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Last time I visited AH member Gryphon, he showed me a box of wood he had salvaged and had been meticulously drying the pieces out over the years. Gryphon kindly gave me several pieces of his stash to use for putting handles on my knives builds. When I got home, I decided to make Gryphon a knife and handle it with some of his wood. I picked out a piece of sheoak, and wanted the rest of the knife to match the quality of the handle material. Historically knife steels can have good edge retention, good strength or good abrasion resistance. But knife steel hasnt had all three of these criteria in one steel. So the knife maker has to decide which characteristic they are prepared to compromise on when they choose a steel to make a knife. Magnacut is a relatively new stainless "super steel" which was made specifically for knife making. It is formulated to balance out the three desirable characteristic of edge retention, strength and corrosion resistance, and has proven to be vary popular with knife makers since it was released a couple of years ago. When the first shipment of Magnacut arrived in Australia at the end of last year, I immediately bought some, and though it was a fitting steel to pair with the Sheoke handle material. The knife I made for Gryphon is the first knife I have ever made from Magnacut. The blade of this knife is a full flat grind in 3mm steel. The design pf the knife is my version of the Bark River Gunny Hunter. Once I shaped the handle, I found the grain in this block of wood is really stunning. I added red G10 liners, brass Corby bolts and a brass lanyard tube. I gave the handles a hand rubbed oil finish, and it really set to wood off I think. I wanted something special for the sheath too. I sent the knife a friend in Queensland as I am not set up for leather working yet. I got him to add a sambar motif to the sheath and really think the sheath sets off the knife well. I was able to drop off the finished knife to its new owner last weekend, so looking forward to hearing about it being put to use on the deer.

I thought I would add in pictures of knife builds as I finish them since there was a lot of interest in the last one I posted. This one is a mini version of a larger Bowie design that I have made in the past. This version should be a good allrounder. Steel is 3mm NitroV with a full flat grind, with a distal taper to the point. Handle material is black Ritchlite with green G10 liners & pins.

Another variation on a knife I have made a few times now. I am going to have to come up with a name because I think I will be making a few more soon. Second time working with Chinesium VG10 Damascus steel. This was a 3mm billet, and the layers are slightly off centre which is a bit of a pain. Guess I cant really expect quality control from Chinese production. Luckily it has enough core steel to sharpen up with a good edge. Last time I etched Damascus, I left it a bit too long and it etched pretty deep. This time I etched it for much shorter periods. Its probably a little under done this time. I will maybe split the difference next time. The blade is a full flat grind with a tapered tang. Handle is African ebony with thin red G10 liners, mosaic pins and a hand rubbed oil finish.

Late last year I made my first chefs knife & gave it to my step mother for Christmas. This year I decided to make chefs knives for my two brothers and sisters in law. I asked each of them for their favourite colours, so ended up with blue and pink for one couple, and orange and green for the other couple. I like making these knives, but phuk is there some grinding to get them done. I start by getting the the profiled blade in 4mm AEB-L heat treated. To get a nice lively & functional blade, I start off grinding a full flat bevel which also gives the blade a distal taper, then grind in a hollow for the "S" grind which lightens up the blade some more and helps with food release, then taper the tang to balance out the blade. I probably grind away 50% of the steel, though I keep forgetting to weigh one before and after grinding. Then with their colour preferences I had to work out the best way to incorporate the colours into the handles. I had a piece of stabilised maple with blue and pink die through it that I used for one, though unfortunately a lot of the pink in the wood ended up getting ground out of it during the shaping of the handle. I added pink liners, and really wanted to use pink pins as well, but no one in Australia sells them. I could have got them overseas, but left my run too late form them to arrive in time. For the other handle, I made a segmented handle by cutting & joining orange and green G10 on a fine black liner, then glued them up with contrasting orange & green G10 pins. The whole process took me a lot longer than I expected and I was a bit worried I wouldnt get them done in time. But I finished them yesterday, and will give them out at a family dinner tonight.

If you dont know the story of Harry Wolhuter and his "lion killer" knife, its definitely worth a read: https://southafrica.co.za/legend-of-harry-wolhuter.html The knife itself was made by Thomas Williams Butchers Cutler in London and was from a pattern commonly used for slaughtering sheep in the 1800s. I used the template produced by Pops Knife Supply: https://popsknife.supplies/pages/lion-killer to make my knife. The blade is 3mm SF100 stainless, with a full flat grind and a tapered tang. The handle is gidgee scales with thin red G10 liners, brass pins & a brass mosaic lanyard tube. Handle finish is hand rubbed Aussie oil.

This is a bowie made from 5.5mm S35VN steel with a saber grind bevel and a harpoon grind on the swage. The handle is olive wood given to me by aushunt member Gryphon, with black G10 liners brass pins & lanyard tube, and with a hand rubbed Aussie Oil finish.

So after making my last attempt at a night visible knife, I was asked by someone to make the same knife for them. I wasn't entirely happy with the last handle material, so did some some more searching online and found what seemed like a good alternative and ordered a set to try. This new handle material has decent luminosity - the best I have found so far. I would rate it similar to good luminosity on a watch. The material is a little softer than I would like. Its fine for use on a knife, but I have to watch it when I grind the shape on the handle as the belt rips material off quicker than I am used to. The blade is 3mm NitroV with a tapered tang and a distal taper to a pretty sharp point. The handle is luminous Chinesium with an orange G10 liner and Loveless bolts. I was also asked to make a Kydex belt sheath, so did it in orange in keeping with the high viz theme. It was only at the last minute while I was taking photos that I realised I got a bit ahead of myself at glue-up of the handles and forgot to engrave my logo on the blade. I will get a friend to laser etch my mark because I dont like to electro etch the blade once the handles are on.

So this is another version of the knife I made last year. I wanted to see what I could do with the profile. I bought a set of Chinesium handle scale material that is supposed to glow in the dark, so thought it might make a a handy knife for breaking down animals if you are taking a shot on twilight, or spotlighting, thermalling, whatever. It turned out okay, but its not nearly as visible in the dark as I had expected. The photo below is deceiving as it makes the handles look very visible, but to the naked eye it doesnt look anywhere near as visible.. Anyhow, the blade is NitroV with a full flat grind and tapered tang. The handles have a .5mm black G10 liner and Loveless bolts.

or maybe not. I made these two separately, but then decided to handle them as a pair. Steel on the hunting knife is 3.8mm Elmax, and the zipper blade is 3 mm SF100. The hunting knife has a tapered tang and a full flat grind. The zipper is a weird steep grind using a very small contact wheel. Both have blaze orange G10 handles, with fluro green G10 liners and pins. I forgot to etch my makers mark on the zipper blade, but I can still go back and do that. Sorry the photos are not great - the lighting was a bit inconsistent this morning.

This one is 3mm NitroV steel, with a full flat grind and a tapered tang. Handles are Spotted Gum, with red G10 liners, brass Loveless bolts & brass lanyard tube. The pattern of this knife draws very heavily from the Bark River Gunny Hunter. I had some Auctioneers Promise red oil and gun stock oil sitting here and have been thinking about trying it on a knife handle for a while. I had been a bit nervous about the red oil in particular as I didnt want it to dominate the colour of the handle timber by darkening it too much. I was initially a bit underwhelmed with the spotted gum after I hand sanded it, as it just looked like a very plain piece of light wood. I hit it with one coat of red oil and it was amazing how it brought the figure out in the wood. I stopped after a second coat of red oil, then gave it 14 coats of the gun stock oil and think it came up great.

And to another AH member along with RT many thanks also for the rifle sling ...with sambar motif.

Thanks guys. My brothers were pretty happy with them, so all went well.

Hi mate. I started dabbling with knife making in 2016 in a very limited capacity. During the lockdowns of 2020, I started to really get into making knives, and have continued in most of my spare time since then. My early knives were functional, but very rough by comparison to what I can do today. Like any "craft", knife making needs time on the tools to develop skills. And the more you do it, the better feel you have for how to do things and what works best. So up until recently, all my knives have been given to friends and family. Frankly, I didnt feel like I was at a standard to take someones money for what I was producing, even though it was the best work I was capable at the time. And I have learned a lot about what equipment I need and have invested in a lot of the gear to help improve how I make a knife. Plus I now have a much better feel for the materials I prefer to work with. This year I feel like I have progressed to the point where I can actually offer a decent knife, and have sold a couple of knives when people have asked me to make them a specific pattern they have wanted made. Next year I will probably book a table at one or two of the state knife shows and actually exhibit knives for sale.

Oh dear, for those using the current system using 17 micron devices, not much at all. What it means is that using 12 micron devices you can achieve a higher optical magnification with any given focal length lens. eg. using a device with say a 50 mm lens and 17 microns you get 2 X magnification, using one with a 50 mm lens and 12 microns you get 2.8 X. All due to the smaller FPA size, even when using nominally the same number of pixels. The same effect as as when you use a 384 X 288 sensor and 640 X 480 FPA with the same lens. You get a higher magnification but a slightly lower quality viewed image. Now before anyone gets too excited and raves on about a better smoother image, stop there. The fact that you must interpolate (stretch) the FPA image to the AMOLED to be able to see it, it is therefore "digitally" zoomed by a factor of 1.4, this then produces a "viewed" image of the same quality as that of the same as a 17 micron FPA. Big deal you say? OK but the cost of germanium lenses is high, so you basically save money with the shorter focal length lens, as the diameter can be smaller diameter and retain the same f speed. A factor that is not well known is that Military and most Government bodies still require only 17 micron devices. One day that will no doubt change. In the past 12 micron devices were less sensitive than 17 due to the fact of the area of the pixel covered by IR (IR is the same as visible light, other than wave length and for this subject can be referred to in the same way). Nowadays the 12 micron devices are made from Vanadium oxide rather than Amorphous Silicon and are therefore much the same sensitivity. If you want to know more about that, ring me and I will explain how it works, too hard here. Be very aware regarding the so called sensitivity figures quoted by many manufacturers, they are BS, two reasons, 1, they just quote a figure knowing there is NO WAY the punter can check or even notice the difference. 2, they do tests on the sensor using higher test target temperatures than the industry standard of 30 degrees C. This way they can say they are tested and the figures are correct, while using the very same sensor. (Talk to FLIR or Linred about this). For me to try and put all this in understandable words on paper is difficult, hopefully some of this is makes some sense?? We run workshops for this where I use a PP presentation and can discuss at the same time, much easier. Does any of that help?

Hey all, treated myself to a new hunting knife for my bday. I got a kabar because I reckon their one of the best knife brands there is out there, alongside buck.

I hope it suits your needs Foxstalker and you get plenty of use from it. But what is a hunting knife? I thought hunting knives were just a phrase used by the media for all knives that are used by criminals to go about their illegal pursuits, to the detriment of those that go hunting. I think knives are better described as camp, skinning, boning ,filleting, sticking etc.

I always take a map, compass and pen when I'm out. But a GPS is a level above so I always take one of them too. Always knowing where you are is handy

🤣 studying the map beforehand is the best preparation i find.

Hello. Australian living in Austria. Used to hunt in Australia in my yoof. This was mostly up around Timor, at the top of the Hunter Valley, NSW. I have fond memories of going though a lot of SKS ammo, when they were still legal. Hunted a bit in Scotland in recent years. Firearm ownwership in Austria is quite relaxed. Any citizen or permanent resident over the age of 18 may own "Class C" firearms, which means essentially shotguns (not pump action), single shot, lever action or bolt action rifles in any calibre. The firearms just need to be registered and stored safely. I own a Husqvarna 1640, 6.5x55mm (Swedish mauser). I can use this at any licensed range. Hunting is a whole different story though. There is a very intensive and pretty difficult course to attend and test to pass. All in German. I haven't done that bit yet. But hunting in places like Hungary, Croatia and Serbia is quite accessible. Bow hunting is not permitted in Austria, but it is in Hungary. 🤷‍♂️

Cheap ones! He’ll drop ‘em for sure

Its Chinesium and I dont really know what its supposed to do. I just bought it off the photo which made it look pretty bright in the dark, but it didnt turn out that way. For all I know its radioactive waste from a Chinese nuclear submarine encased in resin - but probably not since I expect that would glow better. 🤣🤣🤣

Hi all, I'm new to deer hunting and look forward to learning as much as I can.

Thanks mate. If you google "stabilised wood" you will see more of the process, but essentially the wood is in a vacuum chamber submerged in the resin mixture. This process pushes air out of the wood and forces the resin in. It can take over a month under vacuum for the wood to fully absorb the resin.

Some great shots there Vic. Some of them would have looked better with a Woodleigh inside them.

No, I mostly dont use jigs. This one is all freehand. Grinding well and consistently is the biggest learning curve. It has taken me years to get to the point where I feel like I am turning out okay work. I am still a beginner though.

RT`s knife got a bit of paint on her this morning. Stag had his head showing above a berry bush from where I was. As he reached for a bite I gave him one from the old 7mmRM. I could only see his head at the time.

Here's our new product available from today. A variation on our CYA fleece jacket. This one is longer and has a zip off hood. Two inside breast pockets and the side zip pockets are lower making it very comfortable for those who like to keep their hands in their pockets. https://samhuntvic.com.au/product/cya-long-coat-with-hood/

I have bought three, two with hoods....I`m the original crash test dummy hood wise. There you go @SamHuntVic, a member endorsement lol.

#40 is technically enough. I would look for something that's 50 pounds plus: your only limiting yourself to a distance and arrow weight... Speed is great for target stuff but a heavy arrow is what you want for game. You'll need to be sized up for your bow too, your going to want to go into a store to get the ass-tons of information about compound bows. you don't NEED to spend a lot of money but you will need to get the right draw length and have arrows cut to that size. Its a crazy rabbit hole to fall into.

Most high carbon Damascus is etched in a ferric chloride mixture, then often given a finish etch in coffee. The first time I tried making a knife with stainless Damascus, I tried Ferric, but it didnt touch it. Despite trying for increasingly longer periods, Ferric brought out virtually no pattern at all. The last two knives I have actually successfully made from this stainless Damascus, I have used hydrochloric acid for the etch. It does much better, with some pattern emerging within the first minute. Now I am just trying to work out how long to leave it in the etch, so thats still an ongoing process.

G'day all, Tim here, I live in the Warwick area and I'm 44 years old. I've been hunting from my early teens till late 30's, had a bit of a break for a few years due to life commitments. getting back into it recently. I mainly hunt deer, pigs and wild dogs. Mostly hunt with a rifle but would love to get back into bow hunting. favorite caliber is probably 30-06 followed closely by 270win. I also love reloading.

Sold my 15x56 to a bloke that has property in the King Valley, he told me recently that he was observing sambar sunning at 1.5 k`s away on a hill face.

Just to give some idea of grinding knife bevels, this is a time lapse of me grinding another knife on the weekend.

Mate as someone who salf-taught myself from zero to become quite decent at website building and graphic design I applaud your effort and skill as I can appreciate how much research, trials, persistence, work and effort you put in, in order to get to this level. As a keen collector of knives I would not hesitate to buy a knife from you based on the craftsmanship and quality of the one from the above photos. Well done!

chasing rabbits on a property, with it on full power it will last approximately 35 minutes but even if it lasts longer, it makes no sense to design it like that, imagine how many people bought spare rechargeable batteries for the old models, and then go on and purchase new model of javelot thinking they can use all those spare batteries they have, not realising these muppets from olight changed design without actually clearly stating that in their description. Its actually deception of sort, because in description it says it uses same batteries as old models, but what it does not clearly say is that those batteries are completely sealed and can not be removed from spotlight body on new models. And then when you decide to swallow that hard pill and decide to buy another sealed replacement pack, it does not tell you on their website that the bloody thing needs to be fully assembled for it to recharge. What's the point of buying replacement pack then? Things like this just do my head in as you can tell

Hey guys and girls I have 270 308 223 22 12 20 I shoot in toolamber