After a new knife on a budget. Help please?

[Raybennett]

Hi all, thanks for looking. I'm in the Market for a general bushcraft use knife. Funds are an issue for me at the moment. Having just had a little lad, and been laid off work. I've seen alot of people praise mora. To be honest I'd like a natural handle of some kind. And scandi grind( something I can't find anywhere locally) I asked my good lady for a knife for a birthday present. I asked her to get me a bushcraft knife. Which she asked for, to which the shop owner reccomended her a Winchester guthook knife. It's a good bit of kit, if you butcher elephants or rhinos regular. Or your names Mick Dundee. Haha. It took me a while to tell her what happened. I'm always skeptical of buying anything online I haven't seen or held before, unless it comes reccomended. Everyone here seems to know what they're on about and gives grounded advice so any help appreciated thanks. Oh yeah cheap as poss, £50 maybe if it's lovely thank you. Oh yeah something else. I was looking on bison bushcraft the other day and he had some knives £700+. what's the difference between them and say one john fenna or the like would make? Cheers
Ray

 

[John Fenna]

Mine are stick tang not full tang, bought in blades not hand made by myself from rare steels and perhaps the knives are not made to the same high quality of fit and finish.
Still - I use the knives I make and not had one fail yet.... and the fit and finish of some £100 knivesis not all that good...

 

[Tank]

I was looking on bison bushcraft the other day and he had some knives £700+. what's the difference between them and say one john fenna or the like would make? Cheers
Ray

The difference is I would happily use one of Johns knives, but a £700 one i would keep locked away in a safe (not that i would buy one that expensive). I havent got one of Johns knives (yet) but get have a look at some of his knives which i feel good in the hand and will do the same job as an expensive knife.

 

[Raybennett]

Well the the main thing for me, and always has been as far I'm concerned if function and value. I've just had a message from a friend I made on here about buying a blank and making my own. Even offered some brass wood etc and show me how to go. If I don't go down that route john I think I'll have one off you. As I'm sure you wouldn't sell something. Ot upto task. Cheers john

 

[John Fenna]

Beware of making your own - it is addictive (as I know!) and you end up making more knives than you can ever use yourself!

 

[Tadpole]

Beware of making your own - it is addictive (as I know!) and you end up making more knives than you can ever use yourself!

It really changes how you think, I was looking at a 30 year old broken mahogany draw front, trying to work out if and how many knives I could handle with the wood from it. It's a slippery road to go down.

 

[Raybennett]

Beware of making your own - it is addictive (as I know!) and you end up making more knives than you can ever use yourself!

Haha. I'm sure it is john, where would you reccomend to get a blank from john? And what steel/metal would you reccomend?

 

[John Fenna]

It really changes how you think, I was looking at a 30 year old broken mahogany draw front, trying to work out if and how many knives I could handle with the wood from it. It's a slippery road to go down.

My oak (Victorian) chest of draws (skip rescue) and busted beech 3 piece suite have done me proud over the years!
As to steels - I prefer carbon steel to stainless, tool steel is great ...s/s is soul-less .
I started by rehandling knives I had but with damaged grips.
There are loads of blanks available from makers on this site or from the web but I would chose a basic 4"ish full tang for my first project...
I realy like the one from www.castrom.co.uk that I reviewed on the front page of this site a while back..... a big ol bushy knife that should be inside your budget....

 

[ProjeKtWEREWOLF]

I've been hearing good things about Condor Knives. Well thought of as budget blades on the British Blades forum. Heinnie have them.

 

[Xunil]

There are a few UK suppliers of blades and related paraphernalia but may I suggest that you cast the net a little wider and check out the www.brisa.fi website.

All of my own using knives are hidden (stick) tang and I don't often make full tang knives these days. Any arguments over strength are negated by the simple fact that what, exactly, does anyone plan on doing that is ever going to challenge the strength of their knife in such a severe manner that they need it to double as a crowbar ?

Some of my favourite commercially available blades are the Lauri carbon 77 and the Lauri carbon 95

They are thin blades and so make great slicing knives which, I would suggest, is the primary use of any outdoors knife. They are well heat treated, take an incredible edge and are easy to resharpen. You can't argue with the price either...

If you are one of the crowd that likes to baton a knife you should buy something thicker and, on that note, you could still plump for the stouter Mora and simply replace the handle.

This all depends on what you want your knife to do - give me a thin and sharp blade every time, but others prefer something that I view as grossly overbuilt.

The current trend for Scandi ground knives is all well and good but most are made substantially thicker than the majority of Scandi knives - nobody seems to even know or care about this for some reason, which is something I don't understand at all.

What makes Scandi knives work is the grind in relation to thickness and relatively small size. The current trend doesn't really share that much in common with the knives you would find made and sold in Norway, Finland, Sweden etc, but talking like that usually gets me into trouble as some kind of heretic so...

Go figure.

It all boils down to what you want to do with it and, far more importantly, what you are capable of doing with it.

I'll get my coat...

 

[Bardster]

I would agree with all thats been said above, some good advice from some good people.
If on the other hand you dont want to make your own and are a little impatient then you could do a lot worse than browsing the Heinnie site. There this for example at a mere 34 notes,

or these helle knives for a little more
http://www.heinnie.com/Knives/Helle-Knives/c-1-92-150/

 

[Xunil]

I would agree with all thats been said above, some good advice from some good people.
If on the other hand you dont want to make your own and are a little impatient then you could do a lot worse than browsing the Heinnie site. There this for example at a mere 34 notes,

or these helle knives for a little more
http://www.heinnie.com/Knives/Helle-Knives/c-1-92-150/

That's an absolute belter - it looks very comfortable to hold and a useful size to boot, and a steal at that price.

 

[sensi5446]

Like Bradster said check out Heinnie site, there's lot to choose from and I've only had excellent service from them. Check out British Blades site lot of good advice knifes.

 

[FGYT]

Beware of making your own - it is addictive (as I know!) and you end up making more knives than you can ever use yourself!

you dont say :yikes:

if you look at Brisa and want something check first its usually a min order of 30euros and min 15euros delivery:yikes:

English hand made knives stock a lot of Brisa stuff

http://www.english-handmade-knives.co.uk/

also rememebr if you make one you need a few tools (which you may have) and you need to make a sheath which will need you to lay out on a few tools you probably dont have etc

that is the main reason most who make one make more as its the investment on tools and material and once you have it and find you like it its all over

my first cheap make it my self knife cos im not spending £300 on a bit of metal with a bit of wood only cost £5 in material and a few days hand work

now ive found ive spent the best part of £5000 on materialas and tools in the last 2 yrs and am looking at buying more bigger tools :yikes::yikes:

still didnt waste £300 on a woodlore to find out i didnt like it uppy_dog

ATB

Duncan

 

[santaman2000]

Just looked up the Winchester guthook. It's only a 5 inch blade; generally the minimum size for a sheath knife here although I've yet to figure out what the "guthook" is actually for. I've butchered many deer and never sen anything like that used. We did use to issue a knife with just that hook at the end of the blade for cutiing tangled parachute lines without cutting anything else (how did this migrate to a supposed butchering blade) If you're not set on a sheath knife I'd reccomend the Buck 110. I know not a lot of people on this forum are'nt fans but it's always served me well (for over 30 years now) It's a no nonsense straightforward blade with a comfortable handle in a compact, lightwieght, affordable package. The real answer though is listen to the advise you've asked for then decide what YOU like. A bit hard on a budget cause the right way to do that would be: try a Moira, try a Buck, try making your own, try each and every knife you can. Budget or not, you'll wind up doing this anyway cause as John Fenna said it's addictive and you're always going to be looking for something better. I still try new ones too but I always come back to the Buck.

 

[Squidders]

http://www.survival-school.org/Default.aspx?tabid=280&ProductID=469

Great knife at a good price.

 

[unorthadox]

Hi all, thanks for looking. I'm in the Market for a general bushcraft use knife. Funds are an issue for me at the moment. Having just had a little lad, and been laid off work. I've seen alot of people praise mora. To be honest I'd like a natural handle of some kind. And scandi grind( something I can't find anywhere locally) I asked my good lady for a knife for a birthday present. I asked her to get me a bushcraft knife. Which she asked for, to which the shop owner reccomended her a Winchester guthook knife. It's a good bit of kit, if you butcher elephants or rhinos regular. Or your names Mick Dundee. Haha. It took me a while to tell her what happened. I'm always skeptical of buying anything online I haven't seen or held before, unless it comes reccomended. Everyone here seems to know what they're on about and gives grounded advice so any help appreciated thanks. Oh yeah cheap as poss, £50 maybe if it's lovely thank you. Oh yeah something else. I was looking on bison bushcraft the other day and he had some knives £700+. what's the difference between them and say one john fenna or the like would make? Cheers
Ray

For £50, you can probly ask one of the members online to make u one. That way it is tailored to you, it will be your preferred shape, size, material and so on, you can also request custom engravings on the blade, handle and sheath. If thats too expensive, then prehaps askign someone to modify a blade you are moderitly happy with.

 

[Itzal]

For £50, you can probly ask one of the members online to make u one. That way it is tailored to you, it will be your preferred shape, size, material and so on, you can also request custom engravings on the blade, handle and sheath. If thats too expensive, then prehaps askign someone to modify a blade you are moderitly happy with.

In that case then, Who on here makes knives for that price???

 

[Lynx]

You need to check out the classifieds on here and British Blades to see what's on offer. This one is £60 though:
http://www.britishblades.com/forums/showthread.php?119950-T.K.rabbiting-knife

 

[flexo]

Buy a blade at brisa,carve out a handle from good looking local timber(s), make a wooden insert,plus leather!
that's it !you've got your bushcraft knife and you used your buscraft skills to make it!