Nessmuk Knife Club - Nessmuk Trio Enthusiasts

[Pacu]

Nessmuk Knife Owners - Nessmuk Trio Enthusiasts

I didn't see a club for this blade style so here it is. Share your Nessmuk style knives here or trio combinations.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_W._Sears

 I was aware of George Washington Sears aka ( Nessmuk ) and and of Horace Kephart as a Boy Scout . I'm not a great writer but these guys were some pioneers of methods of camping and bush craft in the olden days that carry thru to the modern days. Sears wrote a couple of books-  Woodcraft, a book about camping, published in 1884 and a book of poems, Forest Runes, appeared in 1887. Forest Runes looks to be harder to find in print but Woodcraft is still on the shelves today in 2025. I'll have to give Kephart his own place soon. 


I do love Esse knives . I got this one during Christmas over at Smoky Mountain Knife Works. Their Nessmuk styled knife is the JG5 . This blade is nimble in the hands. Made of 1095 carbon steel and come with a leather sheath. I've seen some aftermarket kydex sheaths and liners to make the handle thicker if you need it. I could see this being real handy around camp as a cooking knife, bush crafting and fishing. It's got a 90 degree spine to ferro rod. I wouldn't baton anything to crazy with it though. That's the genius of the Trio method.
 

















The Trio-





A Vic Ranger, Fisk hatchet and The Nessmuk JG5 - a good starter trio

Nessmuk believed that a combination of tools -a belt knife, hand axe and pocket knife could perform any task he needed to accomplish while out in the field. Very similar to what we carried in Boy Scouts. Fixed blades were frowned upon in the 80s so they are probably banned today.  I'd add a wood saw to the trio , make it a quad. It's hard to pin down the exact Nessmuk style fixed so there is some room for design interpretations.

“The strong double-bladed pocket knife is the best model I have yet found, and, in connection with the sheath knife, is all sufficient for camp use.”

   George Washington Sears, Woodcraft and Camping

    'And just here let me digress for a little chat on the indispensable hatchet; for it is the most difficult piece of camp kit to obtain in perfection of which I have any knowledge. Before I was a dozen years old I came to realize that a light hatchet was a sine qua non in woodcraft, and I also found it a most difficult thing to get. I tried shingling hatchets, lathing hatchets, and the small hatchets to be found in country hardware stores, but none of them were satisfactory… I had hunted twelve years before I caught up with the pocket-axe I was looking for. It was made in Rochester, by a surgical instrument maker named Bushnell… I prefer the double blade. I want one thick, stunt edge for knots, deers' bones, etc., and a fine, keen edge for cutting clear timber.'

    George Washington Sears, Woodcraft and Camping

[Barry Rowland]

Outstanding! 

[nate j]

Great post!

I’ll post my thoughts on this when I have more time later.  For now, here’s a quick shot of my KA-BAR BK19 Becker Nessmuk…

[nate j]

I think it’s interesting to contrast what Nessmuk says about his use of his fixed blade with some more modern interpretations.

“The one [fixed blade] shown in the cut is thin in the blade, and handy for skinning, cutting meat, or eating with.”

So for Nessmuk, this knife was all about food prep, from the initial skinning/field dressing all the way through eating.

Many modern bushcraft knives, however, trend towards being another wood processing tool.  I suspect quite a few would be derided by Nessmuk as “thick, clumsy affairs”.

[nate j]

I suppose I should point out that the full text of Woodcraft and Camping, a lightly edited version of Woodcraft that was first published in 1963, is available for free here:

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/34607/34607-h/34607-h.htm#Page_8

I believe it’s worth a read for anyone with an interest in hiking, camping, bushcraft, etc.  However, I fear some of the author’s advice has not aged particularly well.

[Pacu]

I suppose I should point out that the full text of Woodcraft and Camping, a lightly edited version of Woodcraft that was first published in 1963, is available for free here:

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/34607/34607-h/34607-h.htm#Page_8

I believe it’s worth a read for anyone with an interest in hiking, camping, bushcraft, etc.  However, I fear some of the author’s advice has not aged particularly well.

Thank You nate j !

[Pacu]

CRKT has a couple of Nessmuk designs coming out.

D2 version and a white handled Sandvik 12C27 . Both under 100

[nate j]

CRKT has a couple of Nessmuk designs coming out.

I’m feeling like these knives don’t bear much resemblance to the original, and that the use of the Nessmuk name is more of a marketing tactic than anything else.

[ReamerPunch]

Here is the Nessmuk Challenge, started by our own Comis and Nix.
https://forum.multitool.org/index.php/topic,83571.0.html

Nix, where are you, my knife brother-in-awl? We miss you. I hope you are doing well.