Those are the adventures of Mr. Fimbulmyrk, in bushcraft and blacksmithing, mountainbiking and hiking, reenactment, writing, singing, dancing, stargazing and having a piece of cake and a coffee. Pray have a seat and look around you, but be warned - the forest´s twilight is ferocious at times.
At my recent visit to Solingen I also dropped by the Otter knives booth. Now they were very persuasive;-) and I got this beautiful traditional knife with a history.
Now it is very interesting that these knives are called "Hippekniep" in Solingen, and there are many theories concerning the origin of this name. I take it to be cognate with the "Hepchen" or "Hippe" knife, a knife wiedly used in farming. It might go back to gothic *havi = hay, *Haviknapi would mean "Hay-biter". In either case, the "Hippe" was a scythelike tool but with no offset, similar to the "Falcata Illyrica" or "Falx", a billhook weapon used by the Illyrians in their fight against Rome. Another theory is that the handle looks like a goat´s leg (in Niederdeutsch, a Saxon stem of German quite similar to Anglo - Saxon "Hippe" is a female goat) or that it was used to shorten goat´s hoof horn. In Solingen it was sold as a "Taschenschlachtmesser" (emergency butcher pocket knife). In France it is famed as a "mineur", because it was common amongst coalminers there where it was a do-it-all utility tool and more often than not a last defence against the ever-prominent tunnel rats. As a "sodbuster knife" it is known in the USA. Germany, however, is the first place I came across where it found production. First examples date back to the early 19th century.
This one is an excellent piece of craftsmanship. It comes with a razor - sharp C - 75 blade, 95 mm long and tapering from 2,5 - 1,2 mm in the tip. Blimey, this is a razor! The handle is beautifully finished Grenadill wood that is polished to a high lustre. A great addition in my book is the pivot, that is a simple rivet peened over a brass disc on either side. Apart from it being quite a feat of craftsmanship to do this properly, by that way play can be adjusted by gentle taps with a ball peen should it ever occur. The blade has a stiff slipjoint spring with enough stay to withstand moderate spinewhack testing. The opening was a bit rough, but nothing to be ashamed of. Also included is a lanyard for faster access. The brass bead aids in drawing and counteracts the cool design with a warm golden colour... beautifully made.
Tolerances are virtually non - existent. It is an excellent knife for everyday work, for snacking and whittling the odd stick, and it is simply a sight to behold. It does everything a knife is supposed to do, it has a friendly appearance and it is beautiful. Plus, it is one of the very few folding knives where I do not miss a locking mechanism.
Here we go again, long time, no post, and I have to admit, I was being a bit of in a rut, so I left blogging be for some time now. But here we go again: I wish all my faithful readers a happy new year 2014. 2013 was a bit of a bastard for me, but hope dies last...;-)
Here are some thoughts about another legal carry knife I purchased dead cheap on Solingen "Messer-Gabel-Scheren-Markt" knife expo in November. It is an Otter pruning knife. It comes with a big (85 mm) billhook blade from C 75 high carbon steel with a homogenous temper (not selective, that is).I estimate the hardness to about 56 - 58 HRC. It comes with beautiful cocobolo wood scales, brass bolsters and liners, and a stiff spring out of C 30. Overall craftmanship is meticuous, and i can´t for the death of me figure out why it was sold as second grade... It has a high convex bevel that is nice and thin and nearing a flat grind. Out of the basket (no packaging here) it came razor sharp. The handle is nice and chunky. Often the scales on knives like this look a bit crappy, but this one simply is beautifully finished. There are little to no tolerances. There is no radial or axial play in the blade. The spring is quite stiff, and the blade opens in one fluid motion due to a round base of the blade´s root. This is one thing I would recommend to change, for a rectangular blade root would add some more safety to a slipjoint, even if it is a very safe handler already. The upswept handle allows for powerful cuts when pruning trees, and makes it even suitable for some whittling tasks. A knife of this shape quite naturally is not suited for all tasks ideally, but that´s not to be said that they canot be done! Even cutting sausage is a cinch with the proper technique.Peeling an apple is where the billhook design really shines, and cutting rope and zip - ties also is really easy.
What do I think? This is a very able cutter with a friendly appearance suited for a lot of tasks, not only pruning, harvesting herbs and mushrooms, but also kitchen and whittling tasks, provided it is used with the proper technique. For the price it is a real great bargain. I would add a lanyard hole, for a lanyard comes in real handy when you are pruning trees, and would wish Otter could find it in themselves;-)to add a rectangular blade base. But other than that I would not change a thing!
On the recent knife expo at the Solingen industrial museum "Gesenkschmiede Hendrichs" I got the opportunity to meet with Mr. Rommel, new head of corporation and chief manager of Otter knives. Otter knives still specializes in making simple, traditional pocket and working / utility knives. Hailing from a background of decades of handicraft, the corporation certainly knows a thing or two about making sensible utility designs. I came across this "Berufsmesser", as it is called in the Otter catalogue. Yap, I know, I already own one, but, hey, you know how it is;-). I played it some, and realized the blade was straight, which my old one was not, the craftsmanshipalmost meticulous, but not so much as to make it too beautiful to use. It came with a beautifully grained Cocobolo wood handle. The blade is a very old German style, the so called "Hamburger" style, dating as far back as the middle ages, often used in bread and kitchen knives, but also in utility folding knives as early as the 15th century. As I have mentioned before, the knife comes in very cheap for the quality, about 18€. The blade is made from high carbon steel, with a finely accomplished "Solinger Dünnschliff" (convex, "Hamagore" bevel), and polished to a blueish sheen. This example of the type came shaving sharp. I am informed it is made from medium high carbon steel with 0,75% carbon content, and yes, there´s also iron, period. This makes for an edge that can be finely ground and made wickedly sharp.
The knife has a slip-joint mechanism that stops at 90 °. It came with no side or axial play. The smoothness of the action leaved something to be desired, but with a drop of tootpaste and turpentine oil (Balistol) and few minutes of working it, it set in and was nearly as smooth as silk.
The blade cut into this iron rod with ease and no damage whatsoever to the edge.
Same thing with this piece of stag antler, where I slammed it in several times.
I then slammed the tip into this tin can lid, and the stiff slip joint spring inspired my confidence. Of course, the sheepfoot blade design is no stabbing knife at all, but it can be made possible.
What it does best is cutting, even after the abuse. It made short terms with this piece of paper.
I cut the paper while it hung free. After the abuse, (cut on the left), there was a little more playing around involved, and the cut in the paper is a bit ragged at the beginning, hinting of a bit of a loss of sharpness on the edge. But the paper was a bit damp, making it not the easiest for cutting while hanging free.
It was easy, however, to cut the paper after overcoming the initial resistance of thecutting material.
Stag antler, iron rod, cutting paper...
and then it made this out of a piece of fir wood;-). Sweet.
The real surprise came when I did the spine whack test normally reserved for liner lock knives. The spring is so stiff it keeps the blade secure even under this extreme stress.
And here´s a lousy clip to show you I did not spare it when whacking on the stag antler;-)
I found overall that this is a knife with an extremely huge potential. I heard some rumours that Otter wants to do some mods on it. What could be improved is a bigger lanyard hole, for it comes stock with but a 3 mm hole. I drilled it, of course, for I voided it of its warranty nonetheless. I then realized the hard way;-) the iron liners bent, and, looking at it intently saw another feat of high potential. For the spring does not go around the butt of the knife, leaving an empty space. You could with little effort insert a block of G-10 or volcanic fibre, and, by fitting a simple clip in, making this knife an even more versatile carry. Am I enthused? You bet. You will be hard pressed to find a slipjoint folder that is capable of doing this and come out almost unscathed. The knife also comes in different lengths suitable as a legal carry even in the UK or Denmark, and rumour has it there will be still more options available in the future.;-). And NO, I did NOT get payed to write this;-).
Every knife shall have something of simple beauty to it, and so I made this lanyard mojo for it. Silver fittings, leather, of course, an agate pearl, aaaand: A glass bead jewel made by my beloved magic troll. If you want one, she will trade or sell. Contact her on her Blog:
This is a knife I have owned now for some time, and I realized how much I like it just because it always rides in my pocket, and I actually use it quite often. It is an Otter sheepfoot blade with a slipjoint construction. This knife is dead simple, but it comes with a real spring and a rectangular blade root making for a half-stop for safety. Liners are made from mild steel, as are the bolsters. Cocobolo scales are pinned in place by brass pins. I drilled a lanyard hole through them and fitted a leather lanyard. The blade is C100 still, with a hand-ground very thin convex bevel. It has an even temper aiming towards a higher flexibility and comes at a claimed hardness of 56 HRC. The blade is 75x2 mm with a sheepfoot tip, with a speciality, for the edge line is slightly offset and diagonal to the spine. It is a very effective cutter, whittler and eating knife. You can use the spine to spread butter very effectively making it a great snacking knife also.
Plus, it is a knife with history and atmosphere, for this blade shape originated as a "Boscher" (a Solingen dialect term for a bos-scher, "woods shearer" or "woods knife", cognate with the Dutch "bos" for woods.) This shape goes back to the medieval ages and was quite a common shape throughout the North of Germany. Many Solingen kitchen and general use knives were forged that way. The "Scherper" of miner´s attire origin often shared characteristics with it, but it was most famed as a mariner´s knife. Legend has it that boatsmen tended to break off the tip of any knife brought on deck of any ship privately, except for knives in this shape, so it became a common mariner´s blade shape. The French folding knife type often called "London" is nearly identical.
By the way, apologies for the lousy pics, I still cannot figure out how to use this camera properly...
The knife is not a masterpiece of craftsmanship, in that the blade is fixed a bit off centre in the handle. The grind, however, otherwise is excellent. It can be made hairpoppingly sharp, so sharp in fact that you can split a hair with it. Talking of which, out of the box the sharpness was nothing to brag about, either. But then, it comes dead cheap. The spring is super stiff and actually gives you a lot of confidence, the blade has a nice geometry, the knife has a rustic, but serviceable finish. It is capable of hard work and begs for more. Buy it;-).
They come in a size even legal in the UK and Denmark. Get them here.
