The Frontier style belt knife and tooled leather

This knife was a custom order based off of one of the
knives that was listed on Available Knives Gallery 1 of my
website.

The design was based off of an original vintage belt knife
but this version has a beefed up 3/16" spine.

The handle is tiger maple with brass pins and the blade
is over 5 inches long with a pattern and patina aged finish.

The spine of this knife has also been file worked.

The sheath was hand stitched and antiqued.

If you missed seeing the last new tooled and carved
leather piece I had available I am posting one of the pics below.

I am thinking on making a video to give you all an idea of how
my tooling and leather creating is done.
A design like the one above started with a drawing on
paper.
Available leather Pieces

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

Belt Knife custom

Below is a custom order belt knife made with a frontier look and feel.

The blade on this knife is about 6 inches long with a patina aged
finish.  The forward clip/Swedge has been tapered a bit as well.
The spine has been file worked.

The handle is aged black walnut with custom hatching on the
forward haft.

Belt sheath has been antiqued and hand stitched.  This has been
set up to wear high on the belt and cross draw the knife.

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

File work on Your Knife

Currently I offer "generally" three different styles of  "My style"
of File work.

This doesn't mean something cant be customized
and I have done some very involved file work before
extending through the entire length tang behind the
handle.

But for the most part the three types of file work shown
below is what I offer.

Yes.. if you aren't aware of it. All the file work
is done free hand.  I use no machinery, jigs or and other
fancy gadgets to do this.  All by hand.

My standard file work

My "Jimped" File worked Spine

and this is what I call "File worked Thumb Stops" 

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

Large Frontier Knife..

The Frontier style knife below was a custom order knife with a blade
about 8 inches long.  The knife will be used to butcher large game
and I am sure for many more tasks as well.

The blade also has plenty of forge pattern and patina with a hand
file worked spine.

The guard was forged and hand fitted right after the antiqued bone
handle.  The pins are of steel.

All my sheaths are hand stitched just as this one and was antiqued
to fit the piece.

When Possible I like to share some of the photos I take in back country and trails I
hike.  Below are a couple pics I took you might like.

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

Straight back Frontier style knife and a set of vintage knives

This week's post will feature recent custom work and a
photo of my vintage work.

First is this nice straight back classic design.  A knife of this
design has has many names attached to it through history.

It's straight back spine and just about 5 inch blade would
be an ideal set up for many uses.

The blade has some forge pattern as well as a medium patina.
Handle is very nice antiqued tiger maple.

Sheath hand stitched and set up high ride style with some
hand tooling and carving on the face.

Next is a group of knives I found looking through some older
photos.  This picture goes back to 2005 so all of the knives
were made about 8 year ago or so.
Thought you would all enjoy seeing this.

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

The Large Knife and Some thoughts On Carry

For some A large knife is something you wouldn't carry in
the woods, only something you would use maybe in your kitchen.

Well...I am going to give some of my thoughts and opinions
on larger knives.

Large knives have been carried for many years, and once you
get used to carrying one or become proficient with one you
may want to consider having, packing or carrying at least
one larger knife that has a bit of heft to it.

If your worried about carrying a large knife because of weight
or just don't want something with say an 8 inch blade or
so weighing you down, there is more than one way to carry
a big blade with almost any kind of sheath.

A simple way is to tuck the knife in its sheath at a semi cant
in the back or front of your belt.  Better yet if you have a high
ride sheath you can angle the knife and cross draw it as well.

Another simple way is to carry a large knife in your pack,
or attached to your pack if you carry one.
For years I have lashed my larger Hudson bay camp knife
to one of my side bags and carried it without an issue.
Still do carry it this way at times.

Camp tools such as a large knife can be handy as well for
helping with making kindling, making stakes for a shelter,
de-limbing larger branches with ease, you can also thump
the blade of you large knife in a stump and use it to debark
a branch or larger sized branches or to make some smaller
sized tinder for fire.

Batoning can be easier with a big knife, if needed and yes
a big knife is great in the kitchen, no doubt about that.

One other thought, a large blade can also be your
best friend when you might come across a last resort
situation.  It will never run out of ammo and if your
large knife has some heft to it can be used more than
one way than blade end.

The Knife below was a recent custom with an antiqued
elk stag handle, 9 inch pattern and patina aged blade.
Pins are brass over brass washers and this has been
set up with an aged hand stitched high ride sheath.

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

Long frontier Knife Rawhide custom sheath

A long knife custom is this weeks post.

This knife not only has a nice frontier style but will handle many hard
working tasks.

The Patina aged  blade on this is about 9 inches long and just about 2"
wide at the widest point.  Spine is .25 thick

The handle is smoothed and antiqued elk stag with some custom carving
just before the aged brain tan leather wrapping at the forward portion.

The tang runs through the handle of the knife and is peened over a
hefty piece of .25 thick carbon steel.

The sheath was entirely stitched and aged by hand.  The outer portion
is aged deer skin rawhide with a hard core veg tan liner.  The vintage
trade beads were hung with rawhide.  This sheath was set up for a
left handed high ride set up and cross draw.

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

Price Frontier Hunter/Skinner with Big Bear tooling

Recent custom work posted below.

This is one of my customized Price Frontier Hunter Skinners
with an antiqued stag handle.  Antiqued steel pins and brass
washers.

If your jumping here from the net and just
finding out about my work here are some more details.

The blade on this knife is just about under 5" and the forward
part of the blade has a tapered swedge clip.

This knife has also been customized with a rear lanyard hole.

The sheath was hand stitched and made to wear high on a belt
and cross drawn.

The lower face of the sheath I hand worked a big bear scene with
tooling and custom carving/line work.

Also posted below is some custom leather tooling I created on a
custom sheath. As all my tooling and leather work everything was
done by hand starting with a sketch on paper, or directly in the leather.
If I can ever get some time to make a video on the techniques I use
for this I will.

Thank you

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

Hudson bay and a man in the moon

This weeks blog post I have a custom order Hudson bay camp
knife to show you.   This is similar in design to the one I have
carried for years that you have seen pictures and videos of.

The blade is 8 inches long patina aged, with an aged blade walnut
handle, 2 brass pins over brass washers.  The sheath is hand stitched
and made to wear high and cross drawn.

Also posting some pictures of a recent leather piece I did that was posted
on  my Available Leather Pieces Page.  This page is updated weekly.

This as all my leather work was carved, tooled and done free hand, including
the stitching and layout of the leather.   This is one of my custom credit card
license keepers.  This style also will hold business cards and some cash.

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

Vintage belt knife with aged Bone handle.

This is a recent custom that I completed in my shop.

Here are some specs on this knife.  The blade measured in
at about 6 inches long with a file worked spine.

The guard is hand forged, and handle was a hair under 5" with
some really nice aged bone.

Sheath was hand stitched and antiqued.

I have a couple new videos posted as well.
This one I made for fun, nice shot of the moon.

This is a continuing of the "ways to carry a knife part 2"

Thank you

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

A Custom Frontier Belt knife with leather and rawhide

This frontier style knife was custom a custom.

The spear point style blade is about 6 inches long that has

been patina aged.

The handle is aged elk bone that has been hafted in elk

leather toward the forward portion of the handle and also

has tight stitched portion of leather.

The sheath has a hard core leather liner and has been wrapped

and cross stitched with aged rawhide and brain tan leather.

the brain tan lace has vintage trade beads and a antiqued tin cone

with horse hair.  This style sheath is made to be worn placed 

behind  or simply tucked behind your pants.

Also thought you would like to see a photo of some of the colors here  in
upstate NY.

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 

Personal Carry Neck knife and completed custom.

Here is a neck knife I have been carrying for awhile now. 
So I have claimed it.  This is the knife I used in one
of my YouTube videos.  This is a handy sized knife for
all sorts of uses.  I have used it for everything from
cutting leather to tomato vines in the garden.  You can
see the blade has developed a nice patina and at 2 inches
in length would work well for trout as well.

The handle is tiger maple at about 3 1/8" long and I tight
stitched some deer skin rawhide on the forward haft.

The neck sheath has some of my free hand tooling on
the face of it,  Trees and mountain scene.

Also from the last post on the blog I showed you a custom knife
that I was working on without the sheath pictures.   Here is
the completed neck sheath posted below.

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

Vintage style drop point antiqued bone handle

A custom order knife I made about 5 years ago.

This has a nice drop point type blade with a nice patina
about 4 inches long with a file worked spine.

The handle is about the same length as the blade with
an antiqued smoothed down and antiqued piece of elk.
3 steel pins in the handle.

You can see from the photo the antiqued belt sheath
has a full free hand tooled face.  This was set up to wear high
on the belt and cross drawn.

Thank you for reading

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

Frontier stag Belt knife with frontier rawhide sheath

Recent work from my shop.  This was a custom order
frontier style belt knife.  A perfect size for knife
for many uses.

The patina aged blade is over 4 inches as well as the handle.
The stag was antiqued and has three decent sized copper pins.

The sheath is hand stitched and the entire piece was antiqued.
This style sheath was set up to be tucked behind a belt.
This is a double layered sheath with a hard core veg tan liner
and outer deer skin rawhide.  The beads are all vintage
trade beads.  The copper dangler was also made by hand.

A picture from a recent hike.....

Thank you

Matt

ML Knives

http://www.mlknives.com/

Frontier Carved antler Neck Knife and my traveling hobo stove

This is a knife I made awhile back with an aged crown antler handle.

You can see The backside of the rosette I hand carved a primitive

face.  The sheath was antiqued leather set up to be worn as a neck knife

and the face of the sheath had hand stipple work.

The blade being patina aged and 2 decent sized copper pins in the handle.

On a trip to the woods I made a quick brew for my wife in my

traveling coffee can stove.  I used my leather handled carry

knife to make fire sticks and get things going. 

Thank you

Matt

ML Knives

http://www.mlknives.com/

Hunting and skinning knife with vintage Frontier Style

This is a knife from my past work collection of images.

Blade on this was a bit over 4 inches with patina aging
and a file worked spine.  The handle is aged elk stag
with steel pins.  Sheath was hand stitched.

On a recent trip to the woods a beaver was  making his way

away from his home, maybe looking for some food!  I took

a quick picture, the best I could get on the move.

Thank you

Matt

ML Knives

http://www.mlknives.com

Frontier belt knife custom

Originally Posted in on the May 22nd, 2011

 

The knife posted below was custom ordered. This is a
frontier style knife with a patina aged blade about
5 inches long. The handle is aged hickory with a tight
stitched rawhide leather wrap. The sheath was
custom stitched and aged as well. The core
has a hard veg tan liner with full welt, outside is
rawhide and brain tan leather with aged trade beads
tin cone and horse hair.

A knife such as this will serve a large period of time as well
as a very nice using knife.
I know many new visitors have been passing by here. If your
interested in seeing more of my past work I have past work
galleries located on my website.
PAST WORK
PAST WORK 2
PAST WORK 3
PAST WORK EXTENDED
also If you like some of the articles I have published
you can view a newer one here
Knife Sheaths of the early American Frontier
Thank you for reading
Matt
ML Knives
http://www.mlknives.com/

Virginia Long Knife

Originally posted on October 25th, 2009

I have mentioned in older posts “The knife in Homespun America” being a great book. One knife I wanted to point out was one Mr. Grant referred to as the “Virginia Long Knife”. This knife saw service on the Ohio river Frontier and had a hand forged blade that was 9 1/4″ long. Being forged from an old file to me makes the knife even more unique as one just has to think of the history not only behind the knife but the tool that it started life as. The original piece had a handle made of hickory and a hand forged guard. Below I posted a picture of the original and one I made for a gent awhile back. I changed it a bit to make it my own, but still giving the look of the original.

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