Let’s talk about interesting knives

[not2sharp]

Over more than 20 years, the Bladeforums has hosted countless debates and discussions on all things knives. But, I don’t recall a thread where we simply asked members to discuss a knife that they find particularly interesting.

So let’s give it a try. I don’t care if the knife works, is expensive, or particularly beautiful. What we want to post are knives that are very uncommon and preferably unique. Perhaps that takes the form of a very high end art knife; but, it can also be a crude attempt at a knife made by a caring relative for kid who is heading in harms way.

Ideally, I would like to see knives that are not manufactured, or a sprint run of some sort. Perhaps you have a unique modification of a manufactured piece, an experimental prototype, or even a failed knife attempt that showed promise. The only thing that matters is that you share your oddball and tell us what you find interesting about it.

have fun

n2s

 

[Shorttime]

It wasn't the tapered tang that stopped me.

It wasn't when I jacked up the plunge.

It was when I tried to fix it by "washing" the plunge into the tang.

The scales have to have a mirror-image profile.

I have an idea to fix it, but I'm scared to try.

 

[Wowbagger]

One kind of knife that I find interesting is a knife with a big handle, preferably one that I can get two hands on kind of like a paring chisel, but has a very short blade so I have lots of control while putting two hands worth of power into it.

Many people poo poo knives that have even slightly long handles in proportion to the blade length but I welcome them.

That said pretty much every body here has seen these two but for that one or two who have not here is what I'm talking about. I shortened the blades on both. Not artsy in the least but they make great work knives.
At least this will help bump this thread to the top of the list until we see some truly interesting knives.

 

[Hickory n steel]

Here's a knife I find particularly interesting.

I " made " this knife as a teenager out of an old rusty broken tipped GI cooks knife my dad handed down to me.

Now I don't simply like it because I made it, what I love about it is that I spent a good while sketching ideas coming up with nothing but a pile of crumpled papers and somehow wound up with this.
At some point I decided to just wing it and eventually came up with something I didn't hate, and years later in deciding to fix my previous poor grind skills it evolved into what you see today.
I never would have come up with this in a million years of sketching out ideas yet it evolved into a blade I really couldn't be happier with, and I doubt there's another like it anywhere.

 

[Rich S]

I can't post a pic, but why is the Leatherman Juice B2 being dropped from its lineup? I think it's a neat little knife.
Rich

 

[tiguy7]

This is a manufactured knife, but they didn't make very many. The 4 layer handle is 3-D printed from Titanium microspherules (dust) using a laser. The handle is a single piece of metal. If you look at the side of the bearing housing inside the "cage", you can see lettering. This is also 3-D printed.
I like the lightness and grippiness of the handle. Most of the 3-D printed things I run into are plastic. I would like to see this technology applied to other knives, tools, and sporting goods.

 

[GIRLYmann]

a particularly "interesting" knife for me
would be the "kujang", which is a strange if not entirely oddly shaped ethnic bladed
weapon from sunda in western java...
everything about it just leaves me bewildered about its design.
i don't think i will truly appreciate
its use as a knife as its aesthetics
is entirely lost on someone like me.
however i can appreciate it as a work
of art from a time past.

https://translate.googleusercontent...700283&usg=ALkJrhgXRChlwbEBolXYA8Ei-Z_PUy-9HA

 

[Dogdrawz]

I picked up someone's failed attempt at trying to create a thumb stud deployable SW Modus. What's the worst that can happen?

 

[HopalongCassidy]

I used a knife every day at work for 43 years. A hoof knife.
If you want to see the basic shape, Google "hoof knife"
Over the years people made fancier, more expensive hoof knives.
Better steels, handles etc.
I always liked the basic, Frost Wide Blade hoof knife, right handed. You have to specify left or right.
Ok steel that you could sharpen for a wet, soft hoof with the consistency of a rotten apple, or a dry hoof that was like trimming a brick.
Obviously, those edges would be different. Sharpened in a vise with a 6" mill bastard file. Flat on one side, bevel on the other.
Immediately plunged into a hoof full of dirt, rocks and old nails.
No way would I pay $150 for a fancy knife and then immediately destroy it under those conditions.
Frost knives used to be a couple bucks, then 5, then 10, now about 20.
When I saw a guy with a fancy hoof knife, he usually didn't know how to use it, couldn't sharpen it properly, or over used it.
LOL

 

[not2sharp]

I enjoy a wide variety of knives.

Including theater knives like this one:


The knife probably dates to WWII. It has a handle made from double stacked disks of thin micarta, with aluminum spacers and brass bolster and pommel. Not only is the handle beautifully done but the fitting of the guard is perfect.



I have no idea who made it. But he was a highly skilled machinist. Perhaps he got into professional knifemaking after the war, or was busy working for NASA. We will never know, and that keeps it interesting.

n2s

 

[Hickory n steel]

I enjoy a wide variety of knives.

Including theater knives like this one:
View attachment 1248111

The knife probably dates to WWII. It has a handle made from double stacked disks of thin micarta, with aluminum spacers and brass bolster and pommel. Not only is the handle beautifully done but the fitting of the guard is perfect.

View attachment 1248113

I have no idea who made it. But he was a highly skilled machinist. Perhaps he got into professional knifemaking after the war, or was busy working for NASA. We will never know, and that keeps it interesting.

n2s

The handle on this one is gorgeous, in style and shape .
I bet it feels excellent in hand.
I would bet made in the machine shop of a ship, how else are you gonna get a theatre knife this nice.

 

[not2sharp]

So just what do I consider an interesting knife?

We are fortunate to be at a point in the US where we has access to a rich selection of knives. We have hundreds of major brands produced by dozens of world class makers around the globe. Then we have tens of thousands of recognized smaller makers producing everything from niche production and collaborative efforts to full blown high end custom knives. We can survey a good selection of these people at the annual Blade show. Collectively, they are the knife market.

Unfortunately, we also have too many undocumented makers specializing in producing fraudulent knockoff of popular knives. There is not much good that can be said about them, but we can continue to do our part to educate consumers in the hope that we can thin the illicit heard over time.

But, in addition to all of these people, there are probably hundreds of thousands of people who simply decide every year to make few knives on an amateur basis. Most of these are substandard as we would expect from poorly equipped novice makers, but some really do hit it out of the park. These are knives made by people who have the skills and tools to make proper knives; but, who’s interest lie elsewhere. They may be highly skilled machinist, but may have steady work on other products; or simply people who lack the business acumen or personality to create and market themselves as a unique brand.

I find the products from this last group interesting. There may be little or no information on the maker, but the quality of the knives can be very good; and, they are not closely tied to prevailing market fads, they can take all kinds of interesting forms.

Recently, I was able to handle a knife made by a J.I.Lane of Nebraska. It was a nice well fitted small (4” fixed blade) hunting knife with a polished blade and engraved ivory micarta handle. The story provided by a collector who purchased it directly from the maker over 25 years ago, was than Lane was a school teacher who taught a shop class in high school, and that this particular knife had been on display at the high school for many years. It’s cool to see a knife that would have been used to demonstrate what the shop could do and to inspire students to develop their own skills. It is also a fresh area of collecting, where you are not going to encounter vast waves of fans or endless video reviews.

Example of knife made by J.I Lane

n2s

 

[knarfeng]

Knives have interested me for decades. And I like unusual ones as well as the ones I choose for daily carry.

Here are a pair of split handle knives which are not balisongs. Split handle knives have existed aside from balisongs for many, many years. The advantage of a split handle design is that, once open, it cannot accidentally close unless the handle itself breaks. I had one in the early 60's that I carried perfectly legally in California as a boy. Alas that one disappeared many decades ago. But I have others.

The one in red is a Hackman. Some call it a "CIA knife", but I bought mine out of a tool catalog some time in the 1960's. Although not designed to be a "butterfly" knife, it meets the legal definition. I cannot carry this outside my property anymore here in California.

The one in black is a Cold Steel Black Rock Hunter. Cold steel modified the design so that the handles are spring loaded to stay in the closed position. It is outright impossible to open it one-handed, so it does not meet the legal definition of a "butterfly" knife. It is legal for me to carry in California. I bought it purely for the novelty of the design, as I really don't need a knife with a 4" blade. But it is the closest thing there is to a "folding fixed blade".

 

[JParanee]

I have been at this for a very long time and I am fortunate to have many interesting unique pieces

Here is one from a great maker and a dear friend

David Mirabile

David has made me a few one offs and all truly handmade knives are exactly that

the first was inspired by one of my favorite production folders the Cold Steel Talwar

We named it the Tsunami


it’s a an integral fixed blade forged from cable

cable Damascus is one of my favorite blade steels

it is my idea of the ultimate defensive carry piece

it cuts all ways and the ball pommel is a devastating striker

the handle is lightening Strike Carbon Fiber wrapped in carbon fiber Ito soaked in resin

you could soak it in STP and still the grip is superb

last but not least and 50% of any carry package is the sheath

this one is a sash style pouch that carries tight to the centerline is way off and on and fast on the draw done in Cape buffalo and made by the great Paul Long to last me my lifetime

 

[shunsui]

A sprint run from Spyderco, the Spyderhawk is serrated H1 steel in a hawkbill configuration. Screaming orange FRN handle in the old Endura3 design. I got interested in these when I had some carpet to cut up. These slice through old carpet remarkably well.

 

[cbach8tw]

I have found Theater made knives from WWII very interesting, but also some of the knives made by the homefront for the troops. There was even a past article in the Knife world magazine about a local shop class that made knives for the troops.

 

[herisson]

This one got me really interested because the blade shape is oddly charming (in the heavy department, but still). It got intriguing when I couldn't (yet) find the maker of this special knife. I thought it could be a modified fish cleaver, as offered by Spanish, French and Portuguese brands. But nope, it looks purpose made from scratch.
This just in : I found one, albeit smaller. It's not Japanese, Chinese, not even Korean, it's Taiwanese. A traditional pattern : round bellied fish knife.

 

[not2sharp]

Knarfeng,

Your knives remind me of the Cold Steel Paradox.

n2s

 

[Steely_Gunz]

I always found the pre-budget Kershaw line to have incredibly interesting designs. My late father in law gave me a Rip Cord for Christmas about 12 years ago. It was an OTF knife that used a special belt holster to engage the blade open or closed. Neat idea, limited practicality.

I also always wanted a Kershaw E.T., but I knew I would cut the hell out of myself. Still, pretty interesting way to open a knife if a bit convoluted.

 

[Pomsbz]

I find the WE Pleroma interesting. Aesthetically pleasing and where the art works towards ergonomics rather than away from it.