the ideal camp/track/pocket ace

[bezoar]

George "nessmuk" Sears is still considered a good sage for advice on going light into the woods and staying comfy doing so.

He mentions his axe, and his ideal knife setup. Well i can find many sites that duplicate his preferences as being the most useful to a woodsman, but i cant find a single source for his pocket axe.

His ideal knife as far as i can tell is the green river style or hudson bay "butcher" knife. THey have the nice blunt front, and sine curve to the blade and handle. The question is, is it possible to get the knife with a serated edge opposite the blade?

And the belt/camp axes that panther primitives sells, just how useful are they to carry around?

 

[boar]

Marbles has one that is made for them across the pond. My buddy bought one. He has a better one made by Norlund. He has been offered a big sun of money for it. Its only one I have seen. They are not in business any more. Was in Pa. Dilly

 

[J.D.]

Sear's knife is nothing like a Green River style.

The Nessmuk knife is much smaller with a pronounced point as illustrated below.

In the event the print is too small to read, Sears describes his knife a 4 1/2 inches long with a thin blade. Compare the blade design to the Green River. The only comparrison between the two designs is the upswept edge at the point.

What do you plan to do with the serrated back?
They are worthless for sawing. The "teeth" clog with bark and wood "dust", for lack of a better word.

an original stamped "J RUSSELL & CO. GREEN RIVER WORKS"

 

[shortbow]

Just my 2 cents, but the knife illustrated is the original form of the Marbles "Woodcraft." An excellent interpretation of Nessmuk's blade, in my opinion.

The GR "camper" could also be compared favourably with Nessy's design, and is my personal favourite all around hunting and hanging out knife.

Have a look at the Gransfors Bruks offerings for a bag ax/hatchet, they are incredible. Much rather have a single blade with a decent poll, myself, as they are much safer and more versatile in my book.

Luck on your quest.

 

[shortbow]

Oops. Those are pages from Kephart, I see on a second look. My comments on the knife still hold, but see that a polled hatchet is illustrated, whereas Nessy advocated a double bit job in his own tome, that was the reason I was on about the single bit.

 

For an excellent article on the Nessmuk/Sears knife and axe see here - includes a pic from his book Woodcraft showing the original Sears designed axe and belt knife (the Marble's version shown above is similar but not the same as the original and FWIW - that's only one style of Green River blade - the buffalo skinner, they make other styles including the butcher which is something like the Nessmuk but not exact by any means - the 5" or 6" inch GR butcher would be a good start for re-shaping one to the Nesmmuk style if so inclined........[url] http://outdoors-magazine.com/s_article.php?id_article=179[/url]

Several knifemakers regularly post here on MLF, including Knifeman, who makes a nice copy of the Nessmuk, Wick Ellerbe, Loyd, and others (sorry can't remember everybody's name) - look through just about any knifemaking post in the Craftsman section and you should find them posting there.

 

[paulvallandigham]

Unless you have a lot of experience using knives in camping, and trekking situations, I don't think you are going to like the Nessmuk as much as you think. They are bulky blades, unnecessarily large, and wide, to do a lot of the work you need a knife for around camp. Camp axes are a real benefit. They allow you to buy and use a knife that is designed to slice and cut soft tissue, while using the axe to cut hard tissues. The value of a knife is directly correlated to the sharpeness of its blade, AND the blade's ability to maintain that sharpeness when used a lot. The blade needs to be thin in width, so you can maneuver it around bones to cut meat free, and it needs to hold a razor's edge so you can make fine cuts. The axe can handle most everything else.

 

[shortbow]

Hey, was just checking out the hawks/bag axes on Track of the Wolf. They got some real nice handforged very authentic blades on there.

 

[powder jack]

There is both a Marbles and a Norlund small axe for sale on a site that sounds like fleabay, Not by me or anyone I know. Just passing along info.

 

[kansas_volunteer]

Norlund double bit axes with a six-inch head come up forsale on ebay sometimes.

The best way to get a Nessmuck knife may be to make one as here:[url] http://gbrannon.bizhat.com/oupa_skinner.htm[/url]

 

[tom hargrove]

here is my nessy ,and it is neither clumsy or bulky the blade is 5" long and almost an 1-1/2" at the widest point ,and feels very good in the hand ,i consider it to be the perfect blade . mine was made by our own nifeman --bud smith

(www.outoftheashesforge.blademakers.com)

 

[jasontn]

heres what i used when i asked myself the same question. a kentucky pattern belt axe from R.E. Davis and a simple nessmuk made from the tip of an old hickory butcher. read in basckwoodsman magazine that it was speculated the original was made from a butcher too. nuttin fancy but purely functional.

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[shortbow]

Two Belly's that's a real nice blade there.

Jason, like your set up real well too, wondering if I might trouble you to show pics of your ax cover and how it attaches to your shooting pouch in more detail? Good work.

 

[shortbow]

Ps, on the knife, are you using a welted sheath which you then sewed to the bag, or is the back of the bag part of the sheath? If the latter, did you welt the cutting edge?

Thanks

 

[jasontn]

my axe cover attaches with two straps to the d rings that the bag straps are on. i dont use it any more but ill try to get another pic of it. using the d rings to hold the axe cover keeps the back of the pouch from sagging and puts all the bearing weight on the shoulder strap. on the knife sheath the first 1 inch of the sheath folded over in back and the rest of the back was the pouch body itself, and yes it has a small welt, a hard learned lesson on sheath making.this set up was used with my crockett .32 caliber rifle and i sold it to help finance my new build and i let everything but the axe go with it.

 

[shortbow]

Ok, I'm seeing it now. Good stuff. How do you secure the keeper strap on the axe sheath?

:hatsoff:

 

[jasontn]

it just flopped over. as tight as the axe fits theres no worries of it coming out.

 

[Stumpkiller]

The older I get the smaller a knife I carry and am happy with. I have a 11" Rifleman's knife that near substitutes for a hand axe, but I don't get into many hand-to-hand situations in fact as in the reenacting "realities". I have a little belt knife that serves me well, based on one Madison Grant pictured in his "The Kentucky Rifle Huntng Pouch". At 5" it's a little long for field dressing and a little sharp for skinning but it serves as a do-it-all blade. Mine is forged from a plow coulter.

I like the English pattern polled axe as a hatchet. I use this "in real life" for farm chores and wood gathering/brush clearing. This is a "JT" forge and I believe I got it through Track of the Wolf.

My most carried knife, when I'm just outdoors and hunting, is a simple little Norwegian laminated (Camper?) blade I stuck in a stag handle with a brass guard from Dixie. 3-3/4" blade and not particularly period but it is a dandy field dressing knife and is as useful as can be.

 

[FSCGunslinger]

Lee Reeves made mine, and I love it! It can be seen in this pic (the one all the way to the right):