Thread: small knife design , your input.

Originally Posted by stevodog

B for me bro.
This my favourite small knifeAttachment 134991

Shit, thats had some use, or did you reshape the blade ?

Nah, new amerikiwi. I'd love to try and wear one out though

Here is a little selection of what I use from top to bottom with advantages and inconveniences:
Cold steel drop forge hunter ( French design of a friend of a friend) good heavy blade shape. Actually too heavy but the same in a smaller and lighter format would work great. Not too pointy for gutting. Not really suitable for fishing.
Opinel gardner number 8: my do everything knife, good blade design to do everything, not too pointy, blade fine enough to do a bit of fish work, stainless, easy to resharp and very light.
Helle with Scandinavian edge: super easy to get sharp . Very Good for hunting , skinning and gutting. Not designed for fishing
Ruike : a bit of a towny hipster knife. Probably better at hunting than fishing.
Norman E. Sandow: I find the blade too pointy for gutting and skinning also it still work well for cutting meat out and deboning ( gently). The blade is fine and works pretty well on fish.
Forge Enault: again too pointy for gutting but does fine for other hunting tasks. Not the best for fish as the blade is too thick and prone to rust easily
My grand dad Fiskar filleting knife: my favourite fishing knife. I also use it for removing sinews from venison back steaks.

Just my view on those different shapes. I am not sure that a same knife can do very well for both hunting and fishing. You will have to compromise somewhere I think. Model A is probably what would work best for what I do I think.

For me handle shape is more important than blade length , drop point is my prefered shape .
I'd have to hold each handle in my hand before I could choose a winner .
Blade shape winner for me is " A. "

HaHa, you guys are fucken awesome, love the comments and feedback....... I might make a few in D2 or something, keep the feedback coming.
Make some in Micarta and some with nice wood.

Originally Posted by stevodog

Nah, new amerikiwi. I'd love to try and wear one out though

completely different shape blade to mine....it looks like the back of blade has had a curve taken out of it....hmmmm food for thought....

+1 For A with C's handle. I have a folder that has pretty much the exact same profile as A and its been awesome! (See below overlay) I'd highly recommend.

Hard case..I quite like these upswept skinner style, particularly as I don't gut animals. If doing so id probably get a finger behind the point

Ahh, noting like a good old fashioned knife (design) fight!

Personally I have never figured out the whole "trout and bird" blade design …….. it doesn't spin my wheels.

My take on it is that the bigger the game/animal being processed the more you can tolerate a non-optimal blade shape. For an extreme example, if you really had to you could field dress a deer with an axe. Not so much when the game fits in two hands (or one).
The smaller the game, the more specialised the blade design needs to be if its going to be efficient at its job and maximise the recovery of meat.

To me, fish are such a specialised game to be processed, and a thin, narrow, flexible/nonflexible, upswept blade is really the only design that does them justice. I have also found that breasting game birds fall into the same category, and a fillet knife of around 200mm blade length is about spot on. The very best blade I have used for that purpose is the Buck Silver Creek folding fillet knife. Super safe to carry in your pack, no added weight of a sheath, good quality steel.
However, not the best knife in the world if you want to pinch grip the tip of the blade and scalpel cut the pelt of a rabbit for skinning. For that you need a short 50-60mm blade, which is bloody useless for filleting a fish.

I think the blade you are designing @viper is probably the hardest to get right, and small variations, even in blade thickness, make a big difference in how the blade performs. Its a great challenge.
Personally, I don't think you can cover all the bases with one knife.

My suggestion for what its worth, go for a pair of knives as a kit.
One blade shape is specialised towards boning big game, filleting, breasting small birds, and the other blade is specialised towards skinning and gutting. Keep the handles compact with thin scales so that they stack well together in a double knife sheath.

This very challenge is what led me to make my three knife kit.

Looking forward to see what design you settle on.

c would be my choice

Cripes! I just use a mercator at the kill and then a shape like "b" once the animal is hung up. Fillet knife for fish prep.

The handle on C is getting a lot of interest and I understand why .
Butttttt........ only if it is of a size and dimension that actually fits your hand , the original brief was a small knife with a 100mm handle .
That handle design isn’t the most size efficient if your trying to keep it compact.

@viper - not sure if you do already, but I like looking at what the guys are selling on the Blade Forum. You get a daily dose if other guys/girls inspiration across a broad spectrum of different styles and manufacturing techniques.

This one came up for sale this morning and looks very nice, and is in the size and design category you are working on at the moment https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/...-sold.1721393/

B for me

I guarantee however I would cut myself with any of them eventually.

I like one, for a design, for the last few years, I've been carrying a trout and bird, from Grohmann, (Canada)
Nice little compact knife, holds a edge well, and big enough for deer,
They now sell these as a kit, so you can build your own, might have to order one is, If get layed off.