Bushcraft Network

Stout Gear Knives

 

If you find yourself sleeping outdoors with only your boots and your knife for equipment, you MUST have a knife that will continue to function despite getting used for a lot of tasks that shall we say 'it was never intended to do". In 2012, Anthony Stout was looking for a knife that could fulfill this role, we found that pretty much every knife that included a clean design, proper weight and superior stainless steel, the kind you need to perform under extreme circumstances, also came with an extreme price tag. This problem coupled with a desire to leave the city and live a subsistence farming lifestyle got us thinking; what would it take to build this knife ourselves? So, after many prototypes, steel tests, materials and design changes we have the Stout Gear lineup you see today delivered from our new shop in rural Oklahoma. We feel we have created the knife that we couldn't find at a reasonable price. Stout Gear is the Detroit diesel of knives: rugged, over-built and ready for pretty much whatever you can throw at it. One great knife for the long haul.

The steel is the heart and soul of a knife. So, after testing several alloys, we chose Crucible Industries' CPM steels, namely their venerable S35VN and 3V alloys. The powdered metal technology that Crucible employs delivers the super-fine, homogeneous carbide grain structure that was previously only available by repeated heating and pounding on a blacksmith's anvil. When properly heat and cryo treated, these steels are Rockwell 58-59, extremely tough, and extremely wear resistant. CPM S35VN is our standard steel and it is a true stainless. It has awesome edge retention that matches the S30V it replaces, but behaves much more like a high carbon steel in that it will not micro-chip it's edge. You can simply strop the razor edge back up again and again rather than needing an abrasive stone. Don't believe us? Check out the independent torture test of our Ibex model on YouTube. The CPM 3V that we use on our "Lynx" trades corrosion resistance for a level of wear resistance that rivals nearly any steel alloy available, just what you need in a purpose-built skinner. This steel holds an edge more than 3 times that of S35VN, it is phenomenal!

G10 is our standard handle material. It is super strong and resistant to everything you could put on it. For our money, even Carbon Fiber or Carbon Kevlar will not surpass G10's performance as a knife handle material. It rocks! We offer OD Green/Black, Red/Black Black and Tri-Color Camo (OD Green/Coyote Brown/Black) as standard colors, but any color G10 that is generally available can be made an option on your Stout Gear knife.

Our overall design philosophy is one of clean, flowing lines; think beautiful & capable. We strive for solid ergonomics, perfect balance, and relative lightness in a given size class. We employ a full-height convex grind, that allows for a nice thin slicing edge but retains a massive, full-tang 1/4" spine for maximum strength. This means you simply twist or lever your knife out of any material it gets stuck in with no concerns of breakage. The convex grind is also creates the least amount of friction with the material you're cutting so you baton fewer times and your blade is less likely to gets stuck in the first place.

A real survival knife deserves a scabbard not a sheath. Stout Gear knives comes with our beefy Kydex scabbard, replete with a thick HPDE welted design and quality hand crafted metal hardware. The design is "non-contact", meaning the blade doesn't scrape on the inside of the scabbard when taken in or out. Only the tip of the knife and the forward section of the handle touch the Kydex, so that even when frequently stowed with dirt on the blade you are not as likely to scratch the bevel finish.

We believe a genuine quality knife should be affordable to anyone who knows how to look for it. At Stout Gear we offer a premium product at a lower moderate price, what's not to like? Our custom work is also very affordable. Call us to put together the blade you've been imagining!