My New Neo Tribal KITH

This Is How It All Started, on KnifeDogs.com Forum.

 

old spring(my KITH WIP)

I finally got the beast forged out and almost ready to heat-treat, blade is approx. 18", not sure why it had to be so big....
Forged from a leaf-spring from a totaled 78 camero. I'm working on this one while also working on some commissions, so progress is slow and sporadic.

A neo-tribal seax!

I'm thinking about bone for the handle, not really sure as yet... we shall see.

George Ezell, bladesmith


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This is what I posted on the forum:

Just Got My NT KITH!

WooHoo!!!!! A card was left in my mailbox yesterday that a box is ready for pickup at the local post office. Sweet just one more day. Well today I picked up the package and was surprised by the size and weight of the box. Headed out to open it up and...Hello! What's this? This thing is a BEAST! It's almost 26 inches, fits my hand well and is very sharp. Check out the work on the sheath. Apparently it had a wardrobe malfunction before it got to me, but I would never be able to tell. George put a heck of a lot of work into this piece of art. Check out these pics:







This knife was more than worth the wait. George you did an Awesome job! I can't thank you enough. And as it turns out George is just down the road a piece from me. Hope we can meet some time. Thanks for putting this KITH on Jonathon.

Cani Credimus - In Dog We Trust

Two more things coming up shortly.  A 4th of July Gift Swap on Bladeforums and another KITH on KnifeDogs.  I love getting new knives and stuff.  This is what it's all about...Swapping Stuff with other guys.  Giving one of my knives and getting one of theirs.  This is how I will amass my very own custom knife collection.

franklin

action pics from my kith knife (by patrick)

Well guys no one ever said i was a gentle guy, so here's some shots of my knife in action.
Let me start buy saying i was very pleased with this knife when I received it, good look to it and feel was a little worried at first at how thick the edge was but got over that in a hurry once i started cutting, granted she's no razor, but after cutting 2 2x4s in half she sliced through some   7 oz leather rather easy. All and all Patrick made a great camp knife that i will use for a long time to come.

The only thing i would change is by making the guard a little longer. When swinging with force, my finger slid forward into the bottom edge of the guard. And then that was not that large of a deal either.

So in the end i got a awesome knife that i really enjoy, great job Patrick. This one will stay in my family for many years!!!

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here's some more pics

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Patrick

Thanks for the cool posting Larry. That was only the second time I've done a guard like that and the first one is still on a shelf somewhere. I don't have one of the fancy hammers that Joe Keeslar uses to forge the guards. I made do, but will make them bigger from now on. I really appreciate the input. The edge was convexed cuz it was a little thick. It sure tears through 2x4's. That was some tough steel there, hope it serves you well my friend.

Cani Credimus - In Dog We Trust

Review- Spyderco C144G Calypso 3.5

I almost forgot about reviewing this knife recently.  Also wanted to mention that my website has been started and should continue to improve as time goes on.






This is an excellent knife. I love the looks and feel of the Calypso 3.5. It took a trip with me to Nashvegas to meet up with my daughter, son-in-law and my grandson. All the normal everyday tasks I put it through were easy for it to handle. It was used for opening boxes, mail, cutting apples & peaches, cutting GB ties, and even some PE hose I use at work. Only took a few licks to sharpen it back up.

One thing I really liked was the jimping on both the top and bottom of the blade. That feature made it very comfortable to hold and use. More knives should have that as it made it easy for anyone to handle the knife well.

There were a couple of big cons for me. I couldn't get over the way the clip was. Guess I'm so used to having it tip down plus there was no option to change it. Except the clip could be put on the back of the same side.
The other thing I couldn't get used to was the lockback, so used to liner locks. Most times I need to have one hand operation of my knives. I found that I pulled out my EDC necker instead of the Caly because it could be done with one hand.

This knife will not be on my "Must Have" list. I feel very neutral about it, although I am glad to have the chance to play with it. Overall the knife is top rate, just not for me. Hope y'all like it.

Review- KFU FattyCrafter

Fatty Fatty 2x4

The KFU FattyCrafter

I received the KFU FattyCrafter 6/2/12 after coming home from doing a show in Hohenwald, TN. Wow! What a knife.

First impression is good. This is a nice looking package. Knife is great and the sheath is made very well. It is adaptable to any belt, pack or system whether you are right or left handed. A+

Huge F’n handle, sweet wood and very cool liners. SS pin and thong tube with a nice etch on the blade.

Specs:
Weight - 14 oz 400gr with sheath
8.8oz 250gr without sheath

OAL- 9.210”
Handle- 4.960”L 1.190”H 1.136” W
Blade- 4.250”L 0.138”T 1.100”W
Edge- 4.020”L
Grind- 0.799” +/-
Pin- 0.250” Thong- 0.250”

Sunday 6/3 I carried it around with me all day while I did some forging. Used it to prep and devour some wonderful venison steak. The steak even left some markings on the blade.



Wednesday 6/6 was my testing day. First up is my go to destruction test. There is part of a 24” PVC water pipe at our water plant that can eat up a blade. I poked it more that a dozen times w/o damage and chopped quite a few times. The only thing hurt was my temple as a piece whizzed off and hit me leaving a mark. This pipe is over an inch thick and when chopped at, pieces sound like bullets whizzing by.



Started to chop up an 8” PVC pipe. As you can see I chopped a good hole through it. This stuff is strong and there were chips everywhere.



Cut some garden hose into little pieces without much effort. No challenge, still sharp.



Fatty Fatty 2x4 pt2

Don't know why but I can't post many pics in one thread. The pic of the upcoming 2x2 ended up on the first thread. Okay...

More chopping. Started this next phase with some old construction lumber from a demo next door. The 2x2 went faster than I can remember(see 1st thread). After a few whacks on the 2x4 I had to put a lanyard on to keep it from slipping out of my hands. I used a couple zip ties for this and it worked for me. It took some work to get through the 2x4 but the knife came out much better than my shoulder did. After I got home to play some more I noticed that one of the scales maybe both had separated a bit. Without even checking it out my hands just kinda snapped it back to normal.



And the last thing I tested it on was stabbing an old mailbox a bunch of times. About ¼” of the edge rolled a tiny bit. The edge was cleaned up with just a few licks on my stone.



Fatty Porn



All-in-all this was truly a beast of a knife. Chris did a great job on it and I’d be proud to own any of his work. Thanks Chris for letting my participate and all the communication.

Neo Tribal KITH on KnifeDogs.com

So I signed up for two different KITH's recently.  One was a Mini KITH.  The knife you make is only supposed to be 1-3inches long.  I started the knife but put it aside.  I'll finish this and be totally ready for it next year.  The other is a Neo Tribal KITH.  This is done without power tools.  Dang!  This knife was tough to complete.  All the tools I use and USED TO take for granted will be greatly appreciated once again.  Here's my posting on the forum:

My KITH is ready!

Wasn't sure if I was going to make the deadline, but...It's Done!!!!!!!!!! Don't really know how it compares to others.

This started out as a piece of spring steel from some farm impliment found on the homestead. You can see what it was from. This was a humbling experience for me. It really took me back to the days when I started out making stuff with no power tools. Seems like a long time ago.





Copper rivets were used to hold the sheath together, 13 in all.

Any way this knife has a forged integral guard that I think is cool. Joe Keeslar taught me that at Batson’s in 2011. The knife took its shape without drawings. I didn’t have a plan when I set out. Wanted it to emerge from the steel into something.

The handle is some curly hickory given to me by a woodworker friend from just down the road. It has 100+ year old leather spacers that was from an old PTO belt that I got from the blacksmith that sold me my first forge. I used recycled copper tubing for the flared pins. First time flaring the pins. I wanted a true mechanical means to keep the handles on, only a bit of epoxy was used. There is just a hole for the thong to which I have attached a hank of leather with an antler bead.



OAL is 13"
Blade is 6.875"L x 1.875"W
Handle with guard is 5.375"
Filework on blade
Weight is 13.4oz or 380grams

I surely do hope whoever gets this knife likes it. It wore me out sanding it.

Pat

Cani Credimus - In Dog We Trust