New fixed blade - need help

[ThePeacent]

I always pictured the Jumpmaster 2 as an almost ideal mule design, :rolleyes:



in the blade shape, size, handle size and contour, width, sheath, simple purpose-driven curves
but with removable scales, a bit thinner stock, and variety of steels in PE

[Bodog]

I always pictured the Jumpmaster 2 as an almost ideal mule design, :rolleyes:



in the blade shape, size, handle size and contour, width, sheath, simple purpose-driven curves
but with removable scales, a bit thinner stock, and variety of steels in PE

Respectfully I disagree. For what it was designed for it looks like it'd be great but it doesn't look like something I'd carry around and use in various situations, especially in front of normies. A hybrid kitchen knife design would be much more tolerated and guys would feel much more comfortable breaking it out at work. People looking at them weird for using a fixed blade is better than people freaking out because the knife looks too militaristic or scary. For God's sake, society is breaking down where someone can own a full blown 7.62 rifle used for decades by the actual military in war and that's fine because it has a wooden stock and no pistol grip but if you own a semi-auto knockoff of a far less powerful rifle currently used in war people freak out and call for it to be banned because to them it LOOKS scarier.

I mean good lord. Which rifle has actually killed more people, the ar-15 or an actual m-14? I bet if you combine all of the ar-15, m-4, and m-16 rifles they would never have killed as many people as the semi-auto m-14 unless you include Israel in that equation. But i can go out right now and buy an m-14 without anyone second guessing why i would want one. You think knives are different?

[supracor]

Farid's mules are surely more socially accepted.
Although I don't t have these problems and if it was for me you could create a Natchez bowie-shaped mule :p

[anycal]

Fixed blade Spyderco Military. Full flat grind 4 - 4.5" cutting edge. Micarta removable scales. Kydex sheath. Ditch the thumb ramp.

If I was to choose a knife which most resembles the one I speak of, it would be the Dark Timber 1911.

[BravoTango]

I would love to see some Fixed blades in say, something like XHP, S30V or even BD1N, 6"-7" blade or so, in the 100-150$ price range, seems to be a real gap here in the spyderco lineup, I am sure there is justification of the price tag on the spyderco fixed blades, but for me as an end user, I cannot justify 250$+ for the current models. Even though I find quite a few of them appealing, the price tag holds me back and forces me to look to other manufacturers. Just my 2 cents.

[bearfacedkiller]

I always pictured the Jumpmaster 2 as an almost ideal mule design, :rolleyes:



in the blade shape, size, handle size and contour, width, sheath, simple purpose-driven curves
but with removable scales, a bit thinner stock, and variety of steels in PE

Well, the Mules are essentially just a scaled down Temp2. Also, the Jumpmaster2 is almost a serrated Temp2 Salt. There are some differences but they are quite similar. I agree that the Jumpmaster2 in many ways is similar to the Mules.

Unfortunately my Schempp Rock taught me that bidirectional frn on a fixed blade tears my hands up during hard use.

[MichaelScott]

One thing I want to add is that I am a big fan of guards on knives. They do not have to be large, but they need to be sufficient to keep precious fingers from sliding onto the blade when the hand is wet or gooey. This is a feature I purposely look for and it is based on practical experience, not arm chair opinion. Apparently, Phil Wilson shares my opinion on this for the same reasons. There is a good reason that profession fillet and other such knives have a guard, and so do good hunting knives. Guards protect the irreplaceable.

This.

[Bodog]

One thing I want to add is that I am a big fan of guards on knives. They do not have to be large, but they need to be sufficient to keep precious fingers from sliding onto the blade when the hand is wet or gooey. This is a feature I purposely look for and it is based on practical experience, not arm chair opinion. Apparently, Phil Wilson shares my opinion on this for the same reasons. There is a good reason that profession fillet and other such knives have a guard, and so do good hunting knives. Guards protect the irreplaceable.

This.

A well designed all purpose knife doesn't need a separate finger guard any more than it needs a separate hawk bill.

The "not an actual product" knife pictured before is a good example of the blade properly running into the handle without needing to be concerned about having a separate guard.

Honestly that design has a lot of merits and very, very few demerits. I would hope the behind the edge thickness could be extraordinarily thin and let people decide just how thick they are comfortable with themselves but whatever. I'm not the designer.

[bearfacedkiller]

I have never felt the need for a guard, even on the basic Puukko handle.

If I am going to have a guard I like it done like a kitchen knife. The bow river is a good example. Doing it that way eliminates the need for a sharpening notch as well.

I dislike finger choils on fixed blades. Well, maybe dislike is putting it mildly. :)

[abbazaba]

Please have the handles removable.

Full flat grind is a given, right?

Sorry if I missed it, but what is the country of origin?

I would prefer the guard to be part of the handle (like the Jumpmaster) or part of the blade (like the Bow River) as BFK points out.

Glad to hear about the thumb ramp delete.

Really glad to hear about the increased length.

[Larry_Mott]

To be perfectly blunt and honest *my* perfect fixed blade is the old CS Master Hunter, and i doubt you'd go there :)
I even prefer the Master Hunter over Fällkniven, if nothing else for the crazy prices of FK nowadays.
For inexpensive (ab)users / car boot knives the traditional Mora is in a class of its own
So depending on your goal/price ballpark i'd buy a Spyderco Mora Master Hunter and live happily ever after

[Halfneck]

I always thought the standard Mule fixed blade size was just about right. Of course some of that had to do with the fact I had Tom Krein make an incredible set of handle scales for it. The size, shape, and contouring of them just locked it in your hand. I sometimes regret selling it, but I ended up not being overly fond of the 52100 steel.

[dogrunner]

Fixed blade Spyderco Military. Full flat grind 4 - 4.5" cutting edge. Micarta removable scales. Kydex sheath. Ditch the thumb ramp.

...

Yes, what you said. In Cruwear :)

[jackh]

I bought two mule knives. One ended up in the kitchen and the other was a work knife for me. The only thing I HATE about the shape is the area that curves around the little hole is WAY to "curvey" for a work knife. For the kitchen it's ok. But that is where my thumb rests when cutting. When cutting harder materials or for a long time it's very uncomfortable. I used my Dremel to flatten that area. One thing I was considering if I ever got another was to make the handle come up around the hole area to provide a wider thumb rest. I have a Cold Steel mini AK47. It has a plate that is screwed to the top of the blade spice that is used to open the blade and also acts as a thumb rest (where Spyderco's jimping would be). This makes for a very comfortable rest for the thumb. With the mini AK-47 I can put whatever I'm cutting at about knee level or lower and use all my body weight to apply force for cutting and my thumb is not hurting by a 3mm thick (or so) blade.

If the mule is to be considered a good camping knife a flat spine might work better for batoning through small logs. This is just a thought for me as I haven't camped, hunted, etc. in years. It sounds like you are wanting to make a work knife, camping/outdoors knife or maybe a good kitchen knife. I like the thicker blade than most kitchen knives to have in the kitchen. Sometimes that strength is a good thing.

One of my favorite stainless steels is CTS-XHP. Gets super sharp and holds that high sharpness for a good long time. For my needs anyway. Never had a problem with corrosion. VG-10 is also a great steel and might keep the price lower. Don't know. But I believe those two steels would be a great option.

[Doc Dan]

Larry_Mott, I agree with you that the Master Hunter is a truly great overall design. I left mine at home and did not bring it with me for some stupid reason.

Jackh, I also like XHP quite a lot, for a stainless steel. If the knife is going to be stainless, this would be my preference over S35VN, S90V, or etc.

[ikaretababy]

I needed to procrastinate today. The farther I tweaked the starting shape of the current mule the more it started to resemble a stunted proficient-- I just stopped here. The handle is definitely unnecessarily long, at least for the blade length. Just playing around for 15 minutes made me appreciate how tricky it is to balance the features and ergos of a knife.



compared to the mule:

[Bodog]

I needed to procrastinate today. The farther I tweaked the starting shape of the current mule the more it started to resemble a stunted proficient-- I just stopped here. The handle is definitely unnecessarily long, at least for the blade length. Just playing around for 15 minutes made me appreciate how tricky it is to balance the features and ergos of a knife.



compared to the mule:

No offense but meh. Thank you for trying. I don't have the skills to play with this stuff. That looks more like a poliwog than the actual poliwog, and that's saying something

[ikaretababy]

No offense but meh. Thank you for trying. I don't have the skills to play with this stuff. That looks more like a poliwog than the actual poliwog, and that's saying something

None taken. If this thread demonstrates anything its that people can have very divergent ideas about what a fixed blade ought to look like.

[vivi]

Fixed blades do not need to have a handle bound by blade size. Unless you're designing an compact neck knife or something, just give it a full four finger grip.

[supracor]

I've ever loved the Enuff, especially the wharncliffe.
A mule with this shape would be awesome.