A Great Knife handle

Something that makes for a very nice knife handle material is
this vintage maple I have been using.

This is very hard traditional old growth maple that has a unique
look and feel to it.  The texture from the rough cut is left on both
sides of the handle smoothed down just enough to not hurt your
hand but to provide a very nice grip.

If you watch the video below you will see on both knives the
handles are a little squarer in shape as the edges are smoothed
down just enough to fill the hand.

This can be used on a select group of knives. So if your thinking
about it in the future for a custom order ask me.

The larger of the 2 knives in this video will be posted up for
sale on the website on Available knives gallery 1 
sometime Monday 10/01/12

Thank you

Matt
ML Knives
http://www.mlknives.com

A Decent Pack Basket..With the Hudson bay Camp Knife

Wandering through the woods, hiking and the like I love bringing

my side bag that you have all seen in my posts and on my website.

Nothing will replace it, as a matter of fact allot of time I wear 2

bags criss cross.

This being said I have been using a pack basket lately and I figured

I would give a shout out to the folks that made one for me and my wife.
(Also know as the Trapper's Basket)

The 2 pack baskets I had made were purchased from Ridgerunner's

Adirondack Pack Baskets. I will post the link to the website at the
end of this.

These baskets are hand woven from reed, not from pounded ash.  They
are decently made and stout enough to handle a trip through the thick back
country.  I have used mine as well as my wife without any trouble at all.

I have mine packed with everything I think I may need for a day (or
longer in the woods).

My pack basket is on the right and is the Medium sized basket 18" tall.  My
Hudson bay camp knife is shown by the basket and should give
you a good idea of the size as the blade is 8" long on my camp knife.
One of my personal knives next to the Hudson has about a 4" blade.

The Basket on the left is my wife's the youth basket 15" tall.  I would say
either sized basket would work well for a full grown man, just depends
on what you want to pack in it and what your needs are.

Both Baskets have cotton webbing straps and are fully adjustable.
These baskets can be ordered natural or stained.  I picked the natural
and I will let nature age it and get all kinds of good patina going on it.

My Hudson Bay Camp knife inside the pack basket should give you a good idea of the opening size

Now for how the pack basket works out in the wild.  I have found that wearing this
pack basket is very comfortable.  The reed kinda forms to your back when you put
it on and get trudging through the thick brush, and I didn't seem to have much of an
issue with this hanging up on thick brush as I thought it might.  These are also very
stout and durable like I mentioned above, don't get me wrong I don't think you could
do a dance on the basket without destroying it, but for what I put it through it seems
to hold up fine.

I also find it very easy to get to things I have packed in the basket, no need to unzip
zippers or fumble around with pockets and if you find something in the woods like a
neat old stone just throw it in the back and your good to go. Also with the weight I
had in it at one point I didn't find this basket breaking down in any way. I would say
I have a good 25 pounds in it or even more.

You might be thinking, that sounds great but what about a down pour?   I have found
a simple answer to this.  Although plastic zip bags aren't traditional, they work good
to store everything that could get damaged or ruined in rain.   Another solution that
I will probably make in the future is a well oiled leather top.

Nothing more needs to be added here.  I just thought a decent made item needed to
be shared.  If you love traditional gear you may want to give a pack basket a try.

Bottom side of the pack basket.

The website for
Ridgerunner's Adirondack Pack Baskets


Thank you

Matt
ML Knives
http://www.mlknives.com

Photos of a Woods Hike

If you follow my work or posts you know besides
forging and making knives I also love to get in the
woods as much as possible.

Below I would like to share some photos I took on a recent
hike.  These are some of the woods I wander around in.
When I can in the future I will post more pictures from
areas I hunt, hike or fish.

Enjoy.

Matt
ML Knives
http://www.mlknives.com

A Bowie Knife Jim Bowie Would love

Bowie knives are a special knife if you ask me,  Just some kind of
special goodness when you hold a blade like this.  I would list
a bowie amongst my favorite's to make as far as large knives go.

This being said I also love forging and making the large butcher
or camp knife.  If you have read my book you know how I feel about
an old school butcher knife.  This post originally wasn't meant to be
a list of knives I enjoy making because I could list a bunch here.
So let me go on to this bowie.

This bowie knife  has a blade just about 9 inches long, and has a nice
patina on it.  The spine has been file worked  and the width on this
is about 1 3/4" after the guard give or take.

The handle is aged crown elk stag and is well over 5 inches long with
2 old school style steel penned pins.  The guard is forged and is thick and
stout at about 3/16"

The sheath was hand stitched and antiqued and all the tooling vine work
was done free hand.

Thank you
Matt
ML Knives
http://www.mlknives.com

A method for Knife sharpening video posted

I posted a new video that shows another
method for sharpening your knives.
Knife sharpening with a creek stone.

Thank you

Matt
ML Knives
http://www.mlknives.com

Beautiful Tiger maple on a Short Hunter Caper Knife

This post I just wanted to show a close up picture of
one of my custom order short hunter caper knives.

This knife has been handled with some really nice tiger
maple, seems like every time you turn the handle
in the light the contrast and grain looks a bit different.

A creek I live close to has always had beaver in it as you can see below  by the
fresh chew.

 

Thank you for reading

Matt
ML Knives
http://www.mlknives.com

Kephart custom and fisher knife set.

A mid week update.

This is a custom order set of knives.

A custom kephart and kephart fisher.
both knives were handled with antiqued black walnut.

The kephart standard size has a pattern and patina
aged blade with extra deep grooved file worked
thumb stops on the spine.  Sheath being hand
stitched and set up to wear on the belt with
a ferro rod loop.

The kephart fisher has a  pattern aged blade
and this was set up to wear as a neck knife.
This sheath also has a high ride belt carry loop
on the backside.

Thank you
Matt
ML Knives
http://www.mlknives.com

Custom Straight back frontier hunter

Recently completed below is a custom straight back

frontier hunter with a slight drop point tip of the blade.

The handle is antiqued stag with brass pins at about
4 inches long.  The blade is about 3 1/2" long and
has a pattern and patina aged blade.

The sheath is hand stitched and dark brown, this
was set up to wear high on the belt and cross drawn.

I also had a chance to get out and do a little woods roaming with a new pack basket.

Thank you

Matt
ML Knives
http://www.mlknives.com 

Hudson bay Camp Knife Custom

This knife was a custom order Hudson bay camp knife.

Blade is at around 8 inches with a 5 inch aged black walnut
handle.  Brass pins and brass washers.  

This one was ordered with a tapered or sharpened style
clip. 

Hand stitched Sheath was set up wear high and cross draw.

If you have followed my blog posts long enough you know as well as making
knives, and leather work,  I am also a woods walker, hunter and outdoors man.

For years I have been admiring this tree in one of my hunting spots.  thought
you would all like to see it.



I also didn't get a chance to post any veg garden pics this year.
This picture was taken when things were already growing well
I think it was mid July.   This year all the tomatoes were planted
in buckets.  The year before we had so much rain and water this
idea worked out real well.

 

Thank you

Matt

ML Knives

http://www.mlknives.com