put me down for one of these! I think it would be great to have something forged by some village smith somewhere.
That went without saying. You and Grumpy are already on the list.
regarding design, I'm going to stay out of that one. I would rather it be designed by others, and from what I see it is going to look and work very nicely, if one of these designs are chosen.
No, no, no, noooo..... These are just proposals. I would like to see other ideas as well. Go on, Mark, be a sport and put pencil to paper.
What is the intended purpose for the knife?
General purpose camp / outdoor knife. We cannot hunt and the majority do not fish. Let's say a general purpose wilderness knife, bearing in mind that carrying a blade longer than 6" is verbotten though I haven't heard of anyone getting into trouble for doing so. What I mean is, whilst no one will bother about longer blades in the outdoors, some of our members may be tempted to wear one in the city....
5mm is a bit on the hefty side unless you want to fight bears with it. 5/32" (3.9mm) is a nice thickness for this size knife, and it will cut things easier. Thicker blades drag too much when cutting though thick stuff, whether a loaf of bread or butchering animals.
All good points. The reasons for a 5mm thickness is because I like a bit of heft in my knives and that it is a little stronger when it comes to battoning and some light duty prying. I am absolutely fine with anything in the 4 to 5 mm thickness range.
Flat ground would be a fine grind for a knife of this proportion.
I chose a flat grind because it cuts better and to compensate for the blade thickness. However, all of the above considered, would you recommend an alternative. Come on, let's have a sketch.
Mack The Knife