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jdee

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  1. jdee

    What Knife For U?

    My favourite at the moment is the Upland Special from Bark River - I like the older style upswept blade and there is plenty of edge for long cuts. It is convex ground and one of the sharpest knives I have tested.
  2. Thommo Things must be different in NSW re the butchering trade as down here the majority of "butchers" or should I say people who work in butcher shops cant dont or wont sharpen their own knives. I know one bloke who makes a living out of going around the shops in the bush sharpening knives. I am not talking about the blokes working in the meat works they are a different breed although from time to time I sharpen knives for some them esp., those who are chicken boners. And as far as butchers go it is not the current generation it is also the previous generation so the knowledge is not being passed down. It is a sad state of affairs when you cant get your knife sharpened at the butcher shop anymore.
  3. I'd sharpen it for you too! Be careful who you get to sharpen it as these days there are a lot of "cowboys" around who seem to all claim to be ex-butchers. It's also hard to find a butcher who can sharpen knives these days - I don't know what it is like in Sydney but down here my biggest customers are butchers as they just don't pass on the skills any more. Your best bet is a Knifemaker many of them have turned to blade sharpening to subsidise their craft.
  4. F-D I C K have what they call a "Butchers Sticking" Knife which comes in 2 shapes a straight back and a drop point or spear point (not the 2 sided pig sticker) and it comes in sizes 5" to 8".
  5. I am not a great fan of stainless steel for heavy work like pig sticking mainly because unless you know how it has been heat treated it can be either too brittle or lack strength - that's why the bayonets are so good they are all made from carbon steel and they are made for heavy duty and thats why Svord and Dewey are also good Svord is carbon (I guess O-1) and Dewey I believe is D2. Most Muelas I've seen overall have differing standards some good some bad I can't find any consistency in their production but then again some people swear by them.
  6. I've sold a lot of the F-#### 7" Pig Stickers but personally I'd want something a bit stouter. Both Dewey Knives and Svord Knives make purpose built pig knives which seem to be good.
  7. jdee

    Dewey Knives

    With all things being equal the D2 blades should be very good. IMO D2 is the "king" of knife steels - D2 is used extensively by Bob Dozier, one of the US top makers, an excluding the new "whizbang" steels it is only challenged by A-2 (which is very close in edge retention but tougher and less likely to chip) as used and heat treated by Bark River. I also used D2 in the majortiy of knives I made and did so because after extensive testing I found it to be the best - of course a steel is only as good as its heat treat and a proper heat treat will bring the best out in D2 or any other steel for that matter just as a bad heat treat will turn it into rubbish. Looking at their site Dewey Knives should have a number of knives in D2 to meet your needs. BTW what do you mean by "skinning knife"? I ask this question as to me a skinning knife is a blade purpose designed and built for skinning only whereas many people talking about skinning knives really mean a "hunting knife" IE a knife that will field dress, skin and if necessary "pack" a carcass also.
  8. jdee

    Dewey Knives

    Anyone out there use a Dewey Knife if so what are they like? DEWEY Knives are about the only Australian Sporting Knife Manufacturer but very little is written about them.
  9. I learnt to shoot with a Lithgow BA SS .22 and a Sportco Martini SS .22
  10. As a matter of interest does anyone believe that Australia has a knife it can call its own? There have been many discussions on this topic and no one yet has come up with a definitive answer. I offer the following for consideration: I have been doing a bit more research in the context of an "essay" I am doing "Knives of Cultures of the World" - the criteria I have established is that: 1. The "culture" must be recognised and defined whether it be a nationality; a regional cultural or racial group; a recognised work or recognised leisure group; 2. The "knife" must be in use today whether common or isolated; 3. The"knife" must still be in production whether factory, custom or hand made; 4. The "knife" must have a history of at least 100 years; 5. The "knife" can not be a reproduction EG a Scramasax; and 6. The "knife" can not be military based EG the Kabar. In my research the only knife that meets these requirements in Australia is the "3 bladed stockman" - there may be others that people wish to throw up EG "The Bushmans Friend" or the "Queensland Sheepmans" or others put out by W Jno Baker along the same theme. Whilst these knives are part of Australian History they were not widespread, nor did they continue to be popular and those being sold currently are basically "retros". The "Stockman" meets the above 6 points as follows: 1. The Stockmen (inc., farmers etc) are a recognised work group and have developed a folklore culture which is defined and recognised; 2. The "3 bladed stockman" is still in use today an carried by those in (1) above; 3. The "3 blade stockman" is still in production today whether it be those from Sheffield (where most of the originals came from) and by many US knifemakers - even the ever popular Schrade Old Timer is still made as a China made "classic"; 4. The "3 bladed stockman" does have a history of at least 100 years; and points 5 and 6 do not apply. So! There you have it and in my "essay" the single entry under Australia will be the "3 bladed stockman" just as under the United States the single entry will be for "the bowie". I expect there will be many that will disagree but they may wish to read my conclusions (which I will be publishing on the internet around June this year) before hanging me out to dry. I know this is not technically a "Hunting Equipment" post but it is interesting probably in the same vain as is there an Australian Rifle as say the Winchester is to the US>
  11. G'day my first post and it's a long one. I should introduce myself although some of you may know of me from other Forums. I am a Knifemaker although currently inactive due to a debilitating shoulder injury and I was a full member of the Australian Knifemakers Guild and I am also a Knife Dealer and we produce a monthly free newsletter "Knife Knews" for which I have done many knife reviews. My spare time seems to be taken up with testing knives as I believe there is a lack of knife reviews available in Australia. Most knife reviews come out of the US where conditions and the availability of good knives is different to here and many of the reviews are either written for Knife Magazines where there is a vested advertising interest or the knives are supplied free to the reviewers. Also many such reviews are a bit "over the hill" where reviewers are into destructive testing such as chopping concrete blocks. Firstly, I buy all the knives I review and I test them for what they are designed for and not in any destructive way. Okay enough of that here is a review I have just completed. We recently began stocking the Tramontina (Brazil) line of knives so I decided to test them out. Firstly, Tramontina is one of the few Knife Manufacturers of butcher type knives to be up front about their steel and heat treatment. They say they use Krupp 1.4110 and Sandvik 12C27 Stainless Steels which on paper are not dissimilar. A lot of European manufacturers use these 2 steels and 12C27 in particular is used by Frosts of Sweden and Opinel. The US company Bark River have had good success with 12C27 with a special heat treatment and bringing out knives at 58hrc. Tramontina also say they heat treat their knives to 55-56hrc, which is about the norm for this type of knife, using an ice-hardening process or cryogenics. I decided to test the Tramontina against 2 other popular brands of butcher knives they being: F-####; and Victorinox. I chose a 6" skinning knife for the test given that this is probably the most popular amongst hunters, farmers and home butchers. The first thing to note is that neither F-#### or Victorinox are forthcoming about the steel or the heat treatment involved in their knives. The second is that both the European knives were highly polished whilst the Tramontina was satin finished. All 3 knives had plastic handles and were accredited to the NSF standard for hygiene and of the 3 I found the Tramontina most comfortable mainly as I have hands on the small side and the Tramontina handle was not as bulky as the others esp., the F-####. All knives appeared sharp out of the box with similar sized bevels. Prior to testing I did not sharpen the 3 blades but during the course of testing I gave each knife an equal number of strokes on a smooth steel after each individual test. Rope (3/8" manila rope) - the Tramontina was the only knife to cleanly cut the rope the other 2 stopped half-way. Leather (1/8" x 1" new vegetable tanned) - the F-#### cut the cleanest followed by the V'nox and then the Tramontina. Wood (1/2" hardwood dowel) - the F-#### cut off the largest piece followed by the V'nox and then the Tramontina. Carrots (new and crisp) - all knives easily sliced the carrot at the thick end and no difference was found. Tomatos (very ripe) - the Tramontina performed the best here by easily cutting through the other 2 knives were hard to start but once through the skin they performed well. Meat (stewing steak) - the Tramontina was just in front of the F-#### and the V'nox appeared to be tiring. The Tramontina was the better performer in trimming off fat etc. Cardboard (corrugated packing) - cutting with the grooves all 3 knives performed equally. Cutting against the grooves the Tramontina performed best. Cardboard (manilla folders cut into 4" strips) - this was my edge retention test (remember these knives have not been sharpened). Using a pull stroke I kept slicing until the blade started to hesitate. Here the Tramontina was in front of the F-#### and the V'nox was last. From the above it appears that the Tramontina was the best performed and I put this down to the fact that the other 2 knives were highly polished and presumed that their edges were also polished whereas the Tramontina had an aggressive edge. It is a fact that an aggressive edge works better on some mediums EG rope than a polished edge but the latter will work better on push cuts EG wood than the former. I then sharpened all 3 knives on a 2 x 36" belt sander using a used 240 grit slack belt. Each knife was sharpened at a 30 degree angle IE 15 degrees each side and then given 20 strokes on each side on the Spyderco Sharpmaker at 30 degrees using the white or fine rods. All 3 knives should have now been equal as far as sharpness and edge profile was concerned so I conducted the rope test again and the results were as follows: Tramontina = 10 cuts; F-#### = 9 cuts; V'nox = 7 cuts. From this you can assume that the Tramontina and the F-#### had about equal edge retention and the V'nox the worst. Not knowing the steel and hardness of the F-#### and the V'nox it is hard to make any firm analysis but certain assumptions can be made. The Tramontina and the F-#### may have similar steel and/or similar hardness whereas the Victorinox had inferior steel and/or lesser hardness. But when it comes to looking for a knife for working in the field it appears to me that you cant go past the Tramontina based on the above and based on the fact that it costs significantly less then the 2 European knives. I have based costs on wholesale prices as this negates the various markups that abound and the cost of a Tramontina 6" Skinner is approximately half the cost of the European Knives. Without extensive testing I could not recommend the Tramontina as a professional knife although I understand they are being used in some meatworks but for hunting or on the farm or for the home butcher they should be an excellent alternative to the higher cost European knives. They also perform well in the kitchen I bought an 8" straight butchers knife for meat only and a 7" flexible boner which has proven a worth alternative to your traditional ham slicer.
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