My New Knife : A True American Classic

[bruce moulds]

it looks like it was caught in a snare.
bruce.

 

[Major Khan]

it looks like it was caught in a snare.
bruce.

No , I just had to tie a piece of cable around it ... So that my Chakma tribal servants could hoist up the brute's corpse and place it on the back of my truck . These superstitious simpletons believe that touching a black cat will lead to bad luck . Some silly story about their cat goddess striking them down ... with a curse .

 

[steve white]

Having been in the knife industry for 3 1/2 years in the mid 1980s I met many times with designers and engineers from Buck, Gerber, Case, Imperial Schrade, Lansky, Norton, and others. The ACA (American Cutlery Association) had get togethers at different locations. Very enjoyable with just a touch of competition thrown in.
I was the manufacturing engineer for Western Cutlery, then the oldest knife company west of the Mississippi River.
Strangely of all the knives I’ve owned, none have been Buck!
Most of mine during that time were prototype models. Including special runs yearly for the Wyoming One Shot Antelope Hunt in Lander. I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to attend one where I presented the custom knives to each of the 25 shooters and the governor. I got to meet some very interesting people including Roy Rogers (even in his late 70s he could consistently hit the steel ram at 400 yards off hand!) and Guy Madison (another TV cowboy). Enough nostalgia.

Like Redleg, a drop point has always worked better for me for eviscerating and skinning. As a hunting knife I vastly prefer fixed blades. Stronger, better grips for control, and easier sharpening control. I also prefer a horizontal belt sheath.

Sharpening I can do with a double sided (coarse, fine) 8-10” stone (the longer, the easier), a home made leather strop (for fine shaving edges), and a chef’s steel (for most edges). I rarely get shaving sharp except for special very thin delicate blades. I feel it’s not normally needed for 90% of cutting situations.
I also like sharpening using a wheel made of MDF on a grinder along with jeweller’s rouge. Absolutely the fastest way to sharpen outside of production sharpening equipment.

A little insight I have found is if you steel after a few cuts and never allow the blade to get very dull, you can go a very long time without heavy resharpening. This is why you often see butchers steeling between very little cutting. JME

I’ve rattled on enough. Interesting thread Poton. Thanks for everyone’s patience allowing me to jabber!

I have a two knife hunting set made by Western for Buckmasters. One is s18 steel and the other s2 How do these steels rate in terms of staying sharp?

 

[Ridgewalker]

I have a two knife hunting set made by Western for Buckmasters. One is s18 steel and the other s2 How do these steels rate in terms of staying sharp?

We only used 1095 carbon steel (for the toughest knives) and 440C for stainless (best at the time). Sorry, but I’ve never heard of s18 nor s2.

 

[F. Vaccaro]

Kind of late, but I have a buck110, Buck refurbished it last month. The blade lock had become hard to release. It’s again one of my favorites. I bought it in the early 90s.