So you’ve heard the guys over at E2E, including myself, tote about the guys up at Blind horse before. It is hard not to, because when you combine first hand quality, US manufacturing, and a classic design approach, you find a knife company that you can keep coming back to time and time again. Blind Horse Knives (BHK) have some beautiful blades out right now they are busy as ever contributing to the outdoor and hard use, dependable knife community.
Blind History
In early 2000, Dan Coppins and L.T. Wright joined together and began knife making, but it wasn’t until June of 2007 that Blind Horse Knife Company entered the cutlery field. I had the pleasure of meeting both of the gentlemen and their family of employees at a camp out rendezvous in North Carolina, and again later at Blade Show in Atlanta. I’ve developed a good relationship with them as it is easy to be a fan of their blades. I asked them what got them started with the more primitive and classic designs and L.T. replied that they purchased a patch knife at a gun show a long time ago and loved the rustic look and the overall appearance of the blade. Using their fondness of a blade’s geometry, and its original intended function, the guys at blind horse worked hard to put out some serious blades.
Blind Horse Knives dealing steel at Blade Show
Different steels for different feels.
The first knife I became familiar with is the handsomely inexpensive Tiger Knapp knife, made out of 4140 Saw steel they get out of a mill in Vermont. This saw steel is used in some other knives as well, and keeps and excellent edge with good impact resistance (a little known fact with saw steels!) With these blades, the coating can range from a Cold blue finish to an “ancient mountain man technique”, to render the knives rustic looking. Carbon steel is the common material that Blind Horse works with, though their Bird and Trout is in 440C stainless. The Work Horse knives are D2. The popular O-1 carbon steel is used on most of the knives that have a Scandinavian grind and more of the outdoor bushcraft and camping knives are made with this material. O-1 is a fabulous knife steel, but it rusts like the dickens. I don’t mind that on my knives but make sure to oil the blades down! Blind Horse also features Micarta, g-10, and beautiful tiger maple handles, with vivid dark and light variations of stripes as unique as the knives themselves. Turns out they get the tiger maple from a rifle manufacturer that has scraps made from gunstocks. Smart!
JRE Innovation
The master leather crafters at JRE industries make many of the quality sheaths for them. The guys at JRE come out with some unique and interesting ideas, and they have teamed up with Blind Horse Knives to develop a pocket fixed blade. Spen Stelzer, the chief leather crafter at JRE, developed quite the sheath to fit around this handy blade. Imagine a snapping button on the end of the small Tiger Knapp knife, making a folding sheath that hugs the neck knife, contributing more to the overall compactness. JRE makes custom sheaths for many other companies as well.
A fusion of JRE innovation and quality BHK design, the Snap Knapp.
Testing out BHK
The first knife I tested was the small version of their Frontier First Patch Knife. Truly a classic work of art, the patch knife comes in two sizes, but I used the smaller version almost exclusively. I really liked this size of knife, so when I purchased a Micarta Scandinavian ground version, I fell in love with the knife even more. I purchased this knife at PWYP last year, and loved the tight sheath and how I could still bounce around the campsite not worrying about if the knife falls out. The Frontier First patch knife is in O-1, 5 and ½-inches overall with a 2 and 1/2 inch blade. It works great for situations where one doesn’t want to advertise that they have a large fixed blade, and has proven effective in all the situations where I need a good Scandinavian ground knife for camp.
A classic designed Frontier first patch knife.
Maverick Colt
At PWYP, I was fortunate enough to win another small Blind Horse Knife, the Maverick Colt. The Maverick Colt is a smaller, thinner version of the simple yet sexy design of the Maverick Scout. These knives are one of the few stainless knives that Blind Horse makes, out of O-1 tool steel with a full flat grind and a secondary convex bevel. Now, on these smaller knives, they are 3/32 of an inch thick. BHK states that it works great in the kitchen, but I’ve found that it works just about everywhere else too. I don’t usually need to baton a knife, and you probably won’t be catching me with a 2 and 7/8- inch sharpened edge, but I could easily use the knife to fashion a wedge to go about with any splitting. It certainly shaves very well, and the convex bevel is easily maintained. The Maverick Colt also has a very large lanyard hole.
The Maverick Colt is a fantastic EDC knife, with pretty curves.
Work Horse
I also obtained a Work Horse that accompanied me on a backpacking trip in Linville Gorge where the D2 knife performed a variety of chores. I batoned many different seasoned logs to make a fire, using the blade to carve and whittle good wood chips and carved camp gadgets easily with the blade. It was handy when I needed to open a jerky bag, and sharp enough to trim a cigar. The Copper rivets and tiger maple handle held up well to the baton abuse, and the rounded handle did not cause any blisters while carving tent pegs and a pot hook. The D2 steel held its edge extremely well and responded to an EZE-LAP folding sharpener producing a razor sharp edge. I gave this knife to my father in law for a present after restoring it back to new, and he has used it to field dress many deer. He likes the edge retention of the D2 steel, and the attractiveness of the tiger maple with the light brown sheath. This version of the Work Horse was a custom model. The most notorious version of the workhorse BHK features is the interchangeable handle Work Horse, where one can swap out orange g-10 to tiger maple, changing as the situation dictates. Black g-10 for a hunting or camping adventure, then changing to a classic wood for a rendezvous, the customer can truly have a do all knife for any occasion.
Bushcrafter
I have a dear friend, and colleague, named Tim Stetzer, who designed quite the blade with BHK. I’m not going to talk about him just because I like him, as I really love his knife. The Bushcrafter remains one of the most popular models of the BHK to date. With a handsome handle that is contoured to be round to the feel, this Scandinavian ground beast spits out wood shavings like a mulcher. There is a flat ground version as well. The darker tiger maple handles coupled with the cold blue really made this knife stand out, but it is also available in Micarta with handsome fisheye rivets. A spear point complemented the knife’s overall handy capabilities as it was able to dig out holes for a hand drill on some yucca. I’ve used it to carve 7 rabbit sticks (basically a baton style throwing stick) for camps, and can report that there isn’t any hand fatigue. The overall length is 8 1/2″ and it has a sharpened edge of 3 ½- inches to 3 and 5/8 inches, depending on what you specify.
Bushcrafter and the Bush Baby.
Beating the Bushcrafter
Tim easily batoned it through live and dead wood, and was able to carve fine notches with it. The tiger maple and the blued finish of his personal version reflect the overall mood of a classic knife. It wouldn’t be hard to imagine this knife on the belt of a man next to a fire, stirring his Dutch oven diligently with a spoon he carved. I even saw the boys at JRE rig up a sheath with a smaller tiger Knapp knife inside. With different grinds and finishes, Tim designed a hell of a knife.
A Bush Baby shown with the sheath. The large Bushcrafter also shares this same sheath design.
Bush Baby Progeny
Enter the Bush Baby, an incredibly handy EDC, like the other small Blind Horse Knives, that I can’t keep my hands off of. They are around 1/8″ thick and flat ground with a flat spot on top in front of the handle to use on your ferro rods. The overall length is 6 1/2″ and it has a sharpened edge of 3 inches. This small knife comes with a D-ring pouch and sits snuggly on the belt. This knife is just about the smallest knife that can do everything, and I use it in high speed low drag situations where a stout knife is a necessity to accompany me in the woods, where I don’t know its there.1/8” thick is plenty of thickness for a knife, and the leather sheath sports a firesteel loop for those who want an extra measure.
Variations of the Bush Baby, shown in Tiger Maple, and various types of Micarta with various grinds.
Boat Tail Simplicity
One of my favorite knives by BHK, obvious from the heavy use marks in the picture, has got to be the simple design of the Boat Tail. While the straight handle and straight blade are nothing new, as it is just basically a knife cut out of a bar of steel, with minimum contours, they pull it off very well, making a Scandinavian bushcraft knife with Micarta that is compact, heavy duty, and well made. I like the slight drop point that keeps the point above the center line, giving it a true Scandinavian feel. I use this one regularly. It comes with a dangler sheath that I’ve since had to put a bike innertube band around to keep tight. Even with the bike innertube and wetforming, it has still fallen out on several occasions, so I may make my own Kydex sheath for it. I really like this knife and may consider making a Kydex sheath for it.
Blind Horse can take a bar of steel and Micarta, and make an exquisite outdoor knife with minimal effort.
Here you can see my bandange finish to try to keep the knife in the loose sheath. I may be going with a custom Kydex sheath for this model.
For each handle, there weren’t any unnecessary angles, neither were they thin enough to twist in the hand. No gimmicks here as these knives scream beauty and functionality, with good American know-how. With machetes, knives, simple axes, monthly specials, and even rendezvous that they have planned, I don’t know how these guys do it. Not to mention, they help run the new Self Reliance Illustrated magazine with Dave Canterburry and Mike Henninger. The company is getting bigger and bigger, turning out more good stuff that have proven to be solid performers in the future.
Some of Blind Horse Knives exquisite creations.
Not just for the Scandinavian grind nut, Blind Horse asks the question: Whats your grind?
Blind Horse Knives
www.blindhorseknives.com
blindhorseknives@yahoo.com
740-219-1141
JRE Industries
1151 Tower Rd.
Schaumburg, IL. 60173
630-837-1078