Have been trying to make up my mind as to which blades to take with me in a months time on level 2 bushcraft. I do have a LT Wright Sospes on order but I don’t think that will arrive in time.L-R Quickhatch Bushman, ESSE RB3, Spyderco Bushcraft, LT Wright Shemanese, ESSE CR2.5. I’m leaning towards the Spydie and the neck knife.
My new sheath just turned up from JRE industries for a Spyderco Bushcraft. Fits really well. I never liked the old sheath that came with the blade.
Ive been getting more and more into traditional knife designs lately and have been looking for a Leuku style blades that have an upgraded to a handle that wont slip and better steels than spring type steels and a full tang to suit Australian timbers. I tend to like 8 inch blades for having more control for limbing and making timber projects than using axes. Leuku is a Finnish word meaning big knife used by the Sammi People. Ill be looking into the below two companies in the new year. Utility tools also makes a really nice Kephart blade that interests me too.
http://utilitytoolknives.com/what-makes-a-knife-a-utility-tool-knife/utk0200-8-inch-field-knife/
I have always had a fascination with early American history, mainly the early west and the mountain man era. Kit Carson, Jim Bridger, Liver Eating Johnson, John Coulter, Jedidiah Smith, etc. This interest has evolved into black powder shooting and interests in Historical Trekking. Most of the time, I walk around in moccasins. I tend to think I’ve been born in the wrong century.
What interests me about Nessmuk is the era. It was the time of Henry David Thoreau and John Muir, when intellectuals were rediscovering the woods and sharing what they found through their writing.
George Washington Sears writing under the name Nessmuk, wrote several letters to Field and Stream in the mid 1800s on the Adirondack lakes area. He also wrote one of the first bushcraft books in America. His philosophy was on the simplicity of wilderness travel and going as lightweight as possible.
I found three articles through the web on Nessmuks tools and became interested enough to purchase his woodcraft book and collected writings, from Amazon books.
What I found gave me a pleasant surprise. Not so much in terms of bush craft skills but in the way people lived, their expectations of life and the way they perceived the woods around them. Seeing a time in history, through someone else’s eyes due to their writing.I became a Nessmuk fan, and ordered my own versions of the Nessmuk trio of tools.
Nessmuk Articles
http://www.zianet.com/jgray/nessmuk/woodcraft/title_page.html
http://robroy.dyndns.info/books/gws/N.HTM
http://www.oldjimbo.com/Outdoors-Magazine/Nessmuk-and-his-Tools.pdf
I gave up long ago on small camp trowels, the soil here is too hard for them. I opted for something larger. The Gerber was my first. I like the folding ability but very heavy to carry and has ended up in my 4WD recovery gear. The cold Steel trench shovel I purchased by accident . I didnt realize they had made a second version of the spetnatz. This is great for set camps where your not carrying it, mainly due to the size. The one i use the most is the Special Forces Shovel.this is good for carrying, splitting timber pretty much everything. Im even trying to have a pack made up just to hold it.
https://www.survivalsuppliesaustralia.com.au/Cold-Steel-Special-Forces-Shovel?b7=z1
I may be a bit of a gear head but I also play with everything extensively until I find what I like to use and employ in different situations. I purchased to Eskar to carry for traditonal bushcraft training however I very rarely use it other than for that purpose, preferring the Agawa Boreal 21 for cutting most fire wood. I keep the Eskar just because its a beautifull piece of timber and to strap to a bedroll. The Boreal 21 will more than likely end up in my 4wd Utes recovery gear box due to the size.
Im having a similar situation with the laplander vs the silky. I like the locking system and grip on the laplander but dont like cutting with it at all and have converted to the silky but have goton to the stage of shelving both in favour of the boreal 15. I have enough gear on my belt as it is and removing small saws makes more sense to me. id rather carry my Gransfors Bruks Outdoors axe on my belt instead.
The only time I use a saw currently is one) for fire bow construction in which case its easier to use either the saw on my SAK or an opinel 12 for finer cuts. The saw on my leathernam is also suitable but Ive also stopped wearing this in the bush and keep my charge Ti in my pack. Wearing a mulitool in an urban environment is another matter.
So my current frame of thought is if Im making fireboard sets have the Opinel in either my belt pouch or haversack but Im hooked on the Boreal 15.
The second) use if cutting firewood. So what Id like to do with the Boreal 15 is to make a pouch system to hold spare saw blades and parts and attach this to the strap of my haversack. The 15 just works so much better and has much less chance of breaking over the folding style saws that dont have a front support for larger pieces of timber.
Let me know your thoughts!
Bahco laplander
https://www.survivalsuppliesaustralia.com.au/Bahco-Laplander-Folding-Saw-BA-396-LAP?b7=z1
Eskar Folding Buck Saw
https://www.survivalsuppliesaustralia.com.au/Esker-Folding-Wooden-Bucksaw-24-Walnut?b7=z1
Boreal 21
https://www.survivalsuppliesaustralia.com.au/Agawa-Canyon-Boreal21-Folding-Saw?b7=z1
Boreal 15
Opinel number 12
https://www.survivalsuppliesaustralia.com.au/Opinel-Folding-Pruning-Saw-No.12-Carbon-Steel?b7=z1
Silky Pocket Boy Outback 170mm
My first LT Wright blade and not to be my last judging from the quality of manufacture. A brief look, I believe this is the only one in the country going by how hard it was to ship to Australia. I ended up having to ship it to a mate who reshipped to down under due to the local postal service.
Inspired by the early American colonial long hunters, where bushcraft, woodsmanship, and survival were not a pastime, but a way of life in the hostile, untamed, virgin colonial landscape. Trusted by the hands who carried it and feared by enemies that encountered it. This design was tested and tried by men of renown such as Simon Kenton, Daniel Boone, George Rogers Clark, and Lewis Wetzel, who placed their lives upon its dependability and capability. These men were known as the “long knives” in the English language, and Shemanese by the Shawnee.
This knife was designed by Craig Caudill after nearly 50 years of wilderness experience.A step back into history alongside the great frontiersman of old, with updated materials and craftsmanship, and purchase your very own tool to pass down through the generations.
Blade Specifications
Overall Length: 12 inches
Blade Length: 6 3/4 inches
Blade Thickness: 1/8 inches
Grind: Sabre
Blade Steel: AEB-L
Handle Type: Burlap Micarta
Just some of my collection that Ill be doing reviews on later in the year.
My Thoughts on a Knife Training Course Manual Contents
I thought this was the best knife course introduction ever written so why change it. Not written by me!
The Knife; Why?
I’ve been watching “The Last Kingdom” until the new season of “Vikings” returns in the Autumn. Of course, I’m watching what they use in their camps, at war, in their daily lives and I noticed something; The Knife.
Not every man had a sword because not every man was a warrior. Not every man had a hammer, because not every man was a blacksmith. Not every man had a shepherd’s crook, because not every man was a herder.
But every man and even every boy had one thing…a knife.
That got me to thinking of how many ways it was important for them to have a knife. Of course, there are the obvious tasks that are familiar to woodcraft like woodworking and the processing of game & fish and crafting, but what don’t we think about? Personal protection? Offensive actions?
Yes, those things and something else…A sense of control.
The knife gave a man a sense of control over his region. The man without a knife would have to hope that they could find stones to turn into cutting tools, cutting tools that would wear down and break with material fatigue. It was just physics. Stone tools were just not as durable as metal tools were.
But the knife, the knife was reliable. It would perform in any weather. It was trustworthy. It never complained. It didn’t need to be fed. You paid for it one time and it served you forever.
It was as Corin, Conan’s father told him once regarding steel…
“You must learn its riddle, Conan, you must learn its discipline. For no one, no one in this world can you trust. Not men, not women, not beasts… This you can trust.” –Corin
A young boy being given a knife begins his path on to manhood. It was as my own grandfather taught me in the mountains how to respect the sharpness of the tool and how to care for them and store them.
It was as my own father taught me the days I worked by his side for years how they were to be treasured and valued more than any other possession because with steel, a man could feed his family and clothes them and shelter them and have abundance for them.
And throughout history, steel has decided battles and created civilizations and has changed the trajectory of mankind. And for us? Well for us, it gives us fire and prepares our quarry and provides shelter for us.
While Conan’s father shared with him the importance of steel, it was Thulsa Doom who actually revealed the Riddle of Steel to Conan…
“Steel isn’t strong, boy. Flesh is stronger; That is strength, boy. That is power: the strength and power of flesh. What is steel compared to the hand that wields it?” –Thulsa Doom
Man is weaker without steel and is stronger with it, but the strength behind that steel is always the man who wields it, not the steel itself and alone. Therefore, it’s a relationship.
Remember, steel does not need man, it is man that needs steel. And for me, for what I’ve learned, for how I’ve used it to do exactly those things that would give me life in the harshest of conditions out in the woods as it has throughout my life working in the real world, that is why I see a knife differently than the overwhelming majority of the world.
Only men who’ve earned their livings with knives and tools understand their importance. So I don’t swoon for exotic handles or decorative colored liners or faux patinas. I don’t incarcerate them in display cases or wrap them in soft fabrics. I introduce them to wood and to hide and to meat and to blood.
And I only wield knives I could trust my life to.
–Yankee
I really wanted to start a knife training course. I have seen a lot of misinformation on social media sites and forums when newbies ask questions. I can talk about blades all day long. I just wanted to take people out and show them. Have a brief handout from the following links they can use as a pre-reading information booklet to ask questions about, or rather to give them the right questions to ask. At one time I had well over 600 knives and have gradually whittled down my obsession to under 80. Keeping my favorites and selling the ones I didn’t use often enough. Rarely owning a safe queen. There is a niche area of training that most courses Ive been on just dont cover. I thought I could make some extra money teaching what I like. BLADES!I don’t know of many people that would open up a lock box full of custom knives to strangers and say lets play.
Bevels – primary, secondary, tertiary
Cuts – chop, push ,slice, whittle, tip cope, edge cope, draw, shearing, thrust
Grinds – flat, hollow, chisel, convex
Steels – stainless, carbon, super steels
Tempering – hardening
Parts – tang, clip, ridge line, ricasso, choil, belly, false edge, grind plunge
Grips – reverse, hammer, ice pick,fencers, sabre
Sharpening
LINKS
To put it bluntly, what this guy doesnt know, isnt worth knowing
https://www.jayfisher.com/Blades.htm
Grinds
http://www.ragweedforge.com/grind.html
Knife Terms
http://www.knifeart.com/cusknifen.html
Steels
http://users.ameritech.net/knives/steels.htm
Steels
http://ajh-knives.com/metals.html
Steels
http://www.agrussell.com/knife_information/a/73/
Knife Tests
Plain VS Serrated Edges
http://www.sff.net/people/pff/edge.txt
Sharpening
http://www.oldjimbo.com/survival/sharps.html
Blade Anatomy
http://www.jayfisher.com/knife_anatomy,_parts,_names.htm
Heat Treating
http://www.anvilfire.com/FAQs/knives01.htm
Making your Own
http://www.primitiveways.com/pt-knives-1.html
Heat Treating
http://sixshootercommunity.com/articles/harry_o/heat_treating.html
Grinds
https://knife-depot.com/pages/a-guide-to-knife-grinds
https://agrussell.com/knife-articles/blade-grinds
Steel Comparisions
knife safety
try stick
carving
knife carving tools
https://www.sylvaspoon.com/blog/2020/6/6/spoon-carving-tools
basic notches
10 projects
This is my first review on this blog. So a little background. I started collecting knives in 2007 after being on the Hoods Woods Forum and had the opportunity to talk with Ron. I blame him for getting me into knives. Ill be the first to admit that it became a problem for me at one stage, but I was determined to learn for myself after reading forum after forum post on different steels, shapes sizes etc. I started off with two limited edition blades from Busse a battle mistress and a badger attack and my addiction grew from there. This was the days before Youtube and you couldnt just watch others experimenting. Ive gradually had to sell many of those to raise funds for various reasons and Im down to something under 80 blades. I buy the occasional one if my curiosity spikes. I mainly keep my favorites and ones I use the most.
The Gransfors Outdoor Axe was one of these curiosities. It reminded me of an American Tomahawk and there arent too many shops in Australia where you can actually view and handle blades or axes, its mostly internet sales here. I purchased the outdoor axe and I think I had it in my hands for less than 5 minutes and absolutely hated it. It felt very anemic to me. How was I meant to cut down a tree with this is all I could think.I swapped it to a mate for a Gransfors Bruks Wildlife Hatchet that I had sold him years before. It took me over six months before seeing a youtube clip by Joe Robinet using the outdoor axe for me to buy another.
He was using the axe like a large knife. Im a knife guy, preferring a large chopping knife over an axe for more control. Knives have that sweet spot and you control the power by shifting where on the blade you strike with. I realized the outdoor Axe was the European version of a large chopping knife in a country where you cant walk around with a large knife hanging off your belt but you can an axe. With the outdoor axe you use it the same as a large chopping knife but the power is controlled by where you place your hands on the handle. Chocking for finer work, halfway for more control and at the back for the greatest power stroke.
I had another Outdoor Axe within a week and am now preferring it to carrying a large knife for the timbers in the area in which I was living. At the time I was axe predigest. All I saw in them was either splitting sawn timber or cutting the front notch to down a tree. My kukris or goloks were just easier for me to use building/constructing items. I now have three Gransfors at the time of this writing, a wildlife hatchet that I use for removing stock for carving, a hunters Axe for splitting and limbing, of course the Outdoors which has become one of my favorite bushcraft tools.
I dont write the sort of review where I state the size, material and film what I use it on in a way that I would never use it in reality. I mainly say why I brought an item , how I use it, if its junk and why I either have sold it or decided to keep it. This just happens to be one of those tools where it grew on me over time and now is a part of my permanent kit.
Joe Robinet
The two shops where I purchase my axes from;
Dawn Mowers
https://dawnmowers.com.au/brands/gransfors-bruk-axes
Philip and Lea
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