What? You never heard of the Sierra Commander?
On January 16 I contacted Nick to open a discussion about the potential of having a knife made. I had seen his knives on this forum which I found while researching makers on the internet in planning for the knife I had in mind. I settled on Nick because I not only liked the appearance of his work, but I was encouraged by the positive comments returned by the owners of his knives.
So the preliminaries began, and continued up to the point that Nick needed to take some time away from knife making for a while. He had indicated interest in the design . . . still being developed at that point, and asked if he could get back in touch with me when he was again able to be available.
Nick kept his word and got back to me on April 10th. A few more interchanges and I finalized the drawing of the new knife. A few design cues were taken from the Sierra Scout, however I wanted a knife that was more 'commanding' so I named it the 'Sierra Commander'. Seemed like a natural.
To avoid the possibility that the details of my drawing were not sufficient, I made a wooden mock-up demonstrating the basics of the knife I could see in my head. Then I sent the final drawing, the mock-up, and a pair of beautiful Arizona desert ironwood handle scales to Nick. And last Thursday, my friendly FedEx driver delivered the completed knife that Nick translated into steel and wood.
Here are a few details:
BLADE: length 8"; width 1.75 inches; thickness ~0.200 at the butt and tapering; material O-1 on the original
HANDLE: length 5"; scale thickness ~0.375 including optional spacers; material Arizona desert ironwood on the original
WEIGHT: 11.5 ounces
Nick and I have discussed, reviewed, and debriefed this first Sierra Commander and he has officially added it to his line of offerings, so he can answer any questions about pricing and options if you're interested.
I ordered the original without a sheath as I intend to make one (or possibly two). That may be a while as I am in the middle of painting my house between rainy days right now, but I will post images when I complete that phase of the project.
A couple designer comments:
1. The original was designed to serve as a general purpose camp knife, applicable to any related chores, including cooking, kindling, dressing/skinning/quartering game. It was also designed to serve possible duty as a survival knife - shelter building, etc. To address the more strenuous requirements of hacking/chopping that may be encountered in survival conditions, the original blade was spec'd as 0.250 thickness because of the added heft it would provide.
Nick has run a lot of knives through his shop and has a good feel for what works and what doesn't. Based on that, he elected to decrease the spec'd thickness to improve the balance characteristics of the knife and decreasing the potential of fatigue in extended use. My feeling about that change is . . . he was correct. The knife as completed balances dead level with the blade laid flat over my extended index finger, just ahead of and touching the front of the handle scale. With a heavier blade there would be considerably more point heavy weight bias.
However, pick your own desired application requirements for your own knife. If you need to chop limbs or hack points onto poles, a heavier blade thickness will reduce fatigue for those operations . . . but might compromise handling characteristics for other tasks somewhat.
2. Consider choosing a dense/heavy handle material for the same reason. Desert ironwood as used on the original is more than twice as dense as water . . . it sinks like a rock! It costs more than most woods, but it's also beautiful in pieces like shown on the original. In any case, I'm sure Nick would be more than happy to provide great advice on handle material options that will contribute to proper balance for a big blade like this one.
That's it for the debut of the Sierra Commander. Let me know any thoughts you have, and kudos to Nick for another great 'blade'!
Muffcook
On January 16 I contacted Nick to open a discussion about the potential of having a knife made. I had seen his knives on this forum which I found while researching makers on the internet in planning for the knife I had in mind. I settled on Nick because I not only liked the appearance of his work, but I was encouraged by the positive comments returned by the owners of his knives.
So the preliminaries began, and continued up to the point that Nick needed to take some time away from knife making for a while. He had indicated interest in the design . . . still being developed at that point, and asked if he could get back in touch with me when he was again able to be available.
Nick kept his word and got back to me on April 10th. A few more interchanges and I finalized the drawing of the new knife. A few design cues were taken from the Sierra Scout, however I wanted a knife that was more 'commanding' so I named it the 'Sierra Commander'. Seemed like a natural.
To avoid the possibility that the details of my drawing were not sufficient, I made a wooden mock-up demonstrating the basics of the knife I could see in my head. Then I sent the final drawing, the mock-up, and a pair of beautiful Arizona desert ironwood handle scales to Nick. And last Thursday, my friendly FedEx driver delivered the completed knife that Nick translated into steel and wood.
Here are a few details:
BLADE: length 8"; width 1.75 inches; thickness ~0.200 at the butt and tapering; material O-1 on the original
HANDLE: length 5"; scale thickness ~0.375 including optional spacers; material Arizona desert ironwood on the original
WEIGHT: 11.5 ounces
Nick and I have discussed, reviewed, and debriefed this first Sierra Commander and he has officially added it to his line of offerings, so he can answer any questions about pricing and options if you're interested.
I ordered the original without a sheath as I intend to make one (or possibly two). That may be a while as I am in the middle of painting my house between rainy days right now, but I will post images when I complete that phase of the project.
A couple designer comments:
1. The original was designed to serve as a general purpose camp knife, applicable to any related chores, including cooking, kindling, dressing/skinning/quartering game. It was also designed to serve possible duty as a survival knife - shelter building, etc. To address the more strenuous requirements of hacking/chopping that may be encountered in survival conditions, the original blade was spec'd as 0.250 thickness because of the added heft it would provide.
Nick has run a lot of knives through his shop and has a good feel for what works and what doesn't. Based on that, he elected to decrease the spec'd thickness to improve the balance characteristics of the knife and decreasing the potential of fatigue in extended use. My feeling about that change is . . . he was correct. The knife as completed balances dead level with the blade laid flat over my extended index finger, just ahead of and touching the front of the handle scale. With a heavier blade there would be considerably more point heavy weight bias.
However, pick your own desired application requirements for your own knife. If you need to chop limbs or hack points onto poles, a heavier blade thickness will reduce fatigue for those operations . . . but might compromise handling characteristics for other tasks somewhat.
2. Consider choosing a dense/heavy handle material for the same reason. Desert ironwood as used on the original is more than twice as dense as water . . . it sinks like a rock! It costs more than most woods, but it's also beautiful in pieces like shown on the original. In any case, I'm sure Nick would be more than happy to provide great advice on handle material options that will contribute to proper balance for a big blade like this one.
That's it for the debut of the Sierra Commander. Let me know any thoughts you have, and kudos to Nick for another great 'blade'!
Muffcook
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