The Leuku Knife, also known as a Sami knife (Sami: stuorraniibi = “big knife”, Finnish: lapinleuku or leuku), is a large knife traditionally used by the Sami people. I decided to try some Laurel Mountain Barrel Brown & Degreaser to brown the blade. This is how it came out!
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Knife 63 – Kephart EDC – Multi Part Handle Scales
Horace Kephart (1862-1931) is a familiar name to bushcrafters along with George Washington Sears (See Knife 59) and was one of the leading outdoor writers of his time. Kephart designed the knife. This is how he described it in the first edition of Camping and Woodcraft: “This knife weighs only 4 ounces. It was made by a country blacksmith, and is one of the homeliest things I ever saw; but it has outlived in my affections the score of other knives that I have use”.
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Knife 62 – Brut de Forge Bowie
This Brut de Forge Bowie was forged from a similar tine as Knife – 42 Hunter Forged from an Implement Tine. To the right it is being normalized. Notice the groove (or fuller) in the tang. I cut that with the belt grinder. It serves a couple of purposes. It lightens the knife. It makes less surface area of the tang that must be flattened and gives the epoxy some space.
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Knife 61 – Antler Handled Carving Knife
Because this Antler Handled Carving Knife’s antler was put on with the base end first, it required a little different technique. It seems the base is bone and is harder. It did not soften like a cut end that exposes the softer insides. To get around this I drilled a hole then slightly widen it to be about the width of the tang. I drilled with a drill bit the approximate width and used a Dremel with a cutter to widen it.
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Knife 60 – The Modern Muk
This is a modern version of “The Muk” knife. The blade is the same, but it has a full tang and a stabilized spalted beech scales.
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Knife 58 – Bunka Chef’s Knife – Making The Makers Mark
Bunka Chef’s Knife – Making The Makers Mark Made from 3/32” 1095 Handle is wenge and zebra wood Bunka knives are general purpose knives tackling a wide range […]
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Knife 56 – Forged Hunter (broke cold forging)
I forged Fully Forged Hunting Knife that I broke from another tine as shown in knife 36. I sound up breaking it. I knew I was not finished forging it but I ran out of time, so I just left it sitting on the anvil. The next day I only had a few minutes in the shop. I picked up the knife and noticed a slight warp. Sure, I should have known better but my experience working with mild steel sort of kicked in and I gave it a couple good whacks with the hammer. Boom! A duh moment.
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Knife 51 & 52 Friction Folders
It was time to try my hand at making a Friction Folder. A friction folder is a folding knife that doesn’t use a lock or springs. It uses the handle’s friction against the tang to stay open. The design has an extended tang. This allows the user’s hand to keep the blade from folding shut.
When making a Friction Folder it’s best to make a prototype out of heavy paper or thin wood pieces. This allows you to get the pin locations close enough so it can be tuned in final fitting.
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Knife 49 – Hunter – EDC – Testing the Knife’s Hardness
Up to this point my knife hardness test has been to chop a hardwood scrap, roughly 2” x 2” by chopping at it as hard as I could. A used knife I had folded on the test and I couldn’t get it heat treated so it would not harden. I was still researching trying to find a better way without buying expensive equipment.
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Knife 48 – Small Seax – EDC – Stone Washing
Stone Washing for Your Knives’ Finish is quite simple. You can actually do it by hand. Just put the knife in a container with media. I used stones I picked up from the side of the road.
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