Soon to join the Tusker User Group

stanley_white

stanley_white

Joined
Nov 28, 2001
Messages
770
Have you ever had that final epiphany something to the effect of "Now I know exactly what I want in a do-it all knife."

Mine occurred on 07 January 2012. It happened when I was using a large non-Gossman knife (eight inch blade and 1/4" thick) to carve a spoon.

During this evolution I realized EXACTLY what I want. Since then I have been moving out many knives that I realized will not work for me and decided to use the money to buy two Tuskers -- one to use and one to pass on.

Scott e-mailed me today that the grinding has begun. I figured I would start a thread and Scott and I will eventually post some pictures.

Here are the specs as I sent them to Scott:

- O-1 steel

- Spear Point Blade Shape

- 8" blade

- 1/4" thick

- 2" wide

- 1" Choil

- Blade maintains thickness towards the tip for prying (just in case -- I don't do this if I don't have to)

- Flat to convex grind

- Sharpened spine for scraping firesteel etc

- 5" handle plus a 1/2" exposed tang with lanyard hole large enough for 550 cord usage for a total handle length of 5.5"

- Standard-style integral guard

- Forward lanyard hole large enough for 550 cord usage

- Canvas Micarta handle -- one knife in brown the second knife in green -- 3/8" thick contoured slabs

- Sheath IS NOT needed (I am going with Semper Paratus Tactical)


Overall I am very excited. :thumbup: :D


-Stan
 
Stanley congratulations on coming over to the Gossman family. I have had my Tusker for a few years and just have 110% confidence it can handle any job I need it to!
 
Welcome to the group stanley. I will post pics as I'm building the knives here. The nice thing about the Tusker is that you can tweat the design by adding handle and blade length plus other features such as exposed tang without changing the overall concept of the knife. I have worked this design to be the best it can be. One change was with the handle shape. I dropped the top back to the pommel end which really improved the handle. It was a small change that made a big difference.
Stay tuned.
Scott
 
Gossman Knives said:
Welcome to the group stanley. I will post pics as I'm building the knives here. The nice thing about the Tusker is that you can tweat the design by adding handle and blade length plus other features such as exposed tang without changing the overall concept of the knife. I have worked this design to be the best it can be. One change was with the handle shape. I dropped the top back to the pommel end which really improved the handle. It was a small change that made a big difference.
Stay tuned.
Scott
Click to expand...

Sounds great Scott!

Thanks!

-Stan
 
Here's the start of the two Tuskers. First are the profiled blades.

swtuskers.jpg



Next, the blades rough grinds, drilled ready for HT.

swtuskers1.jpg



The Tusker is done totally freehand, no template to follow.

Scott
 
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They look great Scott -- thank you for the update!

I am continually amazed at what your hands can do!

-Stan
 
Here is one out of heat treat and temper the other with scales attached ready to finish.

swtuskers2.jpg



Here is the above knife finshed. Just need to clean up grinds and sharpen.

swtuskers3.jpg


Scott
 
Wow!

That's about all I can say Scott!

The one that is finished -- is that the green or brown handle? My color vision isn't the best so you will have to forgive me.

The exposed tang came out GREAT!

-Stan
 
That's the green canvas. The brown one has the scales attached as of today. I should be getting to that one by hopefully Tues. I use 5/16" head corby bolts and thick walled tubing. I Gorilla glue the bolts together when I put them in.
Scott
 
Damn, you work fast Scott! I was in the shop on Thursday Stanley and the finished one was tempering. They're going to be some beautiful beasts...the handles are huge!
 
CollinAshmore said:
Damn, you work fast Scott! I was in the shop on Thursday Stanley and the finished one was tempering. They're going to be some beautiful beasts...the handles are huge!
Click to expand...

If I was going to the shop tomorrow, the other one would be finished.:D Gotta spend the day with the wife. Most of the work is in the profiling and rough grinding before HT. After that, it's a piece of cake. Just have to wait 24 hrs. for the scales when they get glued up.
Scott
 
Those women...always getting in the way of good knife time ;) haha. Seriously, that's one of the reasons I like stopping by the shop. While supportive of my knife interest, my girlfriend doesn't understand it at all or really care to know much about it.

Makes sense about the easy part being once the scales are glued on, but for someone who at times can struggle to even thin out an edge on a knife, it's pretty damn impressive.

Also, I used the Scimitar yesterday for some fire prep, and man, that thing amazes me more and more as I use it. I was making curls like nobody's business as I got the hang of the blade. For 5/16's you made sure that sucker can slice. I snapped a couple of pics, I'll put them in the next few days.
 
That's great to hear about your knife Collin. I'm sure the more you use it, the more familiar you will be with it.
Scott
 
Those look great Scott! I think the green one will be the user! Where abouts is the balance point?


silenthunterstudios said:
I like the exposed tangs. Is it correct to call those skull crushers?
Click to expand...

I would consider these too large for what I term knife fighting thus I would shy away from the term "skull crusher". I think of them more as an exposed tang for pounding or driving the blade into something while sparing impact to the handle slabs. They also serve to counterbalance the long blade.

-Stan
 
stanley_white said:
Those look great Scott! I think the green one will be the user! Where abouts is the balance point?


-Stan
Click to expand...

Normally with a knife this size, the balance point falls right in front of the plunge lines. Right where the cutting edge starts in front of the choil. I will double check on the exact area.
Scott
 
I checked the balance point on both and it's about perfect for this size knife. The balance is right in front of the handle scales at the ricasso and plunge line. The extended tang brought the balance back a bit.
Scott
 
Gossman Knives said:
I checked the balance point on both and it's about perfect for this size knife. The balance is right in front of the handle scales at the ricasso and plunge line. The extended tang brought the balance back a bit.
Scott
Click to expand...

Excellent! (Rubbing hands like Mr. Burns from the Simpsons)

Thanks Scott!

-Stan
 
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