Canoe Camping Knife

Advice
#1

I visit a custom knife maker site/forum, (JK hand made knives)and have started a thread about designing a great canoe- canoe camping knife. Just wondered if anyone here has any thoughts/suggestions on what the perfect/great canoe- canoe-camping knife would look like.

Thanks

Dan

#2

A butterknife with a sharp blade.
No sharp point to injure you are someone else.A serrated blade to cut rope and fibrous stuff.A big ,comfortable handle.

There are plenty of them out there already.The world loves a better mousetrap though.

#3

agree
I have purchased one of his other knives and was amazed at the quality/feel, so I thought I would get a knife specifically for my favorite activity! I agree with the non-sharpened end!

#4

In spite o’ de fact dat…

– Last Updated: Jun-27-10 5:15 PM EST –

it's Cliffy Jacobson's favoorite canoo knife, ah's still likes de Grohmann #1 in carbon steel best.

http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2596528610094647494sAeYVx


Fer de poyfect knife... hummm... ah' reckon' a Ronco Veg-O-Matic, a Bamboo Steamaaa, Pocket Fishyman an' a Garden Weasel built inta de handle of a Ginsu Knife - now dat wood be de poyfect knife.

FE

#5

perfect for me
would be pointy, with no serrations. Serrations instantly put a knife into the “unbuyable” catagory for me. Can’t sharpen them worth a damn, and they do get dull. Same goes for the blunt end. I like having a point for doing fine work.

I would take mine with a 4 inch blade, 3/16 in thick and 1 1/4 wide, with a strong distal taper, and fine flat grind. It would be beadblasted CPM S30V or D-2 with a red beadblasted Micarta handle on a full tapered tang.

It would go into a red Kydex sheath.

Or pretty much any knife by Howard Clark of Morgan Valley Forge would work.

#6

OK
Ok, why would you pick a flat grind over a convex?

#7

flat grind vs convex or concave
The convex grind has a heavier edge with more mass behind it than a flat grind. It holds up very well to abuse, but is not as efficient at cutting.

A concave (hollow ground) blade has a progressively steeper angle as it nears the spine of the blade. That profile works well for shallow cuts, in soft material, but when you make a deeper cut in firm material, the blade will eventually bind in the material.

A blade essentially acts as a wedge or ramp, and if you were to picture trying to push your car up a ramp shaped like each blade profile listed, you will see what I am talking about.

I make knives, and have done a considerable amount of testing on edge profiles to determine what cuts best, and the flat grind outperforms convex or concave in nearly everything. It is not easy to grind a precise flat grind, and I feel they require a lot more hand work than a convex or concave edge, which is probably why they are rarely used. They do work well though.

A great test of edge efficiency is the shotgun shell test. Take an EMPTY shotshell, stand it up, and attempt to chop it in half with a single stroke, without tipping it over. You need a very sharp knife with an extremely efficient edge for it. This test does not forgive the slightest imperfection in edge geometry. I have never managed to do it with a convex or concave edge profile. However, all my flat ground blades would do it before they went out the door.

Thats pretty much the basis for my choice of edge profile.

#8

SOG Seal Pup…
nice knife…not overbearing, but efficient…about $50 at Cabela’s

#9

Rather than insult
your intelligence by suggesting you’ll like the knive[s] I do, go to agrussell.com and look around for what seems like to work for you. All sizes, designs, finishes available, from medium to high prices. We do get what we pay for!

#10

AG Russel
They do have some excellent knives.

#11

captain,I have tried to cut nylon and
poly rope with a non-serrated blade.Tedious and slow.

#12

Who goes canoe camping w/ only
one knife? PFD knife for paddling, sheath knife and Swiss Army knife for camp.

#13

My Grohmann #1 camper w/flat grind

– Last Updated: Jun-28-10 8:31 AM EST –

cuts pepperoni quite nicely. Hollow grinds are less efficient for kitchen duty IMO.

Jim

Edit: The nice custom knives shown in the Piragis catalog appear to have a very appealing grip and blade shape. But I cannot bring myself to drop that much on a knife......

#14

thanks for info
Thanks for the info/education!

#15

Here is a search from p.net on topic…
http://www.paddling.net/message/results.html



http://www.paddling.net/message/showThread.html?fid=advice&tid=263472



Paddle easy,



Coffee

#16

Go ahead and get one Jim.
You only live once.

#17

Hammer hacking knife
A knife is a tool, not a status symbol.

This one costs about $20 and does everything I want.



http://www.affinitytool.com/downloads/ATW_HammerHackingKnife.pdf


#18

Self sharpening razor edge…everytime
you close it or put it back in the shief, it gets a sharpened.

#19

No can do String
Just dropped $800 on a new Micro 4/3 DSLR.



I already have a functional knife.



Jim

#20

I sort of agree with tktoo
One knife just doesn’t cut it. Most of the time I manage quite nicely with my Benchmade Ares. It has a flat grind and no serrations. (154CM is very nice) Since I keep it sharp serrations don’t make that much difference. I use a Wusthoff Pro slicing knife in my cook kit and a Benchmade river knife (combination edge) on my PFD. They all have their own purpose. If any of those three were put to choice for “you can have only one” I suppose I would choose the river knife because a straight blade is stronger than a folder.