Silver Fox Bushcraft

Silver Fox Bushcraft Knife (SFK)

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Working in collaboration

Sean Mulhall of Silver Fox Bushcraft and Chris Grant – Knife Maker and Designer from www.makemethischris.co.uk – have created a new design of bushcraft knife. Unlike many of the knives used by Bushcrafters or outdoors people which are predominately modified fighting knives the Silver Fox Bushcraft Knife(SFK) has been designed as a tool. The unusual design as come from years of working with knives and axes for different camp chores; very often having to compromise on the tools they take due to weight, space, or practicality. Both Chris and Sean have used large knives for years and decided to collaborate to see what they could come up with. Initially as a fun project but then as the proto types developed they realised they had developed a truly all round tool, capable of tackling all the jobs around the camp. The knife is capable of chopping and splitting wood, carving, skinning, food preparation, and general camp chores.

Sean living in Somerset, England and Chris living in Perthshire, Scotland. They couldnt live much further apart, so they had to work with drawings, cardboard templates phonecalls and emails. From the first drawings to the final design one feature was constant - the hump. Several designs were made and a few proto-types until they came up with the final design.

Specifications

The SFK is ¼” (6.5mm) 01 steel. It has been differentially hardened for maximum cutting potential, edge retention, shock absorption and toughness. It is 13” overall in length. It has a 5 ¼” cutting edge and a 2 ¼” choil. The handle is 5 ½” making it a slightly longer than usual. The knife weighs 650grams. It has an unpolished blade face for corrosion resistance and grip. It has a sabre ground polished primary bevel for friction elimination and a convex ground secondary cutting edge to assist with chopping and for edge retention and durability.

Grips

There are several different ways to hold the SFK depending on the task in hand. This allow the user to place the power at the exact point of contact with the blade reducing stress on the wrist and giving more control and safety.

Design Features

The 5 ¼” cutting edge is long enough to undertake most of the axe work required around camp. The 2 ¼” Choil adds extra length to the knife which in turn gives extra power and weight for chopping. Combining that with the extra length in the handle and you have a really effective chopping tool. By holding the handle and the base (Lekku Grip) you are able to use the full 13” for power and weight when cutting. The hump on the top of the blade also gives extra weight and forward momentum for chopping.

Never feeling happy about hitting the tip of their other knives when using a baton the hump on the back of the knife has been left softer than the rest of the blade so it can be used as an area for battoning. With the thickness of the blade and the convex grind it is really good at this task.

Holding the handle at the top (forehand Grip) you now have a more conventional large knife. Ideal for splitting smaller fire wood, carving fire sticks, etc. If you require more control or a smaller knife then hold the Knife around the Choil (Choil Grip) and you now have a knife around 10” overall. This grip gives you a lot of power and control when using the knife close to the body, e.g. when carving tent pegs, spoons, and fire drills, etc. The spine and belly of the knife around the choil grip area has been rounded and polished for comfort.

When using the Silver Fox Bushcraft Knife for Skinning you hold the knife by the hump on top of the blade (Skinner Grip). By running your index finger down the front of the spine you are able to skin quarry accurately without the risk of cutting into the internals of the animal. Having the large hump also means you have a decent amount of metal to hold onto and will keep your fingers away from the sharp cutting edge. This is especially important when your hands get bloody as your fingers could easily slip and cut yourself. The knife has been left unpolished and has a slight texture to this portion of the blade to assist with grip. Again this area of the spine has been rounded and polished for comfort.

There is an area of the spine between the Choil and the Hump and has been left at a right angle. This area is for use with a Ferrocium Rod or Fire Steel (To use this feature you hold the knife in the Fire Steel Grip).

By having the Silver Fox Bushcraft Knife made from ¼” steel it means that the knife can also be used and a hammer or mallet. The hump has been left softer for this purpose. Ideal for tapping in nails to secure sharpening stones, wooden pegs, etc. (Use the Mallet grip for this).

At the very tip of the knife is a small tooth. This is for use when skinning and for carving the initial notch in the base board for friction fire lighting.

The handle has been ergonomically designed to be comfortable in the hand when using all the different types of grip. In the base of the handle is a quick release detachable Brumby Lanyard. Pat. Pending.

The Sheath

Sean being ambidextrous wanted a sheath design that could be worn on either side and drawn by either hand regardless of which side it was mounted. This required a different approach to mounting the sheath. What has been developed is a universal sheath design. The knife needed to hang at a slight angle to facilitate this. Made from 3.3mm cowhide it can be worn on either side and the knife drawn by either hand. Sean also wanted to be able to mount his knife horizontally to his pack. This has also been designed into the sheath. Again the knife can be mounted left of right handed horizontally. The sheath has a dangler setup to cater for different applications and a ring at the bottom to secure the knife to the leg. They did not want to have a strap around the handle of the knife to retain it because these are prone to being cut when withdrawing the knife. Due to the weight of the knife especially when carried horizontally they chose to avoid friction fit, so they had to come up with a new design. Using the Brumby Lanyard was the result and now it doubles as the securing device when the knife is in the sheath.

As with the knife, the sheath is a truly versatile piece of design and craftsmanship. The Silver Fox Bushcraft Knife is not a compromise but an all round bushcraft tool. Capable of tackling every job required when out in the wilds.

Sean and Chris have enjoyed working together and have other design projects in mind for the future. So watching for more innovations in knife designs.

For information about purchasing a Silver Fox Bushcraft Knife (SFK) or having your own desgins made please visit www.makemethischris.co.uk

All artwork is drawn by Chris Grant. All art work and photos are copyrighted. Please contact either Sean or Chris if you wish to use any images.

Click on the Links below to watch videos of the SFK in use.

An introduction to the SFK part 1a- Sean and Chris desribe the design and build of the SFK.

An introduction to the SFK part 1b

An introduction part 2 - Using the SFK to chop a hard wood hawthorn branch

Splitting logs with the SFK Showing the capabilities for splitting logs with the SFK

Carving a spoon with the SFK - Showing the various grips and the versatility of the SFK

Comments from viewers of the videos.

Hedgehog Leather Works

Nice blade Sean!!! Very impressive and well thought out design! Congrats to both of you!

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Covert Fox

I was amazed by the thinking that has gone into this knife. It's the most original piece of work I have seen for time. I'm with Chris on first impressions of it but after watching this and the other two vids I am proper impressed and would love to get my hands on it! Congrats to both of you on a real triumph

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Flanossore

It's so nice to follow someones train of thoughts and reasoning ( when they make sense !!! ). This is proberly the biggest leap in design I actually witnessed in civilian knives. We've all seen some military stuff like the Rambo knife and the Tom Brown Tracker, but they where like for the movies and in my opinion does not work for

us "normal" people. So WELL DONE !!!

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Winterskyshadow35