Description

Cohutta Kephart

The Cohutta Kephart by Russell Reece is another interpretation on a widely popular traditional knife pattern. It was conceived in the early 1900s by the now famous Horace Kephart, who was an avid outdoorsman and voracious writer of his adventures in the Great Smokey Mountains. Kephart describes his idea of the ideal bush blade in his writings:

“Its blade and handle are each 4¼ inches long, the blade being 1 inch wide, 1/8-inch thick on the back, broad pointed, and continued through the handle as a hasp and riveted to it.

 

“The handle of this knife is of oval cross-section, long enough to give a good grip for the whole hand, with no sharp edges to blister one’s hand. It has a ¼-inch knob behind the cutting edge as a guard, but there is no guard on the back, for it would be useless and in the way.

 

“This knife weighs only 4 ounces.”

This Cohutta Kephart follows the guidance of one of the “pioneers” of bushcraft and sticks to 1/8″ stock A2 tools steel with a tapered tang. The overall length is 8 1/2″ with a 4 1/8″ blade. The handle designs follows the original description of an oval crosscut with a slight finger guard at the cutting edge. This Kephart sports some beautiful Koa that sits on blue g10 and natural micarta liners. 1/4″ natural pins and a lanyard tube holds it all together. Combined this Kephart weighs in at 5.08 ounces, just a tad over the 4 ounce description of the original. We won’t hold that extra ounce against Russell as this is one beautiful knife.