How to Buy an Outdoor Knife by George Leonard Herter

**hunter63** · 08-27-2014, 09:02 PM

Improved Bowie...... top

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From his publications.....
How to Buy an Outdoor Knife by George Leonard Herter

An outdoor knife must be made for service--not show. Your life may depend on it. Real outdoor people realize that so-called sportsmen or outdoor knives have long been made for sale, not for use. The movies and television show their characters wearing fancy sheath knives. Knife makers advertised them and drugstore outdoorsmen bought them. Nothing marks a man to be a tenderfoot more than these showy useless knives.

Here are some of the duties a true woodsman knife must perform:

1. The knife must stay sharp for long periods of time without shapening. The steel should combine the best characteristics of electric furnace quality high carbon 1095 steel and high carbon 440 B stainless steel. The blade hardness, known among steel experts as 56 Rockwell C, should not be affected by atmospheric moisture, salt spray, fruit acids or blood. It should withstand extreme temperatures without becoming brittle, no matter how cold it may be. A good steel knife blade will "blue" or darken itself with use, making it pratically rustproof. If knife blade steel is really good, it will cut through nails without bending over the edge.

2. The knife must be shaped so it is ideal for cleaning and skinning game of all kinds, from rabbits to moose. The best shape for this is the improved Bowie.

3. The knife must have a handle long enough so that it fits a man's hand so pressure can be put on the blade when desired. On nearly all outdoor knives the handles are much too short. The handle of the knife must be made to last a lifetime. Leather handles rot and mildew, stag handles crack, plastic handles crack and are highly inflammable. African mineral-type woods are best, and they will stand all kinds of weather for a lifetime and more.

4. The blade of the knife must not be hollow ground. Hollow grinding weakens a blade so that the edge will bend or break under heavy usage. A wedge edge is the strongest and most durable ever designed.

5. The blade of the knife must be hand forged in order to give the steel maximum strength and hardness.

6. The blade of the knife must not have a blood groove. A blood groove is strictly advertising and badly weakens the blade. Professional butchers do not use them.

7. The knife must be easy to carry and light in weight. The blade length must be 4 inches long. Four inches is the length established for a woodsman knife by over 200 years of experience. Blades shorter are all right for Boy Scouts, but not for serious woodsmen, Longer than 4 inches is unnecessary and adds weight.

8. The knife should have no hilt as it only adds weight. If the knife blade is properly designed, that is slightly indented, you cannot cut your finger no matter how hard you thrust. You need only thrust in a hand to hand combat with a man or a wounded animal.

9. The knife must be capable of slicing bacon and cutting bread. It must be a comfortable knife for eating and cutting cooked meat.

I dislike seeming prejudiced but the George L. Herter knife made by Herter's is and has been the choice of real outdoor people.

So Today I was wonder thru a local flea market.....
Found a Herter's Improved Bowie

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Need more light for better pic's.......

**Tokwan** · 08-27-2014, 09:09 PM

Great stuff...good learning

**Highhawk1948** · 08-27-2014, 09:23 PM

Thanks for the info. Wise advise.

**Walter2** · 08-27-2014, 09:26 PM

Nice find ! I find most of my "prized"possessions at flea-markets and pawn shops.
Please post more pics,maybe of the grind and spine.

**hunter63** · 08-27-2014, 09:29 PM

Originally Posted by Walter2

Nice find ! I find most of my "prized"possessions at flea-markets and pawn shops.
Please post more pics,maybe of the grind and spine.

Yeah I will, was on my porch and was getting dark......my camera is crummy.....

**Tokwan** · 08-27-2014, 09:36 PM

A specs like info is most grateful..
1. Length - 4"
2. Thickness of blade.
3. Weight.
4. Type of steel.
5. Width -edge to spine.
bla bla bla...

**hunter63** · 08-27-2014, 09:53 PM

FYI
From the 1972 Herter's Catalog for the Improved Bowie

HERTER'S IMPROVED BOWIE KNIFE (2) Our Bowie knife is the proper length for easy carrying on your belt. Overall length 10'/4 ', blade 5'/4 ". Made of high carbon steel. Although designed just for the woodsman is welcome in any lady's kitchen. Improved Bowie knife comes with a free booklet of condensed information for professional guides. 1320013 Knife, sheath & book ... $7.99

http://www.rmurphyknives.com/store/m...og-Page_83.pdf

**backpacker3** · 08-27-2014, 10:43 PM

That's pretty cool!

**kyratshooter** · 08-28-2014, 12:23 AM

Man I really miss the old Herters Company. Their catalogue was as thick as a Sears Robuck catalogue and it was all sporting gear!

I bought my first reloading press and dies from them. Still have the dies.

The press was $12.95 and the dies were $10 per set.

'course that was a while back.

**hunter63** · 08-28-2014, 10:23 AM

I grew up with Herter's catalogs, and rejoiced when they opened a retail store in Beaver Dam WI, close enough for a day trip...... and remember visiting it with both MF and FIL in the late 1960's.
There is was the real store with all the mystic products list in the catalog......and set the stage for the Gander Mountain's, Cabalas, Bass Pro...retail/mail order stores.

You can still get products with the Herter's name and logo at Cabalas....and this all those stores are owned by the same people.

The Sportsman's Guide catalog's Gary Olsen reminds me of the style or writing in their catalogs...LOL

Then too was the single shot and low cost rifles. mfg. over seas, rebranded and sold in the USA.

Seen a couple at shows.....and even picked up a .357 made in West Germany...which has move on.

Have the Bull Cooks and Professenol Guide book as well.......his wisdom, wit, BS will live on.

So yesterday....as I was walking in this flea market store...killing time while DW did the wash at the Laundromat....Something moved me two rows in, half the row down... to a box at eye level....to this poor old knife that had been abandon by it's people for one reason or another.....and called for me to find and open a new chapter in it's life.
Thanks for the memories, George.........Your words live on, some even with a wink and nudge......Ya know what I mean...