On another forum there wa s a discussion on safari knives with one of the members and his associates testing thousands of dollars worth of knives both in the uS and in Africa, and coming to certain conclusions as to what was desirable and what wasn't. The upshot of the testing was that they found fault with all of the ones they tested in one way or another with some being the knife and others the sheath. The use the knife was to be put to was not as a strict hunting knife as there are skinners to do that side of the usual knife usage, but for cutting the lunch time meats or a bit of brush for a leopard hide etc and any of the thousand and one other chores that a knife may be put to including being abe to cleanly cut the end from a cigar when needed. There was a list of specs and so I made a knife to suit and sent it off for testing and with a few tweaks to my original offering I am now making these for some of the forum members and thought to show it here to you as well.
The specs were for a 3 3/4 in blade of 4mm O1 HT to 59-60 with scandi grind and a 4 7/8 handle of olive micarta as standard with a 2 screw fixing (to facilitate possibly changing the handle scales for trophy horn, bone of antler at a later date)
The brief was for a horizontal carry sheath on the front of the left hip for a right handed user and when I designed it I made it to be multiple carry with it being able to be used as a vertical carry behind the right hip or a canted carry on the left hip as well.




I am offering them with the option of buffalo horn as well and the first one of these is ready to go out next week.

Nice looking knife. What is price? I would like to be first

Too late to be first Big Bear as #7 is in the books. My email is on my card if you want to discuss this further

Interesting knife and I agree that a knife on a hunting trip has a lot more chores than field dressing. The one thing (since I've never really used one) that I'm curious about is what the scandi design offers. Is it strength? But doesn't that thicker blade preclude smooth slicing ?

I great concept for a neat project that you've come up with.

I aggree that a full flat grind is way better for an actual hunting knife, but in reality the scandi grind was chosen for the multiplicity od chores it might be required to perform with some f them being bushcraft harsh on thinner blades. It was to be able to stand up to battoning if needed and also to have a square spine edge to facilitate striking of a firestarter rod. The scandi grinds wider grind angle is suposedly easier for those to sharpen who can not maintain a constant angle with 20* secondary bevel that is on the full flat grind, but having said that the scandi grind is a surprisingly clean cutter, although it dosent make the best slicer. The thing is that this is their spec but because I am able to do these as requested, a full flat grind is also a simple change of grind to the same way I do the hunting knives and in the same 3.2mm steel if that was what was wanted.
That is the benefit of having different patterns, steels in both type and thickness, grinds and handle materials as I can make a knife to exactly (or very close) to what is envisaged by the buyer.

I have made the final mod to the sheath for the safari knife with the square corner beign rounded off to make it more comfortable in the canted cross draw carry position.

with the carry strap moved forward it sits better for the canted carry and in the vertical position sits lower on the belt. This was before the corner was modified. For the horizontal carry it makes for a little less overhang in front

This field scalpel will be away this week. Buff horn on a 2 1/2 in x .1 15N20 blade in a pocket sheath.

It is Garry not Gerry Doug, but I had a few of the safari knife blades tested a coupe of weeks back and they were all in the 60-61 range
I will email you on the pricing and options for the field scalpel but I can usually ship within a couple of weeks of connfirmation of order.

Great looking knifes!!

Thanks Gerhard. Been doing a few in buff horn lately and have a new EDC patern that is being worked on at the moment.

If I may ask...

What do these knives sell for?

Is that the safari knife Gerhard?? That one is US$185 + shipping for the olive micarta or US$205 for the buffalo horn scales. The 3 way sheath comes standard or if preferd I will do a standard vertical carry sheath instead.

A few more knives away after final sharpening tomorrow. This is the safari knife that was ordered with the brass bolster and birdshead grip hande in walnut instead of the original patern handle in micarta or buff horn.


And some more field scalpels. Two have the belt sheath (one buff horn and the other in olivewood) and the third is a neck knife sheath.

I have refined the shape a little for the olivewood knife and this will njow be my patern as it sits a little more comfortably in hand.

Another of the little field scalpels almost ready to go today but with the olive micarta handles to match one of my safari knives he got a few weeks back.At this stage is just needs the final polish on the blade and a sharpen

I decided to make a more apropriate holder for the little olivewood knife that mother took a liking to so at her 90th birthday at the weekend I said I would get it sorted this week so this is what I came up with. I didn't have a large enough piece of olivewood but I think the contrast of the walnut is a better look anyway
This is what I did to make the little knife more available for her. It will be screwed onto one of her cupboard facings, be simple to retrieve and replace, while being secure in keeping.







The recess has to follow the curviture of the handle to get a good fit and have with enoug depth at the ase to give full support to the handle end

I got another shipment of buffalo horn in today so should be set for a while in that regard.

I had designed this one a while back but this was the first time I decided to make a couple.
A good friend had given me a piece of beech burl and thought to use it on this smaller handled knife as it had some barkpockets I had to fill and would not suit anything larger. Did another one in buffalo horn and one in walnut as well

2.2mm - .09 15N20 steel. 90x20mm blade (3 1/2x3/4)