I have an Esse 3" in my bag next to a complete set of winter gear and some flares. I like a fixed blade knife with a full tang for general abuse.

I don't know much about knives and don't pretend to, but I really like this knife. Turns pieces of wood into smaller pieces of wood faster than any other knife I've owned, and looks great doing it. It was a gift a couple years ago so I didn't even do any research in the selection.

http://www.helle.no/products/knives/sigmund/

Will try to add a pic of mine later.

-asa

Interesting all the recommendations for Scandinavian style knives. They ceartainly have been refining the blade for a long time. I've used knives as tools all my life, usually for utility and butchering, though some wood as well. I've settled on one in particular as a favorite. It's not fancy but works as well as any $150 blade out there for me. And heck, at $15 apiece I buy them by the case from the local marine store. Stash in each plane, hunting pack, even carry one around sometimes.....

https://morakniv.se/en/product/companion/

Etnan Becker knives are big and tough enough to bet your life on.

I like this one.

https://www.knivesplus.com/beckerknifetoolbkt-22.html

Good looking Trapper, kg! Sure is fun to "make" your own knife, isn't it?

I readied up a couple knives for my cousin and his wife...just users, not art.


The stick tang knife is a Enzo Black Beaver triple-laminated blade with an edge much harder than the rest of the blade body. Makes for a tough blade that still holds an excellent edge.

The smaller full tang blade is from Jim Wester at North Bay Forge. http://www.northbayforge.com/ I have several of his tools, and I've never found another maker that does so well with carbon steel. Simply excellent, excellent tools.

I whittled up some fatwood shavings for firelighting...makes lighting the stove about as easy as flipping a switch. They're good cutters.


They deserve proper leather pouch sheaths, but I'm out of leather so I used kydex. Not at all traditional, but still functional.


There's a lot of subtleties to how a knife fits a user, but no attribute of a knife will ever trump how well it cuts. Strength, size, shape...none of that matters if the knife won't efficiently cut what you want it to cut. For a woods knife, that means cutting wood. When you're wet and cold and need to get a fire going under poor conditions, a knife that really carves wood properly is a godsend.

If folks want to play around with "making" their own knives, this is the best resource I've found to date: http://www.thompsonsknives.com/ Great selection and very reasonable prices.

Not every knife on there is what I'd consider a good woods knife...lots of them are made from D2, which is a steel I loathe, and the flat-ground Enzo blades don't do nearly as well on wood as the scandi-ground blades. But there's some really good blades on there...blades that really work well in the woods.

MountainFlyerN22 wrote:Morakniv https://morakniv.se/en/

I have 3 of them with carbon blades and like them alot. Inexpensive too.

Agreed. Just get the heavier bladed Companion or Bushcraft models with enough guard on the handle to keep from slipping downward to the blade during bloody deer skinning, etc.

Not full tangs, but pretty sturdy and cheap enough that we keep one in every backpack within the plane.
J

Timbuk2 wrote:

MountainFlyerN22 wrote:Morakniv https://morakniv.se/en/

I have 3 of them with carbon blades and like them alot. Inexpensive too.

Agreed. Just get the heavier bladed Companion or Bushcraft models with enough guard on the handle to keep from slipping downward to the blade during bloody deer skinning, etc.

Not full tangs, but pretty sturdy and cheap enough that we keep one in every backpack within the plane.
J

Mora's are great knives for the price, but I've actually found the thinner Mora blades to outperform the thicker models. You also have to square the back of most Mora knives with a file if you want to scrape a ferrocerium rod with one.

I enjoyed this video:

https://youtu.be/BLnqr6IGVgs

You will be waiting years to get one after you place an order, but it will be the best knife you ever own, and your kids will still be using it long after you’re gone.

Simply the best.

http://www.randallknives.com/

Based on the article in BCP, I ordered the Trapper in Scandi in Elmax steel. This will be the third knife that I have put the handle on and am going to put Orange Osage handles which turned out really nice on the first one I did.

I really like the Kydex sheaths that you did, I have done a pistol holster that turned out well, so I will give it a try for the sheath.

A 90 year old man made this knife out of a saw blade and gave it to me when I was 11 years old...58 years ago. The blade is five inches long, 1/4 inch thick at the hilt, and 5/32 inch thick for most of the length. He taught me how to sharpen it to a razor edge.

I don't know if the shape has a specific purpose or not. I used it for a hunting knife when I used to hunt deer and elk. Now days just a general all around camping knife and have never pounded on it with a hammer or hatchet.

tcj wrote:A 90 year old man made this knife out of a saw blade and gave it to me when I was 11 years old...58 years ago. The blade is five inches long, 1/4 inch thick at the hilt, and 5/32 inch thick for most of the length. He taught me how to sharpen it to a razor edge...

HIs name wasn't Jim Bowie, was it?
JUst kidding, looks like a pretty nice knife.
Esp for a home-made one from 1960.