Author Topic: Redesigned Kephart.  (Read 3440 times)

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Offline Handforged

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Redesigned Kephart.
« on: March 27, 2020, 08:37:16 pm »
This is a slightly redesigned kephart knife. 5" blade in 52100 steel. This one has a desert ironwood and elk antler handle. This is a very good all around (general purpose) style. Deep flat grind and a micro bevel cutting edge. These things will shave wood or shave hair, your choice.
« Last Edit: March 27, 2020, 09:09:42 pm by Handforged »
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Offline Hawkdancer

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Re: Redesigned Kephart.
« Reply #1 on: March 28, 2020, 12:01:40 am »
Nice!  Very impressive blade and handle!
Hawkdancer
Life is far too serious to be taken that way!
Jerry

Offline Handforged

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Re: Redesigned Kephart.
« Reply #2 on: March 28, 2020, 10:48:34 am »
Thanks! It has a distal taper and perfect balance. It's actually surprising how light it feels in the hand. I don't often get to build what I want to, most of the time I am working from someone's desires and not my own. When I get the freedom to create as I like it usually come out well.  I don't forge to a shape, I forge to a feel. Constantly spinning it around in my hands and fitting it to my eye.

 The Kephart is a proven design. I have made many of them but I never liked the broom handle feel of it. Reshaping the handle and giving a slightly deeper belly to the blade makes it so much more appealing to the eye (to me). It also makes for a smoother grip and reverse grip. The ironwood on the bolster is so hard that 220 grit sandpaper only polishes it really. A finish is achieved by buffing it with a wheel like steel. A finish isn't really necessary although I do usually give it a coat of oil. The elk antler gives traction when the blade is wet or bloody.  The large lanyard loop make is possible to use about any material for a lanyard and it also gives a solid foundation for lashing it to a pole if the need arises. The spine is ground and polished dead flat to make using a ferro rod effortless. It throws a shower of sparks. It turned out really nice although there are a few things I wish I had done with it.  I wish I had filed the spine at the edge of the handle scales to give traction for your thumb in heavy cutting. I also wish I had used brass tube to match the pins instead of stainless but it was all that I had at the time. I have a meticulous mind and no matter what I think of the finished piece, I still pick it apart and look for ways I could have improved it. It can never be perfect, that is the bane of a handmade piece. That's the only way to make a better piece next time.
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Offline mullet

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Re: Redesigned Kephart.
« Reply #3 on: March 28, 2020, 03:21:25 pm »
That knife is a work of art and my favorite style.
Lakeland, Florida
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Offline Handforged

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Re: Redesigned Kephart.
« Reply #4 on: March 28, 2020, 07:36:55 pm »
One more picture of the knife finished in it's new tooled sheath. Matching ferro rod with elk antler handle.
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Offline PaulN/KS

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Re: Redesigned Kephart.
« Reply #5 on: March 29, 2020, 08:43:20 am »
The interesting thing, for me, about the Kephart knife is that it was such a simple and useful design. Pretty nice for a 2 dollar knife back in the day.
Now your version Really "kicks it up a notch"...  :OK

Offline Handforged

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Re: Redesigned Kephart.
« Reply #6 on: March 29, 2020, 10:07:17 am »
The interesting thing, for me, about the Kephart knife is that it was such a simple and useful design. Pretty nice for a 2 dollar knife back in the day.
Now your version Really "kicks it up a notch"...  :OK
Thanks!  When Horace Kephart sent his drawings in to have this knife made his way it was available for 2.50 if I remember correctly with a leather sheath. Then again that was a time when 2.50 was a weeks wages or more. 

To me in it's original form it's a great knife but I find the handle and grip of the knife to be uncomfortable and not have a positive stop when you grasp it. I changed it a little to correct the thing that I didn't like.
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