New Collaboration with JK Knives

[bikerector]

Burning some of that late-night oil tonight after the wife and kid were off to bed, drawing up a design and scroll sawing out a wood blade blank. Afterwards, realized there was a neat little progression of drawings, cutouts, and wood models for this one. I think this is ready to be on it's way to John for an eval and hopefully schedule a working prototype for the near future (by spring).

Top to bottom, earliest idea for a hunting design, to more of a skinning style hunting knife, and finally to a hunting/utility design.

 

[bikerector]

New business email address for better filtering of messages from y'all from the rampant spam I keep getting in my Microsoft run email.

GoodKnifeCo@gmail.com

 

[woodysone]

Burning some of that late-night oil tonight after the wife and kid were off to bed, drawing up a design and scroll sawing out a wood blade blank. Afterwards, realized there was a neat little progression of drawings, cutouts, and wood models for this one. I think this is ready to be on it's way to John for an eval and hopefully schedule a working prototype for the near future (by spring).

Top to bottom, earliest idea for a hunting design, to more of a skinning style hunting knife, and finally to a hunting/utility design.

Chad if the hunter utility goes into production or if you make a prototype I’m very interested if we can come up with a pocket sheath. Let me know.

 

[bikerector]

Chad if the hunter utility goes into production or if you make a prototype I’m very interested if we can come up with a pocket sheath. Let me know.

For sure! Between John's brother and a few other sheath makers I'm acquainted with, I think I could get you hooked up with something you really like.

I think John should be getting the cutout tomorrow or Friday, so I should know more about estimated pricing, if we want to go forward with it as is, and all that. I think it's going to be a great slicer with a stabby tip and is sized right about at Buck 110 proportions, though very different in pretty much all other regards.

I'm aiming around March, as a tentative expectation. I can certainly send this for a trial run for you when/if we get there.

Thank you for this interest, sir!

 

[JK Knives]

Tracking number shows I should get it Friday.

 

[woodysone]

Tracking number shows I should get it Friday.

Had a hard time when I had the protos, really liked the sick nasty but for me the belly was just too much, kind of like the sharp point to start a cut or open a package. So this will a nice compromise.

 

[bikerector]

Had a hard time when I had the protos, really liked the sick nasty but for me the belly was just too much, kind of like the sharp point to start a cut or open a package. So this will a nice compromise.

That's similar to what my brother mentioned when butchering rabbits on his hobby farm. It was great for the task after the initial incision, but he didn't like the effort of getting the job started. Overall though, he loved it, just thought more penetration from the tip would be a good modification. He was going to pass the knife on to a trapper buddy of his to see what he thought, as the lack stabby point might be great for taking off pelts without the risk of damaging them.

The sick nasty does what I wanted it to do and that's be an easy to control slicer, but the pocket woodcrafter is more versatile and I think more useful for most people. I think the utility/hunter that is on it's way to John is going to be another really versatile design for cutting tasks as that tip is going to be pretty fine.

John and I were messaging yesterday and I think a larger woodcrafter design will be in the works soon, to directly compete with the likes of Kephart designs as a solid contender in the bushcraft market. I'm also trying to see work out a Leuku design to release with it. I'm hoping to have these ready by spring, but that depends on how much time I can devote to drawing and making models to get it dialed in by then.

 

[woodysone]

That's similar to what my brother mentioned when butchering rabbits on his hobby farm. It was great for the task after the initial incision, but he didn't like the effort of getting the job started. Overall though, he loved it, just thought more penetration from the tip would be a good modification. He was going to pass the knife on to a trapper buddy of his to see what he thought, as the lack stabby point might be great for taking off pelts without the risk of damaging them.

The sick nasty does what I wanted it to do and that's be an easy to control slicer, but the pocket woodcrafter is more versatile and I think more useful for most people. I think the utility/hunter that is on it's way to John is going to be another really versatile design for cutting tasks as that tip is going to be pretty fine.

John and I were messaging yesterday and I think a larger woodcrafter design will be in the works soon, to directly compete with the likes of Kephart designs as a solid contender in the bushcraft market. I'm also trying to see work out a Leuku design to release with it. I'm hoping to have these ready by spring, but that depends on how much time I can devote to drawing and making models to get it dialed in by then.

It really sounds like you are giving a lot of thought to the end use of each new design, looking forward to see if they live up to the thoughts that went into them.

 

[bikerector]

It really sounds like you are giving a lot of thought to the end use of each new design, looking forward to see if they live up to the thoughts that went into them.

I'm definitely trying to do purpose-driven designs that work really well while having some decent looks to go with it.

 

[bikerector]

first draft of a full-size woodcrafter model

4 9/16" handle
4 1/4" blade
8 13/16" OAL
1/8" thick O1 steel (might go with 3/32" if I end up with a wider blade and handle)

 

[cbach8tw]

Nice design, do you like the harpoon for locking in a finger for more control?

 

[woodysone]

first draft of a full-size woodcrafter model

4 9/16" handle
4 1/4" blade
8 13/16" OAL
1/8" thick O1 steel (might go with 3/32" if I end up with a wider blade and handle)

Chad, looks like a great camp knife, it appears to be a good size for a lot of chores.

 

[bikerector]

Nice design, do you like the harpoon for locking in a finger for more control?

I really do, which is why it's so long and will not get the swedge treatment that many harpoons get. It also gets a slightly higher tip, like a trailing point, but retains a feel of straightback designs, like Puukkos. Some people like to push the belly into wood for feather sticks and things and I found on the pocket woodcrafter that that very slight bump in the spine really made it nice to stabilize the tip for control. And again, no swedge. The poon is about 2.5" from the handle, which happens to be the length of my forefinger.

I think swedges, while loving the look, have been a huge pain for me on many fixed blades aimed at hunting that I try to use for woodcraft because the swedge is a destroyed of thumbs. I've rounded a few off of my personal knives, like my buck 119 and a kabar big brother (pretty similar to a BK9).

One adaption I can see in this design is a slightly deeper sweep into the spine at the poon and then having more of a dropped spin leading into that spot. It may only be for looks, but might help give additional purchase for the extended finger and bring it down slightly towards the edge/center of gravity.

 

[fishiker]

Looks like you're right in what most consider "the sweet spot" for general use blades, OAL between 8 & 9 inches with a 4 - 5 inch blade. I like the appearance of a harpoon point but honestly have never found one to be useful in the field. It's good to see the effort you're putting into new designs and to have insight on your thought process.
Keep up the good work!

 

[bikerector]

Looks like you're right in what most consider "the sweet spot" for general use blades, OAL between 8 & 9 inches with a 4 - 5 inch blade. I like the appearance of a harpoon point but honestly have never found one to be useful in the field. It's good to see the effort you're putting into new designs and to have insight on your thought process.
Keep up the good work!

This is one of those parts where it gets tricky because consumers shop with their eyes, so getting a little good looks into the designs, without damaging function, hopefully attracts more buyers that aren't JK regulars.

Functionally, on my designs (this one and the pocket woodcrafter) it raises the edge over the spine a little since it's straight across and not swedged and dropped like most, and it also adds thickness behind that edge so you can still beat the hell out of it without worry about breaking the tip.

Fun fact, that front poon is a great spot for scraping ferro rods or sticks. The slight curve can grab on a bit too. At least this is my experience on the pocket woodcrafter where the harpoon is pretty close to the handle.

To further explain why my harpoon tip is more functional, here's something designed by Andre de Villiers as an example of what I've seen from most harpoon tips. Notice the drop and swedge; if you removed the whole harpoon you would be left with the whole edge of the knife still, it would look different and be weight a little different. If you did that with mine, running the spine straight through and removing the poon, you would be removing cutting edge as well.

Image taken from Knifecenter.com. In this design, the poon is much less functional.
https://www.knifecenter.com/item/AD...p-point-coyote-brown-g10-handles-kydex-sheath

 

[fishiker]

This is one of those parts where it gets tricky because consumers shop with their eyes, so getting a little good looks into the designs, without damaging function, hopefully attracts more buyers that aren't JK regulars....

Regardless of quality and value of any product finding the best market is key. I believe the quality and value are in these knives(same for all of John's designs over the years) so finding the market will be key!

 

[bikerector]

I'm starting to feel like, while being a scandi which is bushcraft oriented, it might do well marketed as a camp knife, or maybe a bushcamp knife?

 

[greatscoot]

Burning some of that late-night oil tonight after the wife and kid were off to bed, drawing up a design and scroll sawing out a wood blade blank. Afterwards, realized there was a neat little progression of drawings, cutouts, and wood models for this one. I think this is ready to be on it's way to John for an eval and hopefully schedule a working prototype for the near future (by spring).

Top to bottom, earliest idea for a hunting design, to more of a skinning style hunting knife, and finally to a hunting/utility design.

I really like the looks of the bottom one.

 

[JK Knives]

I really like the looks of the bottom one.

I have the pattern here now and it feels great in my hand.

 

[woodysone]

I have the pattern here now and it feels great in my hand.

With the pattern in hand, how long will it take to get a real one made?