Camp knife Murray Carter : Muteki line

A shot of the Murray Carter camp knife from the side :

and the top showing the distal taper and handle profile :

Specifications

The knife has a 9.5" blade, 0.190" thick, laminate steel, weighs 410 g. High flat grind, 0.8" wide on a 1.6" wide blade, very small secondary edge bevel, 0.010" thick behind the edge.

Stock work

Initial sharpness was above average, 120-140 g push cutting light thread. It would shave but not smoothly and required a little draw.

Push cutting cut 3/8 inch hemp required 25-27 lbs on a push, no aggression on a draw, and took 5-7 cuts to point one inch basswood dowel.

The tip has a very long distal taper and while it doesn't get that high penetration on a push into a phonebook (50 lbs) only getting 170 +/- 10 pages, on a heavy stab it sank right though a standard phonebook and penetrated significantly into the next one, 920 +/- 10 pages.

The blade really came into its own when it was used to cut thick woods, the handle was extremely comfortable and sank smoothly into a piece of fresh pine, matching the feel of a bowie from Ray Kirk's used a few years back. In terms of raw chopping ability, it matched the performance of the Kellam axe, but it was a world apart in regards to feel. However the edge turned on the first knot, the axe and Billhook plowed through harder woods with no problems. The Billhook later saw edge damage on other knotty woods.

Overall

The camp knife from Murray Carter has a very ergonomic handle and high cutting ability, however it could not handle knots even in Pine and would get mauled on limbing or trying to cut harder woods.

Comments and references

Comments can be sent via email : cliffstamp[REMOVE]@cutleryscience.com or by posted to the following thread on :

• Carter Camp Knife