ARmy Rumour SErvice

Oooh, yes, I have been wanting to show off my new toy ever since I collected it a few days ago. It is intended as a general purpose outdoors knife and was made by a countryman of yours, Colonel, who does such things as a hobby, so it was very reasonably priced.

The overall design is mine, all work is his. Material is 4mm O-1 tool steel, handle scales are American maple with a birdseye figure. The wood must be very dense, since the point of balance is fractionally behind where it is on the mild steel pattern I made, but still very handy.



Of course, the wild woods are a long way from here. My wife said 'and what will you use it for?'. I said 'it is an instrument of dreams, my dear'.

Originally Posted by Vasco

Oooh, yes, I have been wanting to show off my new toy ever since I collected it a few days ago. It is intended as a general purpose outdoors knife and was made by a countryman of yours, Colonel, who does such things as a hobby, so it was very reasonably priced.

The overall design is mine, all work is his. Material is 4mm O-1 tool steel, handle scales are American maple with a birdseye figure. The wood must be very dense, since the point of balance is fractionally behind where it is on the mild steel pattern I made, but still very handy.



Of course, the wild woods are a long way from here. My wife said 'and what will you use it for?'. I said 'it is an instrument of dreams, my dear'.

Beautiful piece. Such maple is some of how hardest and most dense wood species, second only to dogwood or "ironwood" in the SW. What was the thinking on choice of steel?

Boxwood is the medieval choice of wood. Very hard and dense, and by the guild laws of medieval London was the ONLY wood allowed to be stained or coloured in any way so as to prevent bad choice of material being masked or obscured from the customer. Many tricks were tried though, the book "Knives and scabbards " museum of London has an X ray of a scale tanged 15th cent knife where the scales are secured by a dozen rivets.... however, when X rayed, only 3 go right through, all the others are decorative, though look real !

Originally Posted by Vasco

My wife said 'and what will you use it for?'. I said 'it is an instrument of dreams, my dear'.

I'll have to remember that next time I bring home another rifle/pistol....

Originally Posted by detmold_padbrat

Boxwood is the medieval choice of wood. Very hard and dense, and by the guild laws of medieval London was the ONLY wood allowed to be stained or coloured in any way so as to prevent bad choice of material being masked or obscured from the customer. Many tricks were tried though, the book "Knives and scabbards " museum of London has an X ray of a scale tanged 15th cent knife where the scales are secured by a dozen rivets.... however, when X rayed, only 3 go right through, all the others are decorative, though look real !

Yes it is good for handles--all my gunstocks tools are boxwood handled since they are imported from the UK. We don't have the proliferation of mature hedges as you do so boxwood for handles is less common here.

Stanley blade on one end, hollow ground steel on the other. Handy. Also got an Opinel for when I'm being Davy Crockett.

As promised:

Made in 1968, restored by maker in 2010




Blade is 440 Stainless
Pommel and hilt are brass
Grip is fabric micarta
Scabbard is nylon (have gone through 4 leather scabbards over the years but they did not hold up in jungle etc.)

Originally Posted by jumpinjarhead

second only to dogwood or "ironwood" in the SW. What was the thinking on choice of steel?

Not wishing to derail your thread. Isn't this wood a protected species in the States,harvested only following major storms, when the tree has been felled by nature?

There was a recent UK based tv programme showing how this wood was used in key sections of USA Naval warships. They demonstrated a cannon ball penetration exercise measured against the conventional wood(s) used in their Brit counterparts of the period. Impressive as to how the dogwood held up to the force suffering a mere dent whereas the Brit design allowed cannon balls to penetrate with devestating effect. Dogwood used in key sections of the hull was also credited with giving colonial ships superior speed.