Hudson Bay Camp Knife and Sheath

[Chuck Burrows]

Here's a Hudson Bay Camp Knife by Dennis Miles of Double Edge Forge and our sheath to match:






The sheath is Elk rawhide over a bark tan core. The cuff at the top is out of brain tan with a hand made Sterling silver trade cross by yours truly - this is the first engraving I've ever done using a home made graver - it won't be the last!

The HBC camp Knife has a blade 9.25" lon and 2" wide - the grip is walnut - for those interested here's how Dennis makes this style knife, in his own words.
Hudson Bay Camp Knife (Done the Old Way- his feet are firmly planted in the 18th century)
"I start with a piece of steel (usually buggy spring) about 12" long and 1-7/8" wide, 1/4" thick or so. This is then forged to the general shape of the knife, using a set of old calipers to keep my measurements right. After rough forging, I let the piece cool some and check the dimension and do additional forging, if needed, to get it close to the finished size. The knife is then heated to cherry red and buried in the annealing box until absolutely cool. (This box has sand and some diatamatious earth in it and allows the steel to slowly cool and soften so it can be easily filed.)
After cooling, I check for straightness and dimension, if I am happy, I then move to the bench. I then take a scratcher and outline the final dimension of the blade. It is then put in the vice and I file to the etched lines. Then the knife is turned so the flat side is up in the vice and I file out all (or most) of the forge marks and profiled for the taper from the spine to edge and haft to point. (This is the labor intensive part of knife making, as it takes many times longer to do this by hand than the actual forging. Figure 10% forge and 90% bench on larger or finer pieces) I then decide on and mark the pin holes in the haft. The knife is then brought back to the forge and the pin holes are punched, and straightened up. The entire knife is then heated and returned to the anneal box. After it is cool, I go back to the bench and clean up the pin holes, check final dimension and overall appearance, if I am happy I then chisel my mark into it. At this point I head back to the forge. I now heat a piece of iron to put in the tallow trough. (This is a 12" X 12" X 24" walnut beam that I have hollowed out and put rendered fat, oil, used grease in). This is used, once heated, to harden a knife. ( as a side note, the trough should be oriented N-S to reduce blade warpage) I put the iron in the fat and let it melt and flare up. Once it quits flaming, it is melted and at the right temperature for hardening. The cutting edge of the knife is then heated until non-magnetic, (a little darker than cherry red) it is then eased into the melted tallow. I then take it out, wipe it off and check for evenness and any cracks. The knife blade is then heated until the entire thing is non-magnetic and once again put in the trough, covering only the cutting edge and the first inch or so of the width of the blade. I hold it there until the entire knife is no longer red..It is then cleaned once again, checked for cracks and any warping. I then repeat the last step one more time. After the blade is cleaned once more, and polished some, I heat a large piece of wrought iron in the forge until it is white, but not sparking. The knife is then laid, spine down, on the iron. This heats the blade up, drawing color thru it, spine to edge. I stop the heat, on this particular stlye of knife at DARK straw, nearly light blue at the edge and quench in water (A tad harder than a hatchet). It is then re-polished and this procedure is done twice more with the last time left to cool on its own with no quench.
The knife is once again brought to the bench. Now I will polish the blade. This is done with an OLD red fired brick and oil ( I generally use bear oil, as I like the consistency) All I do is put oil on the blade and then start rubbing the brick on it until I produce a "slurry" of brick dust and oil. I then rub this with a piece of brain tanned leather used for this and this only, replenishing as needed. Once the level of polish I want is reached the knife is cleaned and inspected. (This method isn't like using 1000 grit wet paper, but it works.) The hard part is now over, now to the hafting with wood.
For this knife, I used walnut that was slabbed out of a tree on the property. It is already pretty much the desired thickness. So all I have to do is trace the tang shape and cut it with a coping saw. The pin holes are then drilled using a small post drill. The slabs are then placed on the tang (haft) using blind pins and I proceed to rasp/scrape to the final shape. Once that is done, I take sheet brass and cut/file/drill/polish washers for the rivets. I heat a mixture of beeswax/pine pitch and powdered charcoal and paint on the inside of the scales. This will act as a sealant. The slabs are then pinned on and peened over the washers. I use a piece of brain tan that has dried slurry on it then to polish the rivets some and touch up the tang and slabs. I then rub in a few layers of alternating beeswax and
oil in the slabs. The knife is then given a "rough" cutting edge on my peddle wheel. It is then hand sharpened to a final edge with a couple of India stones and a wood backed strop. The edge is sharpened to suit the work of the knife. This is a working knife and not a straight razor, so it is sharpened accordingly. It is tested then by cutting thru a rope or two, slicing some stuff in the kitchen and then clean cutting and chopping thru some Osage limbs. If I am happy with it, it is then cleaned, oiled and ready for the new owner."

Simple, no??

Dennis Miles
DOUBLE EDGE FORGE
New Paris, Ohio

[Rocket_Jason]

Wow! Nice knife and sheath too!

[McAhron]

Great colaboration Chuck.

[hammerdownnow]

Very nice knife and sheath. I was thinking of suggesting the Hudson Bay as our next Kith. I have some line drawings of the original with dimensions to go by. What a chopper!

[Ice Tigre]

I saw this over at the muzzloaders forum, but didn't have time to comment. I admit that I've never realy liked the studs and fringe styles, but the craftsmanship in that is amazing! I do like this one, it realy seems to fit with the knife,as far as style and size.
the subtle changes of color add character. Wonderful Chuck!

Gary

[traderran]

great just great

[Tracy]

An impressive piece!

[hammerdownnow]

I gotta bump this one back up to the top.