Some other good looking blades too.

 

[bob_the_baker]

I've been planning to make a simple forge and try beating some steel for some time now. Seeing your simple setup and the excellent results are very motivating.

This weekend could involve an angle grinder and welder

Very nice serpette

 

[Samon]

A serpette! Had to google that one but it certainly looks like the others.

Again, many thanks for the compliments and criticism, I take it all well and onboard. My next few (as I've had a few people intersted in seeing more made) will vary in length, thickness and overall size. I have buckets of files to choose from to forge and existing scrap circular saw blades, machinist hacksaw blades and vintage saw scraps ranging anywhere from 1mm - 4mm. A good start to pick a few and chalk some shapes out for consideration.

Oh and my friend was very happy with the knife, it'll take some time for him to get use to as it's very purpose made rather than multi fucntional in the cutting action. It's going to be used to trim brambles, cut fruit stems, vegetable plants and hopefully a mushroom lol.