New Collaboration with JK Knives

Two things. First, did I miss something about 01 added to someone's line up? (Edit: Now that I read some more, you were just talking about John's 01, I thought maybe Buck was adding 01 to their line.) Secondly, can you tell me about your experiences using your 119 in 5160, mostly about the steel? I finally got a Buck 117 from C&C in 5160 in dymondwood, and I like the overall size of it and feel in the hand so I wanted some others' opinions of 5160 and whatever models they have.

I'll PM you about it
 
.................... The handle is a slightly contoured broomstick/Kephart-inspired handle shape.
You're looking at about a 4 1/4" long handle with a 3.5" blade. 3/32" O1 steel. Handle thickness will be about like John's element series.

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So, do you like the clip point or the trailing point more? Both are rocking saber grinds. There is potential for a scandivex grind on the trailing point.
I'll give my free opinion which is worth every penny. I'm not a fan of that handle shape. I prefer one to be more round with less edges that can create hot spots with hard use. Of the two in the pic the lower one would make a better knife. It reminds me of a Buck 103 which is a unique blade. I think the 103 is ugly but the way it handles food prep and game processing is terrific.
 
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I'll give my free opinion which is worth every penny. I'm not a fan of that handle shape. I prefer one to be more round with less edges that cab create hot spots with hard use. Of the two in the pic the lower one would make a better knife. It reminds me of a Buck 103 which is a unique blade. I think the 103 is ugly but the way it handles food prep and game processing is terrific.
Thank you for the constructive criticism.
 
What is that? You want to try out a JK or Good Knife Co. knife before you order one? Why yes, yes we do offer that service :D.

Details coming to The Good Knife Co's sticky page. $5 per week plus shipping to and from. The $5 gives you a credit towards that knife model if you decide to order within the next 30-days. For those that aren't used towards a new knife so that I make some money on the rental, $1 for each rental will go towards the Mighty Oaks Foundation.

This is a great way to see what model you might want, or determine what customization you would like John to add to your JK Knives JK Knives knife.

Models immediately available:
  1. Kephart
  2. Straight back element hunter in S30V
  3. Mud Turtle
  4. Personal Camp
  5. Rule #9
  6. Muddy Camp
  7. Pocket Kephart
  8. Pocket woodcrafter (on it's way back to me)
  9. Sick nasty prototype (will replace with final rendition in January once those are complete)
For now, I'll take orders through PM's on the forum or email me atwill be working on sharing a spreadsheet in my sticky later. I will be adding models as I buy them from John for my renting stock. Figure on about 1 addition per month for the 1st half of 2020.
 
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What is that? You want to try out a JK or Good Knife Co. knife before you order one? Why yes, yes we do offer that service :D.

Details coming to The Good Knife Co's sticky page. $5 per week plus shipping to and from. The $5 gives you a credit towards that knife model if you decide to order within the next 30-days. For those that aren't used towards a new knife so that I make some money on the rental, $1 for each rental will go towards the Mighty Oaks Foundation.

This is a great way to see what model you might want, or determine what customization you would like John to add to your JK Knives JK Knives knife.

Models immediately available:
  1. Kephart
  2. Straight back element hunter in S30V
  3. Mud Turtle
  4. Personal Camp
  5. Rule #9
  6. Muddy Camp
  7. Pocket Kephart
  8. Pocket woodcrafter (on it's way back to me)
  9. Sick nasty prototype (will replace with final rendition in January once those are complete)
For now, I'll take orders through PM's on the forum or email me at I will be working on sharing a spreadsheet in my sticky later. I will be adding models as I buy them from John for my renting stock. Figure on about 1 addition per month for the 1st half of 2020.
If there are changes on the prototypes I’ll need to get a pattern soon so I can plan for it.
 
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If there are changes on the prototypes I’ll need to get a pattern soon so I can plan for it.

Should have that tidied up this week. Overall size and materials used will be the same.
 
Alright ladies and gents, I have most of the "policy" parts of the rental program written up in the sticky. I really wanted to avoid a security deposit but I haven't found a good alternative and after some talks with paypal, it seems like the only way to protect myself from theft or unjustifiable breakage (pretty hard to break John's O1, so not too worried about that). The odd part for me is that I essentially need to take 2 payments, one as the rental fee of $5 through goods and services and then a $20 deposit through friends and family, because the security deposit and refund process is not covered in paypal's protections, so it's essentially just holding the money instead paying for a service.

I'm trying to find a more professional looking program for this, even like a property rental 3rd party for holding security deposits so it feels less sketchy to my customers, but this is the best I've come up with to protect myself from having expensive knives stolen. Because I'm not charging much for the actual rental fee, because my goal is to get people trying knives instead of making a nice profit from rentals, my risk is a bit high, thus the need for a security deposit. I hope you all understand and I think it's reasonable at the moment.

I hope everyone is enjoying their holidays this week and the next and John and I are really looking forward to getting you guys a killer 2020 with some of these new services and products being offered with our collaboration. I know I'm excited for being able to start interacting with customers more with my stuff, as well as seeing what John has up his sleeve for the new year.

God Bless and Merry Christmas.
 
Do you have pics of what the following look like? Apologies if they’re already on the forum (I don’t see them).
  1. Muddy Camp
  2. Pocket Kephart
  3. Pocket woodcrafter
 
Do you have pics of what the following look like? Apologies if they’re already on the forum (I don’t see them).
  1. Muddy Camp
  2. Pocket Kephart
  3. Pocket woodcrafter

In the order you requested

Muddy camp
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Pocket Kephart
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Both the pocket woodcrafter. I'm going with the scandivex grind for the final model (other is a saber grind) when these are up for sale next month (not opposed to pre-orders if you're interested ;)).
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Thanks for the quick reply. You’ve given me some more to think about.

Feel free to email me at as well if you ever have other questions. January and February will be very busy for me with starting the first runs of the pocket woodcrafter and sick nasty knives, getting other business stuff lined up, and finishing up my final class for my degree (finally...). Exciting stuff.
 
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Feel free to email me at as well if you ever have other questions. January and February will be very busy for me with starting the first runs of the pocket woodcrafter and sick nasty knives, getting other business stuff lined up, and finishing up my final class for my degree (finally...). Exciting stuff.

Will do! And congrats on the degree!!!
 
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Double tap.
I’m curious about the three I posted above. Any pics or specs would be appreciated.

I missed the request for specs.

The muddy camp is about a 6" blade and 5" handle with 1/8" O1 steel.
The pocket Kephart is about a 3" blade and 3.5" handle with 1/8" O1 steel. I didn't measure this or the muddy camp, so I'm roughly estimating to the nearest 1/2 inch based on feel and memory.

The pocket woodcrafter is 3 7/8" handle with a 2 3/4" blade made of 3/32" O1 steel. I am going to try and do most of my small knives in 3/32" steel so there's more variety when compared to John's offerings. I will likely try to stick with this all the way up to 4", maybe even 5" blades, but the extra cost of the thinner steel will be more pronounced once the knives get larger. This is where standardizing the handle materials and pins will help balance that out some.
 
Just linked in images for the list of knives available for rent such that clicking on the knife name brings you to an imgur album. I'll be adding better images to each model that doesn't have something nice for you to look at. I hope this helps keep things clean looking in the list but gives you a lot to look at, eventually, when considering what you would like to try.

Copied from the Good Knife Co. sticky for ease of reference.
Knives available for rent (album links in text):
  1. JK Kephart
  2. JK Element Hunter in S30V, Straight back customization
  3. JK Mud Turtle
  4. JK Personal Camp
  5. JK Rule #9
  6. JK Muddy Camp
  7. JK Pocket Kephart
  8. GK Co. Pocket woodcrafter
  9. GK Co. Sick nasty
 
Hopefully getting a knife in the hands of potential customers will help with sales. John has offered many models that in my opinion should have sold well but didn't. I think his take on a Personal Survival Knife (or PSK) is one that should have been popular but never took off.
 
Hopefully getting a knife in the hands of potential customers will help with sales. John has offered many models that in my opinion should have sold well but didn't. I think his take on a Personal Survival Knife (or PSK) is one that should have been popular but never took off.

That is really the hope. I think being able to get a knife before spending the full price to put it through it's paces as if you owned it should really bridge the gap between taking a chance on something you're unfamiliar with or going production where there are a ton of reviews on a mass produced model. This allows someone to review it themselves for a fairly small fee, IMO, and really cement in the user's mind if it's for them or not.

Or, you rent up 2-4 of them, like the Kephart, personal camp, mud turtle, or rule 9, and see which one(s) best suits your desires instead of buying all of them or just basing it off of specs and pictures.

Finally, and working this with someone like John, and you're like me and like to tinker with designs, you can try the base rendition and then make special requests from John for customizations. Want an element hunter, but want it a little different in handle length, blade length, or maybe a little different grind? Try out the element EDC (will have in early February for rent) and see what all you want to do with it. Want something bike like a personal camp combined with the handle of the mud turtle, rent one or both and see what you come up with (I assume this was the thinking behind the muddy camp that I have available, as a one-off). John and I really think the "try-before-you-buy" should really help give John's customers a laser focus on what adjustments they want on a knife, or they may even just find they really like what John has already done and skip what they thought might be an improvement.

I'm really excited to offer this service as I think it will really be helpful to customers, and John and I. I still want to get a better framework for working the rental service as there aren't too many good online payment methods I've found for operating rentals where I ship items and risk non-return.
 
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