Blade May 2023

“THEY WERE AN OBVIOUS FIT IN HELPING US DEVELOP TOP-NOTCH AMERICAN-MADE KNIVES.”—DOUG FLAGG CRKT, Hogue Ink Deal Columbia River Knife & Tool and Hogue Knives have announced a partnership around the next generation of CRKT knives, a CRKT news release reported. The alliance melds two top names in the knife and tool industry, aligning CRKT’s acumen for design with Hogue’s trade expertise in manufacturing, form, function and ergonomics. The partnership kicked off at SHOT Show 2023 with the launch of two new U.S.-made CRKT knives, the Definitive and LCBK, and will continue moving forward as the two brands collaborate on future projects. “We’ve known the team at Hogue Knives for quite some time and their sterling reputation in the marketplace is well deserved,” said Doug Flagg, CRKT vice-president of marketing and innovation. “As we…

The featured cover knives are, from top, the Kershaw Inception, Casström No. 10 Swedish Forest Knife and Darklore from Condor Tool & Knife. The Inception flipper folder has a 3.25-inch blade of D2 tool steel and a G-10 handle with an ambidextrous/reversible, tip-up, deep-carry pocket clip. Closed length: 4 inches. For more on it, see page 42. Designed by Joe Flowers, the Darklore features a 4.25-inch blade of Scandi-ground 1095 carbon steel and a smooth black paper Micarta® handle. Overall length: 9.25 inches. For more on it, see page 30. The No. 10 Swedish Forest Knife has a 3.75-inch blade of full-flat-ground Sandvik 14C28N stainless steel, and a green/black Micarta® handle with black liners. Overall length: 8.6 inches. For more on it, see page 12. The inset shot at upper right is of…

BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall-Of-Fame® member Michael Walker—aka “the Lord of the Linerlock”—chef’s knife guru Bob Kramer, Steve Schwarzer’s and Ron Hardman’s “3D Printing for Canister Patterns” and much more promise to make the 10th Annual BLADE University (page 36) yet another one for the schoolbooks. Has it been nine years* already? It seems like just yesterday that BLADE Show 2014 presented the first BLADE University. Cutlery Hall-Of-Famer Joe Keeslar headlined a special series of classes entitled “Knives the ABS Way,” which included instruction on how the ABS tests its knives, the concept of line and flow, and Joe’s how to on wire inlay in handles and sheaths. There were also classes on collecting the knives of the legends, GRS engraving instruction, knife designs of the masters and all about Japanese swords…

Bushcraft skills have grown immensely in popularity in the past few years. It could be the slew of TV shows promoting survival situations or just perhaps an interest in self-sufficiency. What is true is that the knife industry is playing catch-up to the bushcrafting market, and many new products pop up that have features dedicated to keeping you alive and warm in the woods. “THE KNIVES ARE LADEN WITH LITTLE INTRICACIES THAT ACHIEVE TASKS OTHER THAN CUTTING.” Recent years have seen an influx of knife features deemed ideal for use with another essential tool—the ferro rod striker. Ferro rods are made of ferrocerium, an alloy consisting of several base metals and magnesium. Magnesium is highly reactive and generates showers of sparks as it is scraped against steel. Think of it as a…

SPEC CHART PATTERN: Fillet knife BLADE LENGTH: 6.89” BLADE STEEL: RWL-34 stainless ROCKWELL HARDNESS: 60 HRC BLADE TAPER: Full distal to tip BLADE THICKNESS AT RICASSO: .09” HANDLE MATERIAL: Ringed gidgee, black G-10 liners, ¼” stainless corby bolts and lanyard hole OVERALL LENGTH: 12.8” MAKER’S PRICE FOR A SIMILAR KNIFE: $400 (includes a leather sheath) MAKER: Dwayne Williams, Dept. BL5, 1 Ridolfi Close, Gordonvale, Queensland, Australia 4865 (+61) 0417647547 dwaynewilliams003@hotmail.com (Rod Hoare image edit) SPEC CHART MODEL NAME: Cajun Cutter MODEL TYPE: Nakiri BLADE LENGTH: 3” BLADE STEEL: CPM 154 stainless BLADE GRIND: Flat BLADE FINISH: 1,000-grit satin HANDLE MATERIAL: Multi-wood OVERALL LENGTH: 7.25” MAKER’S PRICE FOR A SIMILAR PIECE: $450 MAKER: Don Sylvest, Waxahachie, Texas, don.sylvest@gmail.com (Jocelyn Frasier image edit) SPEC CHART KNIFE PATTERN: Fixed bowie BLADE LENGTH: 10.625” BLADE MATERIAL: 1075 carbon steel BLADE GRIND: Full flat w/swedge BLADE FINISH: 1,200-grit, hand-pulled BLADE AT THICKEST: .27” at guard, tapered toward tip HANDLE MATERIAL: Stabilized buckeye burl w/domed…

This story is a change of pace from what you might regularly expect from me for BLADE®. Since this is the bushcraft / survival issue, the subject is a very old tool used for hunting and defense: the atlatl. Over 20 years ago I attended a primitive skills event in Michigan where the Michigan Atlatl Association was having its annual competition. I was amazed at how accurate the people could be using an atlatl, not to mention how much energy they could generate throwing one. However, I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself. For starters I want to explain why I’m discussing atlatls in the first place. One of the key points to remember during a survival situation is efficiency, because efficiency saves calories and resources. I know, many…