What would you do with this knife, a thread for green river knife blades.

Hickory n steel

Hickory n steel

Gold Member
Joined
Feb 11, 2016
Messages
18,869
I have a Russel green river sheath knife blade coming from Jantz, as well as some black palm scales I may use depending on what they choose to include for scales with it.


I want to shoot for a bit of a trade era / mountain man kind of feel with it, and I'm just not sure how I'm gonna do it.


What would you guys do ?
I'm thinking I'll go with multiple smaller pins instead of the cutlers rivets for a more period correct look.
Beyond that though I'm not sure, I don't necessarily want to age or distress the knife but I do want to do something to really give it that authentic look for a little nod to the heritage of these green river knives.


Some carving on the handle and of a partial sinew wrap maybe ?




With the more period style pins and a rustic looking sheath It may be good to go after It develops a nice patina , but I have the temptation to get a little creative with while also keeping it simple.
 
I have made a couple of kitchen knives with that same blade, they take a nice edge. I put some old flooring wood handle on one (from my grandparents house) and put some dyed box elder on the other for my wife. On both, I drilled an extra hole (as seen in the picture) so the pins could be smaller. Make a couple different ones to see what you like, and give them away as gifts:)
Share your results with us!
 
Nice knife. :)
I have one I need to get scales for. Same dilema: What to get ...
I've been thinking horn/antler from what he probably hunted for the winter meat supply, and to smoke and make into jerky for the warmer months. (and for the hides, of course)

Historical!y, I think hickory was what the factory used. (Both Green River and Old Hickory) with the two cutter rivets.
Who knows what the owners put on as the knives aged and the handles cracked and became chipped. No doubt some of the trappers/mountain men of old replaced the scales with antler and bone, as well as whatever woods were available at their location.
 
Last edited:
Hickory n steel said:
I have a Russel green river sheath knife blade coming from Jantz, as well as some black palm scales I may use depending on what they choose to include for scales with it.


I want to shoot for a bit of a trade era / mountain man kind of feel with it, and I'm just not sure how I'm gonna do it.


What would you guys do ?
I'm thinking I'll go with multiple smaller pins instead of the cutlers rivets for a more period correct look.
Beyond that though I'm not sure, I don't necessarily want to age or distress the knife but I do want to do something to really give it that authentic look for a little nod to the heritage of these green river knives.


Some carving on the handle and of a partial sinew wrap maybe ?




With the more period style pins and a rustic looking sheath It may be good to go after It develops a nice patina , but I have the temptation to get a little creative with while also keeping it simple.
Click to expand...
I'm no expert, but it wouldn't surprise me if they'd have used oak for knife handles back then. I think you could hand pick some nice red oak and it would look pretty sharp.
 
afishhunter said:
Nice knife. :)
I have one I need to get scales for. Same dilema: What to get ...
I've been thinking horn/antler from what he probably hunted for the winter meat supply, and to smoke and make into jerky for the warmer months. (and for the hides, of course)

Historical!y, I think hickory was what the factory used. (Both Green River and Old Hickory) with the two cutter rivets.
Who knows what the owners put on as the knives aged and the handles cracked and became chipped. No doubt some of the trappers/mountain men of old replaced the scales with antler and bone, as well as whatever woods were available at their location.
Click to expand...
Cutlers compression rivets are a fairly modern thing, and historically the green river knives had 5 small pins.
2 in the front 2 in the back, and 1 in the center.
As for Old Hickory knives I don't believe compression rivets were in common use by the time they were introduced.

As Scotty J suggests, oak is a likely candidate for the wood they used.
I would be surprised if whatever wood used wasn't something grown locally to the Green river works.
 
I have seen many examples of green river and other like knives with Xs having been carved Into the handles by the original owners and I quite like that idea.
 
Last edited:
You got me thinking. Looks like a great idea for a project, I might give it a shot too.
I hope show pics of of the process.
 
This is the idea I've currently got in my head.


I really like the 2 X's in the middle which seems to be a common way users would add a little extra grip to their knives, but I'm not sure about the diagonal grooves at each end.

For some reason I just can't get the handle of the German Nahkampfmesser our of my head with the 9 grooves in it's handle.

I don't know why but when I think of filing notches into a wooden handle for grip that knife pops into my head every single time.
It's completely unrelated, but it's something I can't get out of my head and feel compelled to do.

It would also look good with an x at each end and the 6 grooves in the middle, they could be at each end or in the middle and they could also be vertical too.

Which do you guys think would look better , ends or middle for the grooves and vertical or diagonal ?
 
Last edited:
A stretched sinew turk's head knot would make a nice guard, not sure how authentic it would be, but it would look good and give a positive stop for your hand.
 
Got it in today, and got the 1/8" holes drilled.



I think they gave me some purple heart scales.


I like them and may use them if I get impatient, but purple is my mom's favorite color and I think it's probably best if I save it for another knife for her.

I also have some red oak already that would look great and probably more appropriate, but then I have some black palm wood coming too.

I think I'll do a practice run with the red oak and if I like it I'll just leave it.
 
Last edited:
The tough part (at least for me) is getting the edges even all around. How thick did you make the handles? Did you epoxy the wood or just pin it?
 
Ernie1980 said:
The tough part (at least for me) is getting the edges even all around. How thick did you make the handles? Did you epoxy the wood or just pin it?
Click to expand...
3/8" thickness for the scales, but slightly tapered down towards the blade.
These are just tacked on with super glue, so I can easily pop them off.

When I go to put handles on it for real I will use epoxy, unless I want to peen the pins a little which might be more authentic.
 
An original for inspiration. There is no visible trademark, so I don't know the make, but it's pretty representative of the type. Maple scales on this one, but beech is the most used wood in my observation. Think plain if you want original flavor, but then add checkering and initials or rawhide or wire wraps, etc.IMG_0196.JPGIMG_0197.JPG
 
3fifty7 said:
I got a thing for nice curly maple, so that’s the direction I’d go.


What particularly do you not like or feel the need to improve.
Click to expand...
The heavily beveled front and back ends of the handle mostly, the wood blowout around the front and rear pin holes, and I radiused the front of the scales too much.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top