My African Knives

[Von Gruff]

Nice job on the drop point Von, it'll slide nicely along the belly and legs of an animal. Coming from the country I've had a few Pyne Gould Guinness Green River knives. My biggest concern with a skinning knife was the handle and whether it would slip when the hands are covered in blood and I like a good tang for that reason. Back in the 60's we used to replace the handles with deer antler. cheers

Handle design is as critically important to good knife use and safety as is the blade design and both have had my utmost attention for over 50 years. Micarta with a 120grit finish is a good handle material for wet or cold hands but the knife you show is not my design and one I felt was wrong in many respects which was what started me in my knife obsession starting in 1967 or thereabouts

 

[Shootist43]

Von Gruff, the knives you made for Euan are intriguing. But I am still curious as to why he needs to get them resharpened as often as he does. What does he do that destroys the edge so quickly. Would he benefit from the use of a steel and or a strop? BTW what grade of steel did you use for these knives? Just curious.

 

[Von Gruff]

Von Gruff, the knives you made for Euan are intriguing. But I am still curious as to why he needs to get them resharpened as often as he does. What does he do that destroys the edge so quickly. Would he benefit from the use of a steel and or a strop? BTW what grade of steel did you use for these knives? Just curious.

He dresses a great many animals and isn't the best at maintaining an edge as in keeping a constant angle with the general range of knives he has been using with a full flat grind and a secondary bevel so hoping that the scandi grind will allow him to touch them up and maintain the same flat surface to the edge. I can run them on the belt grinder with fine belt in a couple of minutes once a month to bring them back if need be. They are from 1084 sheet stock.

 

[Shootist43]

Von Gruff, I wonder if Euan has ever seen one of these.

QuadSharp Knife Sharpener

Maintain your knives in the field to the exact angle you set with your Lansky Kit! The QuadSharp features the same four angles as the legendary Lansky Controlled-Angle System, for the perfect portable Sharpening accessory.

lansky.com

I bought one to throw in my "success kit" just in case I ever need to touch up an edge in the field.

 

[Von Gruff]

Von Gruff, I wonder if Euan has ever seen one of these.

QuadSharp Knife Sharpener

Maintain your knives in the field to the exact angle you set with your Lansky Kit! The QuadSharp features the same four angles as the legendary Lansky Controlled-Angle System, for the perfect portable Sharpening accessory.

lansky.com

I bought one to throw in my "success kit" just in case I ever need to touch up an edge in the field.

I certainly hadnt seen one and not sure about Euan but dont expect he has either. I will pass on that link for him. Thanks for posting it.

 

[Von Gruff]

 

[Chukar]

 

[bruce moulds]

a bearded bearded utility knife wielder.
bruce.

 

[Von Gruff]

Camp or kitchen?

 

[Pheroze]

My new hunting knife arrived today. Absolutely beautiful. A wonderful knife. It came with a very nicely done sheath. I cannot wait to use it in the field. Thanks Garry

 

[mdwest]

the wood on that thing is stunning.... well done Garry!

 

[Pheroze]

the wood on that thing is stunning.... well done Garry!

Here is the other side. The blister maple is really cool

 

[Martin77]

Here is the other side. The blister maple is really cool
View attachment 390233

That is beautiful!

 

[Pheroze]

Garry has some beautiful wood and he does a superb job making it into a functional knife.

 

[Chukar]

Camp or kitchen?

How's about one of each?

 

[Von Gruff]

How's about one of each?

Can certainly do that for you Steve. I will go to PM for details

 

[Von Gruff]

Very pleased with the days progress. Had a length of heavy walled (3/8) 4 x 4 box section so cut a couple of sides off it and after a bit of a clean up can use them to clamp the bearded knives straight out of the quench to keep them straight and leave them in this way through the two tempering cycles so the loss through warping should hopefully be over. With that done and a few blades heat treated it was time to do some handsanding. Two of the blades are san mai so that will make an interesting change. As a way to take the stress from my fingers I made a new handsanding block which allows for the palm and arm to take the load. Gave it a test on the bearded chef and was very happy with the result.

 

[Chukar]

 

[CBH Australia]

Von Gruff, I wonder if Euan has ever seen one of these.

QuadSharp Knife Sharpener

Maintain your knives in the field to the exact angle you set with your Lansky Kit! The QuadSharp features the same four angles as the legendary Lansky Controlled-Angle System, for the perfect portable Sharpening accessory.

lansky.com

I bought one to throw in my "success kit" just in case I ever need to touch up an edge in the field.

These would work fine on commercial knives like Victorinox I have used similar. They will get you out of trouble in the bush. The carbide blade will remove material quickly. Well in comparison to just re-honing as required.
If you spend on a custom I would suggest you want to look after it and not wear it down unnecessarily.

The other knives without handles would be a slight weight saving for those Kiwi mountain hunters.

 

[Shootist43]

CBH Australia, I couldn't agree more. I have several sets of Lansky and or similar sharpening gigs and a Ken Onion Work Sharp. Prior to hooking up with Von Gruff I'd been using a Cold Steel Master Hunter. At one time 11 deer had been field dressed using the same knife and it could have gone a while longer. These things(Lansky's Quad Sharp) are not for those that can resharpen a knife properly. But as Von Gruff said, knife sharpening isn't one of his buddy's skill sets.