doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com knives??

Mike, the one in the photo was carried by my dad for many a year in the Georgia Swamps on his hunts for Whitetails and wild hogs. Our better hunting areas were a few miles up the Altamaha River shown on the chart.

I have had it on a few Olympic Elk hunts and it performed well for the skinning and dressing.

The stains on the big blade of the Schrade are blood from my Dad's last deer, shot in his 84th and last year, in 1993. No way would I clean the knife up!

Another name to look for is Harry Morseth Knives, he used the swedish laminated steel for his knives, great working knives that have superior edge holding. Many makers out there that will copy Scagel patterns. There is a doctor (retired) in Fruitport Mi. that bought all of Scagels tools and makes copies of the Scagel patterns. I will have to look up the name, can't remember it right now.
Craig

Dr.James R. Lucie Fruitport, MI

One of my knife books has a chapter on Morseth.

And the story in another of my books is Bo Randall bought a Scagel from a guy using it for a paint scraper on a boat and decided to make one similar. Thus the Randal story was begun!

There are a lot of very talented people out there making custon knives. If you get into Loveless or Bill Moran knives you are talking upwards of $10,000 each, another very expensive hobby!

Craig

Not mine. Maybe five bucks if I throw in a few McDonalds coupons.

Thank you for all the wonderful pictures. If I had an extra 10k to spend it would not be on a knife... Why were the folding knives so popular? Easy to carry? I will have to take a look at the Morseth knives as well. I thought there would be a wider selection of well known makers. I'm sure there were some fine custom knives back then, but it appears that in the end the knife was just a tool. Best-JB

The handmade folding knives were and are popular due to the precission and detail required to produce. A lot like a Rolex watch and a Timex, big difference in the quaity and detail, but both tools that do the same thing!

Craig

The old timers used folders as they did not like anything dangeling from their belt, especially down in the SE US where the "jungle growth" has a habit of snatching a fixed blade knife out of the sheath. Most of these gents, my father included, put a lot of time on foot in the thick stuff when traveling the swampy regions. Another reason is if you take a fall, the knife often cuts through the sheath and jabs one in the leg, especially if the sheath is secured in the frontal area of ones belt. Another reason is lightweight cotton coveralls were often worn in the hot swampy areas, coveralls are much cooler than pants with a tight belt. Coveralls have no belt for a sheath knife. Another reason is travel to reach the hunting often was by small boat ("jon boat or bateou") and a sheath knife just gets in the way when sitting on a small boat plank seat.

Many of my hunting friends back then said a big sheath knife looked somewhat foolish dangeling from a belt. Even today, if I am carrying a sheath knife while hunting, it is securely stowed in my pack, out of sight and not prone to dropping out of the sheath or being "snatched" by the heavy brush in the rain forest elk country I frequent.

I guess it all boils down to area habits.

Not just the southeast. I have several handmade knives from Ark. craftsman, they always use a dangle sheath, the belt loop is attached to a large oring that is than attached to the sheath, so the knife and sheath can move in any direction whether the wearer is sitting , standing or falling! The knife is always secured into the sheath with a retaining strap.

Craig