Yank needs help - Woodlore Copy

[primitiveliver]

This yank needs your help. I have been looking for a Woodlore copy for sometime now. I think I might have found something that not only accurate but also something I can afford. SWC Handmade Knives seam to have a good product for a reasonable price. What are your thoughts? Thanks again.


PL

 

[slamdunk]

There are a great many copies out there, at prices around the same as the SWC. Try looking on Britishblades for some comments/reviews. Have you thought about buying a 'kit' and putting the handle on yourself? Makes any of the knives a more attractive price!

 

[Ogri the trog]

Steve's knives are very good,
I bought one about 2 or 3 years ago as a kit to assemble myself. His service was excellent throughout the transaction and he did some etching on the blade that I am very pleased with. Made my own sheath and haven't felt the need to get anything else since.

Unreserved "Yes".

Ogri the trog

 

[C_Claycomb]

With the current exchange rate, and the number of US knife makers available, I would say you would have to be a little nuts to buy a Woodlore clone from the UK right now. There must be hundreds of US makers with the skills to make such a knife. If you buy from the UK you have to pay for the higher cost of materials, fuel, tools, you name it, that the UK makers have to contend with.

The knife is certainly nice and will do what you want from a Woodlore style knife, but I would think that you could get something of similar quality made by a US maker rather more cheaply. All you need is an accurate drawing of the original and I am sure there are enough pictues floating around that you could come up with one of those even without help.

The import duty that we get hit with when ordering from the US means that there wouldn't be much in it for buyers here to go to the US, but for the exchange rate being so much in our favor right now.

 

[BorderReiver]

I voted no because it would make much more sense for you to buy American.
Have a look on BritishBlades,there are a fair number of very skilled American knife makers registered there.

 

[Bernie Garland]

This yank needs your help. I have been looking for a Woodlore copy for sometime now. I think I might have found something that not only accurate but also something I can afford. SWC Handmade Knives seam to have a good product for a reasonable price. What are your thoughts? Thanks again.


PL

if you want a woodlore clone, visit ebay uk, steve has two kits listed at £30 each grab yourself a bargain as they won't be up for long at that price

 

[FGYT]

if you want a woodlore clone, visit ebay uk, steve has two kits listed at £30 each grab yourself a bargain as they won't be up for long at that price

bearing in mind that Kit is just he cut profile so you need to put the Grind on and get it heat treated which he offers as a free service with the kit but a pain to do from USA i guess
the ground and heat treated blade kit is £65

ATB

Duncan

 

[Bernie Garland]

bearing in mind that Kit is just he cut profile so you need to put the Grind on and get it heat treated which he offers as a free service with the kit but a pain to do from USA i guess
the ground and heat treated blade kit is £65

ATB

Duncan

my apoliges should have read it properly signs of old age coming on

 

[Burnt Ash]

I'd have to agree that it just doesn't make economic sense for you to buy a British knife, the way the US$ stands at present. There's nothing wrong with the knives, but they're too damned expensive from where you're sitting.

At this year's Wilderness Gathering I handled one of Rod Garcia's Skookum Bush Tools http://www.skookumbushtool.com. I really liked that knife and the slightly wacky sheath.

Burnt Ash

 

[swyn]

There is a knife maker called Mick Langley in the USA. I like his knives. You could take a look at his work.
He trained in Sheffield I think so there is some English tradition there.

Swyn.

 

[michiel]

You could try and contact Nick Wheeler. He has some awesome knives!

Michiel

 

[stotRE]

I'd have to agree that it just doesn't make economic sense for you to buy a British knife, the way the US$ stands at present. There's nothing wrong with the knives, but they're too damned expensive from where you're sitting.

At this year's Wilderness Gathering I handled one of Rod Garcia's Skookum Bush Tools http://www.skookumbushtool.com. I really liked that knife and the slightly wacky sheath.

Burnt Ash

Nice knife.

The sheath those looks like Grendals condom

 

[pothunter]

Take a look at Steve's web site SWC he was selling some ground and heat treated blanks at a reasonable price, make a nice project.

Pothunter.

 

[Schwert]

I will second Rod's Skookum as a great start. This is currently my favorite knife. Inexpensive, very well done, excellent design and an excellent feel.

Rod also offers a couple of varients....a lighter thinner Carver and a version without a steel buttplate. Both also quite nice.

 

[Deleted member 7976]

The SWC knives are great and one will probably be the next knife I buy myself, but I'd concur with previous posts that with the current exchange rates you'd be better buying one in the US

I've always loved J. Neilson's knives and he does some nice bushcraft style ones:
http://www.mountainhollow.net/knives.htm

 

[mayfly]

And a 3rd from me for the Skookum!

 

[C_Claycomb]

You could try and contact Nick Wheeler. He has some awesome knives!

Michiel

You could, but he has a waiting list longer than your arm. Fantastic knives, really great guy, but Stuart and I have been waiting 18 months for a bare blade, which is fine, but you probably want something sooner

CanRanger here on the forum (Diving Sparrow Knife Works http://home.cogeco.ca/~aelias/maker.htm) might be able to do something.

Then Bill Siegle has done some
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=513958&highlight=Scandi

Daniel Koster
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=510111&highlight=Scandi

There is also a Bark River that has tried for the shape.

One thing that most of the US makers fail to capture is the thickness and contour of the handle, which on the original Woodlore was something very close to the three at right:

The knives do vary a bit, but the general layout is about 1" wide at 1/4" back from mid handle, ie. the widest part and the deepest part don't line up, and the front of the narrow parts are about 19-20mm wide and continuously curved so that there is no flat area either at the spine or on the knife's sides. Other makers are entitled to do their own thing of course, but those in the US who are inspired by this design usually go narrower and squarer and often forgo the flare at the butt altogether while those in the UK generally shoot for a closer match.

 

[michiel]

I handled a BRKT aurora and I like it a lot. Have to buy one soon!

Michiel

 

[Tiley]

The Skookum Bush Tool is fantastic and, if you're Stateside anyway, it would be worth getting in touch with Rod. If you really want a Woodlore copy or something that resembles it, it would be worth talking to Derek at Woodland Edge. His knives are beautifully made and durable pieces of kit.

 

[primitiveliver]

Wow, thanks you for all the responses I am still digesting them. Interesting enough seam most people are main concern was that I could get the same thing in the US. I have looked in the US and at a few Mfg. suggest as well as some others. It turns out that most would like to charge me about twice what SWC wants to. In fact I have had quotes as high and $900US, I would like spend about $300US. I am on the waiting list for a real Woodlore knife but was informed it would be roughly 5 years.