Knives, it is said, were humankind’s first tool, if “tool” is defined as something you have to fabricate, rather than just picking up a chunk of tree and whacking something with it. Given the niche knives occupy in human culture, it’s not surprising that they are still of keen interest to outdoors people (and cooks,), and that endless varieties of knives have been developed over human history.
Humans were probably debating the virtues of different blade shapes and handle since they sat at the mouths of their caves in the sunny South of France and knapped flint to make blades to peel the hides off their food supply. They likely argued about where the best flint came from, and whether blades should be pointy or broad. Thus it still is. Broad blades are better for spreading peanut butter. Visit http://www.bladeforums.com/forums and you’ll have a clue about the endless fascination many people find in knives.
People who spend time in the outdoors have their personal favorite knives, and the subject is debated vigorously. Outdoor writers are happy and tell you which are best, and why. Kephart was no exception. In the 1906 first edition of his The Book of Camping and Woodcraft from Outing Publishing Company, he wrote (in the chapter on “Personal Kits,” pages 28-29):
“On the subject of hunting knives I am tempted to be diffuse. In my green and callow days (perhaps not yet over) I tried nearly everything in the knife line from a shoemaker’s skiver to a machete, and I had knives made to order. The conventional hunting knife is, or was until quite recently, of the familiar dime-novel pattern invented by Colonel Bowie. Such a knife is too thick and clumsy to whittle with, much too thick for a good skinning knife, and too sharply pointed to cook and eat with. It is always tempered too hard. When put to the rough service for which it is supposed to be intended, as in cutting through the ossified false ribs of an old buck, it is an even bet that out will come a nick as big as a saw-tooth…. Such a knife is designed expressly for stabbing, which is about the very last thing that a woodsman ever has occasion to do, our lamented grandmothers notwithstanding.
“A camper has use for a common-sense sheath-knife, sometimes for dressing big game, but oftener for such homely work as cutting sticks, slicing bacon, and frying ’spuds.’ For such purposes a rather thin, broad-pointed blade is required, and it need not be over four or five inches long. Nothing is gained by a longer blade, and it would be in one’s way every time he sat down. Such a knife, bearing the marks of hard usage, lies before me. Its blade and handle are each 4 1/2 inches long, the blade being 1 inch wide, 1/8 inch thick on the back, broad pointed, and continued through the handle as a hasp and riveted to it. It is tempered hard enough to cut green hardwood sticks, but soft enough so that when it strikes a knot or bone it will, if anything, turn rather than nick; then a whetstone puts it in order….” He goes on to describe, in equal detail, the handle, the guard, and the sheath. And more on the jackknife, or folding knife. And yet more on hatchets (“The notion that a heavy hunting knife can do the work of a hatchet is a delusion.” (The emphasis is mine.) Then he goes on to discuss the proper whetstone.
In the 1906 edition he could not recommend a particular commercial knife, knowing of none, but later on he found one, and described and drew it in his journal. The drawing appears to be a Marble’s model called the “Ideal,” designed by Webster Marble in 1900, or less likely Marble’s “Expert” which appeared in Marble’s 1906 catalog. There were many versions of each model. Webster Marble’s company is back in business, and the “Ideal” is again available after 50 years. It appears on their webpage at http://www.marblescutlery.com/cutlery/ideal.html. The “Expert” no longer appears in the Marble’s online catalog, but images of both knives are offered at http://www.jaysknives.com/marblesknives_1.htm.
In the 1917 Macmillan edition of Camping and Woodcraft Kephart found a knife he could recommend, again a Marble’s. “For years I used knives of my own design,” he wrote, “because there was nothing on the market that met my notion of what a sensible, practical sheath knife should be; but we have it now in the knife here shown…. It is of the right size (4 1/2-inch blade), the right shape, and the proper thinness.” The knife shown in his drawing is the distinct Marble’s Woodcraft, designed by Webster Marble and described in Outer’s Book in 1914, and included in Marble’s 1915 catalog. It is again being marketed by Marbles (http://www.marblescutlery.com/cutlery/woodcraft.html).
It appears that Kephart was a Marble’s fan.
George Washington Sears, who wrote under the pen name “Nessmuk,” and to whom Kephart dedicated Camping and Woodcraft, also had opinions on outdoor knives. In Chapter II of his Woodcraft and Camping, a re-edited Dover edition of Nessmuk’s 1920 Woodcraft, he writes, “A word as to knife, or knives. These are of prime necessity, and should be of the best, both as to shape and temper. The ‘bowies’ and ‘hunting knives’ usually kept on sale, are thick, clumsy affairs, with a sort of ridge along the middle of the blade, murderous-looking, but of little use…. [The preferred knife] is thin in the blade, and handy for skinning, cutting meat, or eating with….” An old image of Nessmuk’s unique knife, along with his folding knife and the Nessmuk hatchet, and further information about the man himself, can be found at http://www.oldjimbo.com/survival/racquette/nessmukbydale.html. Various versions of these knives are readily available for purchase on the web.
