5 years ago we headed down to the Hunter Gather Cook tree house to meet Nick Weston and work with him on developing the perfect hunting knife. As an expert in hunting, fishing and foraging Nick was the perfect candidate to help us understand exactly what was needed in such a blade. After many hours of game butchery and various rounds of prototyping we finally came up with a design we were happy with.
Since then, a lot has changed in our practice. Our skills have developed along with our tooling, equipment and understanding of steel. The hunting knife has evolved alongside this. In recent years we have become custodians of some extremely rare, specialist forging equipment and this has unlocked many new possibilities in what we produce and how we can work.
This latest batch of hunters had been made using a combination of careful hand forging and a specially made former in our biggest of power hammers to forge in an integral bolster. This feature, the sudden increase in steel thickness where the blade meets the handle, has a lot of benefits in this style of knife. It makes it easier to keep clean, improves the balance and adds strength. The blade and tang both feature severe tapers meaning that edge is very strong towards the heel but has a very fine delicate tip, perfect for the surprisingly intricate process of butchering game.
This year’s batch has been forged from C105 steel that has been clad with tough mild steel. C105 is a very rare German carbon steel, it was produced in the 1920s and our supplier salvaged a limited supply from a closing down tool factory. This steel is one of the cleanest low alloy steels in existence and is a joy to forge and sharpen. Whilst it will require a little more maintenance than some of our previous stainless steel hunters James feels it is worth the extra effort as the edge you can achieve with very little effort is phenomenal.
For the handles James has used a variety of different timbers, we’ve got some beautiful walnut root, bog oak, and iron wood as well as a few with super hard wearing canvas Micarta.
This blade is designed specifically for butchering deer and small game, but is also useful for a variety of tasks eg – breaking down poultry or boning joints of meats. This blade is also great for chopping up bits and bobs in the wild.
Each knife comes with a hand made leather sheath by local leatherworker Owen Leather.
Dimensions
*Blade length – approx. 95mm
*Overall length – 200mm
*Blade thickness – 4mm
*Blade Depth – 30mm
Materials
*Blade – German high carbon steel C105 clad with Mild steel
*Handle – Bog Oak, Ironwood, Lacewood, Micarta and Shotgun Walnut
This is the first ever butcher’s blade to be offered in our Stainless Clad range of knives.
These robust knives are designed for boning poultry but lend themselves to a multitude of tasks. They have a chunky spine with almost no flex to the blade and with a pronounced taper forged into the length of the blade.
The thick spine and steeper bevels make the edge perfect for cutting around bones, and through crustacean shells and cartilage. A finer, narrow tip adds an extra layer of versatility to this knife and is perfect for more intricate tasks such as jointing or boning poultry.
Dimensions
*Blade length – 140mm
*Overall length – 270mm
*Blade thickness at the handle – 4mm
*Blade Depth – 45mm
Materials
*Blade – Japanese Aogami Super steel core with Stainless Steel cladding
*Handle – Fumed Oak handle with a solid brass ferrule
Arch 228-229, Blenheim Grove, London SE15 4QL
