Greg Neumaier

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fieldandstream-editor — Wed, 28 May 2008 20:00:00 -0400

Nessmuk Knife: Nessmuk was the pen name of George Washington Sears, a diminutive man who canoed the Adirondacks and wrote about it in the 1880s. Sears was probably the first outdoor writer to pay serious attention to the development of light gear, and the tools he carried reflected it: a small, double-bitted hatchet, a two-blade jackknife, and a fixed blade of his own design that has forever taken his name. It's a thin 5-inch blade with a pronounced skinning curve and a dropped point, no hilt, and an antler or wood handle. If you're looking for a good one, the Bark River Lil' Nessy (shown), available through A.G. Russell Knives, is a splendid example of Nessmukery.

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fieldandstream-editor — Wed, 28 May 2008 20:00:00 -0400

Lone Wolf Knives Harsey T3 Ranger: I've never been a fan of folding knives for hunting. Very few of them are big enough, strong enough, or easy enough to clean to do much good, compared with a fixed blade. But this one is different. The drop-point blade is nearly 5 inches long, and the handle is big enough to make even me happy. The hinge is massive, and it comes in the most overengineered tactical belt sheath on the planet. If you have one of these, you don't need a fixed blade.

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fieldandstream-editor — Wed, 28 May 2008 20:00:00 -0400

DiamondBlade Goddard Traditional Hunter: If it were not for the way in which it's forged, this would just be another well-designed drop-point hunter. But it is like no other. In 2007, Charles Allen, DiamondBlade founder, introduced a series of knives tempered by a process called friction forging, which he adapted from welding technology. The process brings steel under tons of pressure and thousands of degrees of heat, resulting in a blade that is harder, sharper, and tougher than anything else. The knives are so sharp that the original sheaths had to be redesigned to keep them from cutting through. This particular knife was designed by master smith Wayne Goddard, and it is a revelation.

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fieldandstream-editor — Wed, 28 May 2008 20:00:00 -0400

Marble's Ideal: Webster Marble introduced the Ideal Hunting Knife in 1899, and it was arguably the first knife designed for the sport hunter. Marble's Ideal was, in fact, ideal, and made of excellent steel. Marble utilized a wide fuller, or groove, in the blade to save weight. The Ideal was around for a long time. It was made on and off from 1899 to 1974. Then it went into eclipse until 2007, when it was reintroduced. Old Ideals in good condition and with their original sheaths can be worth a lot of money; collectors will pay you $10,000 for some examples - not bad for knives that originally sold for $1.25.

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fieldandstream-editor — Wed, 28 May 2008 20:00:00 -0400

Roughly 2 million years ago, a particularly bright specimen of Homo habilis needed to cut something and decided to invent the knife. We've come a long way since then. And for the last 40 years we've been experiencing something of a boom in the development of ever better knives. Here are 20 knives that I consider great - head and shoulders above the competition. By David E. Petzal Busse Battle Mistress: The Battle Mistress is not a radical design. It has a conventionally shaped 10-inch blade, but it is nearly 2 pounds, and quite literally as sharp as a razor. This combination of weight, strength, and extreme keenness makes it unique. Do you wish to behead a hippo? Would you like to chop down a telephone pole? Perhaps you yearn to slice a redwood into sections? If you have the Mistress and a strong arm, you can.