What do you think?

Lorien

Well-Known Member
Knightplan.png


I drew this out, since my place in line with Jason Knight has come up.
Your impressions and thoughts on the design would be most appreciated:D
 
I'm constantly in search of the perfect trail clearing knife.
I do a lot of mountain biking and trail building, (actually, in addition to owning a bike shop I also own a trail building company2guns). Building a trail, in its heart, is finding a favorable corridor.

A large knife is the perfect tool that doesn't weigh too much or get caught on things, and the bush here is dense and low- not a lot of huge leafy plants where you need a lot of reach like in the tropics. A machete is a little too big and its springiness is quite dangerous dealing with the fibrous plants like we have around here.

Precision is key as well, and anything over 10 inches or so becomes more difficult to control, especially in close quarters. Packability, for biking is important too.

In my neck of the woods, I have to deal with stringy, fibrous bushy plants like salal, salmon berry and broom, and ferns. Sometimes I have to chop wood with a knife, but I also carry a light weight folding saw, so chopping wood isn't a defining feature of this design although it will be heavy enough due to the stock thickness to be pretty effective. Broom is a real ***** to chop sometimes, but this design will probably be more effective for the limbs and the smaller plants. The edge geometry is going to make it more of a slicer. Especially out near the tip.

Anyway, I could blather on all night, and it's time to go home!
Thanks for asking2thumbs
 
do they call that a smashet ? my POPS has one of those from his dad in wwII its hanging in the gun safe.
 
do they call that a smashet ? my POPS has one of those from his dad in wwII its hanging in the gun safe.

you know, maybe a little bit. I think the Smatchet is kind of based on a barong, which is sort of where I thought this design was steering toward. I also see a little nesmuk in my design.

The big difference with the Smatchet is the double edge, which actually makes a lot of sense for military applications where a knife might be used for digging and other abusive stuff. A double edge for me though introduces twice the risk, or even more. Not that I hit myself with the spine of my knife, but if it were a sharp edge and I did...ooops

Darci, if you are able to post a picture of that smatchet, that would be really cool.kewlpics1
 
Darci, if you are able to post a picture of that smatchet, that would be really cool
my POPS has two these are the pix's he has of them.
 

Attachments

  • 1887.0.jpg
    1887.0.jpg
    22.4 KB · Views: 25
  • pix456329812.jpg
    pix456329812.jpg
    20.8 KB · Views: 28
Lorien, that design looks like it will be one heck of a chopper! I'm sure you'll be able to get that brush cleared very easily with that design.
 
Lorien,

Looks like a great design. I tink for it's intended purpose perhaps a lanyard hole may be a good idea.

Before settling on the design I'd try a drawing with the guard equal in height to the ricasso. Could go either way though.

Looks to me like you could drop your drawing in Tia Goo's lap and have an awesome blade. Of course you could also bust out the files and go to town yourself !

-Josh
 
thanks eh!

Josh, funny you should mention Tai. He's in my top ten favourite knife makers, and I do have three of his creations, all of which are top performers.

Just over a year ago I talked with Jason Knight about making me a knife and then I forgot all about it. He got in touch a little while ago and said he'd make me a knife if I still wanted one, so he's my bladesmith this time around:D

As for making it myself- man, I still haven't finished the first one! At this rate I'll be lucky to make more than a couple of knives during my lifetime!

And, just to be clear, do you mean that from the drawing, the top and bottom of the bolster should be flush with the top and bottom of the ricasso?

Lanyards? I'm not a fan, so you won't be seeing one on this knifeweinerdog1
 
Lorien, The ferrule (or bolster) is what caught my eye as well. There should be no change in width at that point for a sleek design. As you run your eye along the spine there is a speed bump, rather than a smooth flow. Other than that I really like it.
Alden
 
Lorien,
Alden did a fine job of explaining what I had in mind with the bolster. Gotcha on the lanyard hole though.

Off topic.... If the "guard" is not recessed so that the handle material does NOT extend inside It would be called a "guard"

If the handle material extends toward the blade inside the guard, then it's called a Ferrule ???????????

This is my understanding only and could be completely wrong. Perhaps someone can confirm or correct this thinking.

-Josh
 
I imagine you concidered a guard. Why not, just a short one? With all that weight in the blade it will want to help the knife to move around in you hand since it will be used with repeated strokes and not just one now and then. It sure looks like a keeper , though !!!! Frank
 
Hi Frank, I did originally draw this out with a little guard, I just couldn't get it to look righthuh1
It's hard to get the concept right on paper, especially when I know that the 3D version is out of my hands. All I can do is start this order on a particular path, it will be up to the maker to decide which paths to follow once the real work starts.

I'm looking forward to the day when I can efficiently turn my paper drawing into the full 3D version all on my own2thumbs
 
Darcy, the knife on the right, is USMC (United States MEDICAL Corp) bolo from the Pacific Theater. I have one, and they still function great for use as choppers!
 
Introducing...

The Sooke Mountain Chopper!

SookeMountainChopper3.jpg


SookeMountainChopper1.jpg


SookeMountainChopper2.jpg


SookeMountainChopper4.jpg


I don't have er yet, but as you can imagine, I'm pretty dang stoked!
 
Back
Top