I was packing up my gear for the school of the longhunter tonight and figured I'd post some images of the sharp stuff I carry. For a number of years now I've been carrying a large Scalper made by Ken Ghagan of Pittsburgh.
The knife has a 6 inch blade and keeps a hell of an edge. The basic profile matches a number of period examples I've seen but I have to admit I dont think it's a repro of a specific knife. Next time I see Ken I'll have to ask him as he is one of a few sutlers that carries the info on the majority of the items he repops (sometimes he even has the original item to show you) I know of a number of folks who have purchased a ken knife and then given a packet of info on the knife.
What I like about the knife is 1) the profile: it has the drop in the tip you see on period scalpers 2) the thickness of the blade: it's not a huge piece of metal like many "scalpers" you see for sale at events 3) It keeps an edge and it was shiny when I bought it
I recent knife I picked up was a small boucheron by Ken Hamilton. SO far just from the look of the knife I'm digging it. profile/thickness are awesome. I still have yet to really use the knife so I cant vouch for the edge of the blade. Another selling point was the handle. Ken went the extra step and used Boxwood for the handle and the profile is really close to the "head" knife in france.
Ken Also sent along a packet of info on the knife and scalpers in general. One problem I have with the info is that Ken is a real stickler for the school of thought that one profile of knife is french and another is english. IMHO from the info I have seen you see the drop point on enough french (Ti for example) and Brit (Ligonier) sites that unless there is a touchmark it's tough to say for sure if a blade is french or english. This aside Ken does a hell of a good knife
In the image of the Knife Ken made is a whetstone I picked up from Jon Failor of Brattonsville,Sc. Jon is a buddy of mine from my native reenacting days and Jon has also branched out into the cracker side of things. HE's also a hell of a wood worker and I'm waiting on a wooden musket ball carrier (not a loading block but a ball carrier based on one in the neuman kravic collection) from him.
After hanging out with Jesse Maines I picked up the habit of carrying a small file in my gear to sharpen stuff and this past summer AT my event Alan Krause had a whetstone and it proved hella usefull so when Jon put this on the CLA I Jumped on it. I may have jumped a little too quick however as I'm now doing the typical Farbisim and trying to document an item AFTER i bought it. THe whetstone is 100% dead on but I still haven't found a quote on anyone carrying/selling one in the 18th cent.(anyone?)
Well I'm off wish me luck this weekend in spreading the ACM gospel.
