A couple of months ago somebody posted a request for ideas for a fixed blade knife that was small enough to fit into a PSK. That thread has apparently gone bye-bye. But I remember somebody—I believe Chris Kavanaugh—suggested cutting the handle off of a small Mora knife and then fashioning a handle in the field if necessary. (Chris if I am paraphrasing you incorrectly please let me know.) That idea has stuck with me, and the other day I went to Ragnar’s website with the intention of ordering a small Mora for this purpose.

It turns out Ragnar also sells just the blades for people who want to make their own knives, and he has a large selection. I settled on the smallest: a Helle #56 (2-1/4” blade) in laminated stainless steel. It is the one in the middle in this picture:

http://www.ragweedforge.com/helle-b.jpg

When it arrived I cut about 3/16” off the end of the tang which made it a perfect fit diagonally across the bottom of my “Japanese lunchbox” or BCB-style PSK container. It came out of the box shaving sharp. What I ended up with for $13 is an extremely useful, sturdy blade that measures 2-1/4” long with a 3-3/4” tang. When wrapped with paracord (my most likely field-expedient handle material) the overall length is just over 6”.

Ragnar has a blade size for just about everybody, and I can’t say enough about his service. If you want to see the rest of the blades that he offers, go here:

http://www.ragweedforge.com/BladeCatalog.html


Regards, Vince

I will gladly second your comments about Ragnar. We all look for good businesses to deal with and try to avoid the bad ones. Let me go on record as saying that Ragnar is a GREAT guy to work with. His service is top notch. I have bought a few Moras from him. Through a lengthy series of email correspondances Ragnar even taught me how to properly prepare a Mora for striking spark with natural flint as well as how to actually strike a spark with a Mora and a piece of natural flint (which is very tricky because it involves carefully grinding through the lamination etc etc).

You need to post a tutorial for the forum on prepping Moras. Ragnar's website is a goldmine of usefull information and neat stuff. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

On the same page of http://www.ragweedforge.com/BladeCatalog.html, are some “Stainless full tang blades.” It seems that the butt end of the smaller blade shown could be shortened and contoured such that the knife would fit diagonally in a BCB Mini Mess Box and still leave enough handle to grip well. In like manner, the larger blade could be shortened and contoured to fit diagonally in a Trangia Mess Tin. Paracord could be used to improve the grip.

The smaller of the Aitor Skinners ( http://store.yahoo.com/gyby/skinsporknif.html ) would fit either container mentioned without grinding off some of the butt.

The Hossom “Hoffman Harpoon” ( http://badlands.badlandsforums.com/forum...00&page ) seems interesting and would offer as much “handle to be improved upon” as the rattail-tanged blades in Ragnar’s Blade Catalog ( Re: Altoid's Size PSK - Inexpensive Knife Suggestions ). This item does not seem to be in production and I did not notice any statement of its size.

Sorry I haven't done this yet. The main trick is to file slowly by hand through the lamination to get to the harder metal. I filed mine on the spine and found that rounding it off helps also, atleast with the specific striking technique he had me use. You have to file slowly by hand though because its easy to overheat a laminated Mora and permanantly mess it up. I will have to go through my emails and compile them in to one tutorial because he went in to lots of detail on striking technique as it is slightly different from that which is used with normal strikers (if I am remembering correctly). I was also amazed at the big difference in RC/hardness between the lamination and the "core" metal on the Moras. The core metal was a lot harder than the lamination and also harder than any knife I own (RC63 maybe.. I'll have to review my emails).

I think that a smaller fixed blade --skeleton or neck knife --is a better soution than having to find & attach a handle.

As do I. The problem of course is space. Handles of any sort take up too much room in the container. I needed something to fit diagonally in a BCB-type container (5" L) that would still be large enough to be useful, while still leaving room for the mess-load of other stuff I cram in there. The choice was a small folder or a small fixed blade that could be wrapped with paracord. I chose the latter. It takes about 30 seconds to wrap a serviceable handle from paracord, and that is something I always have with me.

For a long time I didn't carry any spare blade in my wilderness PSK. I figured that my hunting knives would serve for any task, and they will--but only if I have them. This fall I will be carrying my new Becker Crewman along with a Buck PBS Crosslock and a Leatherman Juice. And my backup to my backup will be riding along in the PSK. <img src="/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />

Regards, Vince

have you considered a bark river Mikro or Mikro II?
This is its size relative to the altoids tin. It would have no problem fitting into a japanese lunch box or bcb tin or trangia mini mess tin.



(yes, that is my beat up altoids tin)

Nice. But unless the handle is as thin as the blade I would have to remove stuff from my PSK to accomodate it. That's the tradeoff for extra bulk.

I might have to get one though just because they look so useful for other applications.

Regards, Vince

regards, Vince

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