Welcome To CJ Knives
Handmade Custom Knives - Made For The Outdoors
Old fashioned craftsmanship/Vintage looks/Heirloom quality/American Made
Made in the U.S.A.
Testimonials
Kephart was most well known for his two books: Camping and Woodcraft and Our Southern Highlands. He’s a legend in the Smoky Mountain region and was instrumental in the creation of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park.
Kephart from Camping and Woodcraft: “A camper has use for a common-sense sheath-knife, sometimes for dressing big game, but oftener for such homely work as cutting sticks, slicing bacon, and frying “spuds.” For such purposes a rather thin, broadpointed blade is required, and it need not be over four or five inches long. Nothing is gained by a longer blade, and it would be in one’s way every time he sat down.”
Kephart knives make for very good camping, outdoors, bushcraft knives.
Drop point is a style of knife blade where the spine “drops” or slopes in an arc downward from the handle of the knife to the tip of the blade. This brings the tip closer to being aligned with the center axis of the knife to allow better balance. The arc toward the tip is what distinguishes it from the clip point. The drop point has been a common and popular design for hunting, camping and general outdoor purposes for many, many years. In fact, the drop point probably makes up the majority of general hunting, fishing and outdoor knives. It is a classic and always popular design that has been in use for many years.
The Nessmuk knife was named after George Washington Sears (who was known by the pen name of Nessmuk after a Native American childhood friend). He was a writer for Forest and Stream magazine (later merged with Field and Stream) in the 1880’s.
He was a small man and was, therefore, very conscientious about the amount of gear he carried. He is sometimes known as the father of ultralight camping. He typically carried what has become known as the “Nessmuk Trio” – a double-bit axe, a moose pattern folding knife, and his fixed blade. No one knows what happened to his original knife and, outside of a drawing in his book Woodcraft and Camping, very little is known about the original knife. The size of the knife is thought to have been medium in size, but actual size, type grind, etc. is really unknown.
LIMITED AVAILABILITY KNIVES
My custom knives are unique and one-of-a-kind. The majority of the knives I make are made to order, but do occasionally have some available that were not pre-ordered. Please check my store to see what is currently available.