They are pretty aren't they? When Mike asked me if I wanted to go with straight-grained walnut or a piece of some nice burl he had, I have to admit that I kind of struggled with the decision. As we all know, the original had straight-grained wood of some kind. There is some dispute over just what wood that is, I guess.....speculati
on by those that have seen the original lean toward chestnut or walnut. Without whittling a sliver off the original for testing there really is no way of being certain, but I doubt that Ethan will ever let that happen......if it were yours, would you?
Since this is such a 'simple' knife, I decided to go with the burled walnut. Nobody around here knows anything about the Colclesser knife, anyway or even who Horace Kephart was, for that matter.

Like Sarge said when he first PMd the pictures to me, the pictures don't really do it justice. No matter which way you turn it, the deep highlights change with the angle of the light. From dark to iridescent......it's like a light show, man! FAR OUT!

I have been using the knife for a little over a month now and it performs well.....better than I'd expected, actually.

I've whittled and cut some wood with it, but I knew it'd do that....where I wanted to see how it would perform is in the kitchen, where Horace no doubt used his the most. Its convexed profile really shines there.....potatoes and carrots both slice nicely. Those two vegetables are hard to cut precisely without a blade designed correctly for the task. Potatoes stick to the sides of a flat-ground blade like suction cups and that doesn't happen with the Kephart. Carrots are brittle and difficult to julienne without a properly ground blade and again, the Kephart performs beautifully. I usually diced onions with my Opinel, but since I received this knife I've been using it for that job. It actually works better on the big Vidalias than the #8 Opinel because of its length. It slices summer sausage & smoked turkey breast into wafer thin slices and it is easy to produce uniform, straight cuts. We haven't baked any bread yet this Fall, but I'd wager that it will work well for that, too. We even cut the cheese with it.....Gouda and aged cheddar, that is.

Maybe I'll get to tell you all how it works on a deer in November when The Yuma Kid comes back for my guide services.
EDIT: Oh yeah, almost forgot.....
WOLFY APPROVED!
