Testimonial

I have made it a practice to request feedback, both positive and negative, from the owner of each knife I have sold. My reason for requesting feedback is to improve the design and construction of my knives. As I have stated elsewhere in this blog, my goal is to create knives that are functional, as well as good looking. I don't think this can be accomplished operating in a "bubble".

Below is a recent e-mail I received from a customer concerning two of my early skinning knives. I share it with permission of the sender.

Lee, 

You will find attached some photos of my brother J., who has been hunting for many years, evident by the antlers attached on the pole at his farm. He loves his knife, claiming that it is the sharpest, most functional hunting knife that he has ever used. He described skinning with it was "just like a hot knife going through butter" His is the Thuya Burl, mine is the Kauila. We skinned a deer with them today, which took no time at all. Amazing.

R.R.

.

Jeff Cooper

Over the past couple of weeks I have been reading the works of the late Jeff Cooper. So far I have read "To Ride, Shoot Straight, and Tell the Truth" and "C Stories". I am working on "Another Country" and have "Fireworks" in reserve. Mr. Cooper's books are a mixture of politics, philosophy, history, hunting lore, and observations on the practical application of weaponry. He was a keen observer and a fine writer. His books can be purchased at jeffcooperbooks.com or you can get them through the inter-library loan system.

Three of a Kind

Above are the latest General Purpose knives. The top knife is handled with Wenge, the middle knife has a Zebra wood handle, and the bottom knife has a Myrtle wood handle.

The Myrtle wood is from a "scrap" a friend gave me and has lots of character. It is spalted, has some fiddle back, several small knots, and the grain is all over the place.

Below is the Wenge knife in its sheath.

You will notice that the back of the sheath has a number stamped on it. I began doing this on knife #9. The knives in the first photo are numbers 12-14.

These knives are available for $99.00 each + shipping. Sheath is included. If you are interested in purchasing one, I can be reached at baumgartknives@gmail.com.

ALL ARE SOLD.

Knife Sharpening

 As an FYI, when I sharpen these knives I use diamond hones and a DMT aligner blade guide. Occasionally I will finish with a Ceramic Stone. There are a number of knife makers that sharpen their knives entirely on a slack belt sander, creating a convex edge, opposed to the "V" edge created by the hone. Using the belt sander certainly appears to be faster for the knife maker and when using extremely fine grit sanding belts, it produces a fine edge, but what happens when it needs to be resharpened? The only way that I know of to maintain the convex edge is to use the belt sander again. Of course not everyone has a belt sander and you certainly aren't going to pack one around in the field if you do own one. Its my understanding that when you try to sharpen the convex edge on a flat surfaced hone, you end up with a "blunter" edge profile and eventually, over time, change the entire profile to the "V". Anyway, the reason I sharpen the way I do is so the knife can conveniently be resharpened by the user, in the field, if necessary.