Nessmuk Knife Review: Not What I Thought!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 ก.ค. 2023
- The Nessmuk knife, named after George Washington Sears (pen name: Nessmuk), is an iconic piece of wilderness gear known for its versatility and functionality. In this review, we delve into the features and performance of a modern reproduction that aims to capture the essence of the original design. Join us as we examine the knife's specifications, including blade length, materials used, and overall construction. We'll discuss the historical context behind the Nessmuk knife and its relevance in today's outdoor community.
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The Nessmuk knife is definitely geared more towards butchering game, while the Kephart knife is more of a general purpose shape, despite still being based on the old butcher knives most woodsmen carried. One of the knives I carried as a kid was just an old wooden handled paring knife I “liberated” from my grandmother’s kitchen. I don’t know where the sheath I came up with came from originally, but the knife was always lose in it.
I also had a cheap steak knife as a kid. Served its purpose!
Exactly but a Nessmuk is a skinning knife. And they are unquestionably by a damd site the best skinning knifes ever created
@@robertjarrett8876some idiots don't understand what knives designed to do specific or limited jobs , ain't going to be good for other tasks. That is why damn near every true woodsman/frontiersman carried multiple knives on there person.
@@robertjarrett8876Thank you. You're one of the few people who makes the connection. Take a look at the Buck 103 Skinner, then look at a Nessmuk knife.
The right tool for the job is the one you have ! Picking the right tool beforehand is harder especially for a hiker when weight comes into play I have some great knives but my pocket knives have done the majority of my outdoor tasks as I always have one in my pocket, since the 1980s I have carried a 93mm Victorinox farmer with a wood saw it can handle wood up to thumb size all I need to set up tarps and small tasks but struggles at cutting bread due to its size. regards Mike
I dig that! I too am a super fan of the always handy pocket knife.
Great video! Awesome channel you have sir! Outdoors and history, oh yeah!
Cheers from a fellow youtuber/outdoors lover/history freak from a Village of Fiskars, Finland!
Thanks for the kindness friend and going to check your stuff out. Always excited to learn!
I car camp. I'm 63 and I still enjoy getting out camping. I hammock and turtledog stand instead of a tent. I like using the best safest tools for the job. I like using splitting wedges and a dead blow hammer. I like to have my carpenters hatchet for chopping. A belt knife is good for larger work. A pocket knife is hand for fine work. A fish filleting knife is indispensable for fish. I also have a bow saw but hate it. I'm going to try an old tree saw to replace it. I like a shorter folding tree saw for notches and clean cuts. I leave the full size axe at home because I am not willing to take the extra risks when I'm far from help on my own. The carpenters hatchet is used with extreme care as are all my cutting tools. I'm not going to be cutting down big wood. I prefer to find what I call a a firewood tree. It's a standing dead tree that I can break limbs off of or quickly saw limbs off. This way I avoid batoning with a knife or using hatchet for splitting splitting
That is a solid setup, no shame in it. It is practical and wise!
Great video. Love that Kephart knife.
Thank you brother!
Interesting watching your video. I had similar findings when I carried a Nessmuk style knife for a short time. I made it by cutting down the handle of a butchers knife, grinding down the end hump of the blade and adding a stag antler handle, giving me a 5" blade and comfortable handle ( similar to yours), it was thin , did all my slicing and food prep really well ... but it didn't do wood cutting, peg making or any camp woodworking very well, it also had trouble skinning small game ( Rabbits and squirrels).
A much smaller 3-4 inch blade is my preference for small game. I often rely on my mother's old Western Woodcraft copy for them.
Good video. I just finished re-reading Nessmuk's book so this video is timely. I had a Nessmuk style knife but I found it wasn't that handy for most of the things I do with a knife. Where did you get your knife? It does have a huge cool factor.
Something "bushcrafters" need to understand is that the Nessmuck and the Kephart knives. Was used by hunters. They hunted,skinned and cut upp they're food. It is not made for modern bushcraft.
agreed friend!
In my opinion that knife is a bit
Big for skinning a deer, but for deer processing the curved blade is great, especially cutting roasts into steaks. As for making feather sticks; nessmuks book mentions “splitting limbs into match timber & then reducing splinters into shavings.
I never really understood the fascination with feather sticks. If you have a bunch of very thin kindling and even more pencil thickness kindling; all you really need is to use a bunch of shavings and then keep feeding the fire a few thin twigs at a time until the fire grows.
Good point, I should have included that quote, thank you. Trying to bridge historical needs with modern trends or needs can be difficult sometimes. In truth, when I am cold and wet, I could care less about feather sticks a d prefer to make a pile of shavings and fine twigs to catch.
@@honorableoutfitters
When I am cold and wet I will use kerosene, lighter fluid or even gasoline being very careful with it and what ever fire starters i have actually available! When i need a fire and I need it now anything goes except for safety first.
I've been in emergency situations in scouting and outside of scouting in the Northeast Georgia Mountains on a two week trip. Found a lost mom and her two kids on side of looking glass mountain in Pisgah National Forest. That was a doosie .
All was good and got um fed warm and back to the car so they could go home. Been caught in rain on fishing trips and on the lake when things got rough and resorted to sand in the pee can with mixed gas /oil to make a impromptu heater under a open tarp so we could dry out . what ever works works in my book😊
I'm a fan of you videos ! But the best knife I ever had was what ever knife one I had when I needed one . Everyone has what they like best, but when I was trapping I learned to use whatever I had at the time .
That's some solid sense friend!
Makes sense, the tasks here really weren't what the knife was designed for or what Nessmuk used it for. As I understand it he used his folding knife for most carving tasks as was pretty common for the time, and used his axe for processing larger wood. His belt knife was really reserved for processing game.
Indeed my friend, thanks for the feedback!
There is a technique to fillet a fish with this style of knife as well that I have learned and wanted this shape knife for that useage. Was very hard to find this knife shape for sale that wasnt a russel or victorinox.
That's cool! Are you using it on a pretty hearty sized fish? I can't imaging filleting pan fish with one but perhaps it's all in the technique.
Try the Brisa 125 nessmuk knife
Some further thoughts: The curved belly of the blade resembles the knife used to cut leather laces from a hide, and looks useful for that. It also looks like the Aleut “Ulu” knife blade at the belly, which can be pressed down with the opposite hand to sever tough items with pressure rather than slicing. I have also seen a Finnish paddle- shaped blade used to gut a large fish in a flash.😊
Tom F.
Thank you and excellent perspectives and points. I appreciate it!
Is it a Scandi grind or a saber grind variation?
Saber brother
I have to admit I use my belt knife almost exclusively for gutting, skinning and butchering game. I’ve pretty much settled on a Green River Sheepskinner for this. When you think about it, that’s pretty close to the Nessmuk. Everything else is done with a Case Sodbuster or Sodbuster Jr. This isn’t conscious choice, it’s just how it always works out. 😮
Yeah, that classic skinning shape is certainly there. I want to get a Green River Camp knife eventually just to see where it shines in comparison to others but then I always find myself asking "do I really need it?" I have kind of settled on what I enjoy using and relying on.
@@honorableoutfitters Those Green Rivers are really reasonable in price! Get the Sheepskinner too!😁
Good video. God bless. From Glenn CATT in Massachusetts. Oh if your going to butcher an animal don't forget to record it for us. That would be a great video.
Will do! It will need to be an unlisted one, TH-cam does not like hunting videos.
Good demonstration. Nessmuk's knife to me is just a modified skinning knife. This would make sense as his food was meat from the wild. My logic is, if it was a good knife Kephart and all the others after him would have used it. Even Kephart's knife isn't trully original to him as there some like it comming out of Sheffield in the mid 19th century. For a camp knife the Kephart, Marbles Woodcraft or his Ideal are the best. I have quite a few Scandi grind knives and I have tried to skin small game with them and they are not up to it for me. Great for wood carving and I throw one in my bag as an extra but not my main knife. My Mrk II Camillus knife does as good a job as others, you have to be careful with the upper sharp edge.
Indeed! I really like Marble's Woodcraft, I have a Western version and it is awesome.
@@honorableoutfitters I have one from Remington which in shape is a copy. The Woodcraft I have has an intersting grind. Probably one of the last when Mike Stewart made while working for Marbles. It really should be a drawer queen. It was a gift from a friend.
Man, that is a honking big Nessmuk knife. Most are about half that size. You seem to have forgotten that Nessmuk also carried a jackknife for the small jobs you're trying to do with that big knife. I've been using the ESEE JG5, which is considerably smaller than your knife, and it does whatever I ask of it quite well. I may make different handle scales for it someday. The plastic ones are efficient, but they're plastic.
Nah, I didn't forget friend. In fact later in the video I make that same point. I was trying to justify and clearly establish its historical intent through experimental archaeology. It is the 5 inch historic reproduction, modern takes morph the original shape and grind for contemporary and popular uses of today in campcraft and bushcraft. Nessmuk was not a bushcrafter, he was a lightweight trekker and avid hunter. His belt knife was and is a great butcher/meat processing knife. I have seen some great things on the ESEE knives, including their version of Kephart's. I don't believe you will be let down. Thanks for the perspective, I appreciate it!
Esse Laser Strike - spear point Survival/Camp/Bushcraft blade. 1095 steel…what else do you need other than the pocket knife (SAK huntsman) and my Beaver Craft hatchet.
just a tip. It is very obvious but people sometimes are oblivious.
whenever you want to precisely control your cut(like making feathersticks), deliberately press the side of the knife into the wood when cutting. This virtually illiminates the change in the knife's angle. With this way, the knife will not want to skid off or bites deep into the wood.
Mors Kochanski stresses this point when he teaches feathersticks, along with the practice that one should "lock" his wrist and elbow while moving your back to make the cut(one end of the featherstick needs to be braced on to a surface obviously). These practices help reduce the micromovements in the body of a learner.
Hope this helps
ps: I may be too lazy but i don't care about food prep. My field meals look like they are processed by a mortise, but the are the same in your stomach none the less
Thanks for the tip my friend! I'll try to find Mors' video on it. He is certainly the co temporary authority on the topic. I have his book and don't recall those specifics but I may have overlooked them. I appreciate it!
@@honorableoutfitters Mors is my favourite bushcraft person. He was able to appeal to the public but go to great depths.
In terms of knife use, Mors has no specific video. He does have a video on feathersticks. He also has a dvd on knife selection and maintainance, but I don't know the content(reluctent to pay)
Which knife do you get? There is no question. Both !
What's one more?😎
Nessnuk has no equal as far as skinning its far and away better than any other knife. My hunting knives and my daily carry is the Carolina skinner from Chad Weatherford. And its the absolutely best overall knife ive ever had and it is kinda like a Kepheart / Nessmuk cross but id say more like a kepheart . But once i have it hanging. Out comes the Nessmuk
It's crazy how perfect it is for the specific task. :)
@@honorableoutfitters it truly is
👍 The Nessmuk knife is a butcher knife. Nessmuk used it as a butcher knife. I did have a Knifemaker produce a historically accurate version and my experience verifies this is the best use of a Nessmuk knife. As you point out there are much better camping knives unless you are skinning, field dressing and butchering game. Why try to make a tool do something it was not intended to do?
I can't wait to try mine on some game, hopefully this fall will bring me a lucky day!
@@honorableoutfitters 🤞 you get your wish, good luck. I like your videos, they give me an appreciation of old gear that is still viable.
Canadian Belt Knife is a more useful pattern
Thank you, I have never heard of that style before!
@@honorableoutfitters There is another version of it called the Canadian Boat Knife - All were inspired by trying to improve the Nessmuck.
@@honorableoutfitters Never let a woman borrow it. You will never get it back. Then one day you will find it dull and beaten up in the dishwasher. She will say my kitchen knife.
Sadly. this is a luxury tool.
It looks like a straight up butchering and skinning knife.
Indeed, and that is where it shines! I think modern "Nessmuks" are stubbier and the belly is straightened out more to give an appearance of the original shape but give it more application as a bushcraft or woodcraft knife. Thanks for the response brother!
@@honorableoutfitters your very welcome! Great show you have my dad made it to star scout and I was in scouts for just a little while when I was younger but I learned a lot of cool stuff I actually donated 250 black fanny packs in north Idaho from a company that I was working for years ago they're really nice quality. Anyways I think it's great for youth to learn self-reliance and skills it's a great American tradition IMHO. Can't wait to see more!