Wow, I could be a big fan! The South Fork came yesterday and I am pretty impressed. The 3mm blade thickness and full flat grind makes for an excellent slicer. The handle ergonomics are outstanding and the blade shape should make easy work of a moose or bison. After nearly 30 years of practicing the gutless skinning method on caribou and moose I know a winner when I see one. This one is a winner!
Video of impressions here!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkINOl_e ... e=youtu.be
Phil Wilson South Fork impression
I think you will be very impressed with the South Fork once you get it into the field, excellent design and S90V really holds an edge. :)North61 wrote:Thanks all....this is a really nice knife! Have a fair bit of caribou and moose meat in the freezer but I might just go get a bison just to see how it works! We'll see if work cooperates with me.
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Cliff Stamp
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Have you ever used a blade of the style Boye used to make with his drop point hunters? Phil was strongly influenced by Boye's grinding style, both of them use :North61 wrote:Wow, I could be a big fan! The South Fork came yesterday and I am pretty impressed.
-full flat grinds
-very thin and low angle edges
-medium grit edge finishes
However they are extremely different in that Boye preferred thicker stock. His hunters would be 1/4+ at the spine offering greater comfort for grips on the spine, improved ability to work in heavy joints (separating), however Phil's knives are much easier when you are making very deep cuts in thick meat.
Curious as to what you would prefer.
Cliff: As my skill level has gone up I have come to like thinner and thinner knives for hunting. Separating joints for gutless skinning doesn't require much side loading if you attack the right spot. Even the back quarter pops right off when you slip around the ball joint. For this game sharp and thin beats thick and stout. I have a nice hunter from Kylie at CKC that I used on a summer caribou and the thin(less than 3mm),super sharp and light weight maneuverability had us hauling meat out within the hour. Good thing as there were grizzlies all over the place! The only bone I now go after is the ribs off the backbone if I am in a hurry and for this I use a saw or axe. Even there there is a cartilage joint but by that time I am tired and looking for a short cut.
Never used a Boye. I have come to admire a thin full flat grind of no more than 3mm at the thickest. I find with the long slicing cuts used in gutless skinning that a trailing point has some real advantages. It also of course makes a good skinner. I really like the Victorinox Lamb Skinner and it's about 2mm. The steel doesn't hold an edge that well but it can be steeled straight and the geometry is superb, as is the handle. It also costs about 30.00!
Never used a Boye. I have come to admire a thin full flat grind of no more than 3mm at the thickest. I find with the long slicing cuts used in gutless skinning that a trailing point has some real advantages. It also of course makes a good skinner. I really like the Victorinox Lamb Skinner and it's about 2mm. The steel doesn't hold an edge that well but it can be steeled straight and the geometry is superb, as is the handle. It also costs about 30.00!
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Cliff Stamp
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Boye's knives are by no means not sharp, or described as thick, in fact his edges were thinner than Phil's from the small sample I have seen as Phil's were in the 0.005-0.010" range and Boye's are in the 0.002-0.005" range, at the point of being almost like the Nilakka, full ground. Now it could be that he was forced to use thick stock as he was casting them (due to the dendritic stock) but he always argued it was for performance. Nice blades though. I never really saw the advantage of them in general, but I don't do a lot of heavy on-spine work in meat cutting, or force joints apart - but I have friends who do. If you really want to see the limit of the thin cross section style, talk to Alvin Johnston (custom knife maker). He does utility, hunters, etc. , blades which are 1/16" thick, hollow relief grinds, O1/1095/M2 (full hard, 95+% martensite, etc.). However you have to be careful with the edges in joint work as they can be as much as <0.010" at a 1/4" back from the edge. They are geared towards very high skill specialized use, it isn't difficult to damage them if you are sloppy and torque.
