Photos Vintage Kronenkrebs Fahrtenmesser / Scout knife

[kwackster]

Currently busy with modifying another large sawback scout knife, this one manufactured by the no longer existing Solingen based firm of Kronenkrebs.
The stag handle was way too thick for my hands, and the low sabergrind geometry was far from ideal for it's intended use as a large allround camp knife / chopper.
The quality of the drop-forged steel in the blade however makes it worthwile for me to put in some elbow grease.
This is how the knife looked when i bought it:



First i ground the old "edge" flat on the Tormek SB-250 stone, then ground down the blade's center ridges on both sides with a Chinese 120 grit diamond file, then reshaped the blade from a low sabergrind into a full convex one with the help of a somewhat modified cheap Parkside linisher that can now also be used as a slack belt grinder.

This is the machine i have:

Refining the blade surfaces as well as the actual forming & refining of the apex area was done by hand on grits 240 and 400 wet & dry paper using WD40 as a lubricant, while the burr was removed on the Tormek leather wheel.
The new apex can whittle a chest hair from hair root to hair tip @ about 30 degrees inclusive.
The grinding & sanding of the blade also automatically resharpened the sawback's teeth, and the full convex blade shape makes that the sawback is now the blade's thickest part, which reduces the chances of jamming when using it for sawing or notching.

The slack belt linisher also proved very useful for shaping a new handle made from 12 thick rubber washers, each one cut from an old piece of very wear resistant & triple fiber weave reinforced industrial conveyor belt.
The ground & shaped rubber has a very nice tactile feel to it and i suspect that it will also dampen shock quite effectively, which will aid it's use in it's intended role.
Also made a thick aluminium guard as a replacement for the factory installed useless piece of flimsy brass.
Guard & pommel are now permanently installed using 2-ton epoxy, while each rubber washer is glued to the next with a good rubber glue which stays flexible.

The knife is now ready for some field testing, and if that turns out satisfactory some more refining steps will follow.
This is how it currently looks (sheath has been waxed but still needs to be restitched):













Specs:

Overall length: 33,5 cm (13.9 inch)
Blade length: 21,0 cm (8.27 inch)
Max blade thickness: 5,7 mm
Steel type: drop-forged low alloy carbon steel
Handle materials: Aluminium guard & pommel with rubber washers
Weight: 388 grams
Sheath: leather

 

[Roamad]

That came out great. Really nice work!

Now you've made me desperately want a knife called the Fahrtenmesser.

 

[kwackster]

Thx

Opinions on this particular modified knife seem to vary a bit, as some say i've ruined it while others such as yourself seem to like it.
For me functionality trumps looks, so i'd rather have a truly useful blade than an aesthetically pleasing wallhanger.
I also think that the noticeably improved functionality provides this knife with a completely different set of good looks.
But i may be a bit biased,

Fahrtenmesser is the German word for a whole category of fixed blade knives (as well as one specific knife) that once was worn unassumingly on the belts of many German boys and men, and which were used for all kinds of tasks when travelling, on holidays, for kitchen duty, both within the city and out in the fields & forests.
In the US they are generally called scout knives, but originally it was more of an allround knife.
They also came in many sizes, ranging from really small models only fit for a small boys hand to around "Crocodile Dundee size". (see YouTube clip)
Most however were of average size with about a 4 or 5 inch blade, as this was deemed large enough for most tasks while still easy to carry on a belt.
In the clip below a German collector showcases one of the biggest versions, in this case a large Puma 6320 model:

 

[noviomagus]

I like that project. Beautifully done
But I have to say that I'm not much a fan of stag, and value function over looks as well.
I like Polypropylene for that reason.
Tough, and works well. Can even be shaped easily if needed.

So in this case.
I like the new look actually.

 

[kwackster]

The knife has already proven to be a very effective short chopper during 2019 and 2020, with it's heavy convex blade in low alloy carbon steel combined with a stick tang covered in shock dampening rubber.
Still working on thinning the convex blade shape a hair more every now and then, slowly approaching that sweet spot where the edge bites at maximum depth while at the same time the blade doesn't get stuck during chopping, and the saw on the back works best.
I think i'm almost there.
Pics were taken two weeks ago in the woods surrounding my home town.