CondorTool & Knife Kephart Blade Blank - 1075 High Carbon Steel - Knife Blanks with a Polished Finish - Product is Sold Without Sheath - 4.5 in Blade - 3.5oz

This is the third Condor blade blank I've added a handle to, the first two being their Woodlaw model. The blank is sharp, well-finished, and ready nearly as-is to have a have handle thrown on. For the money, this is an incredible value provided you're willing to work toward a finished product instead of receiving something 100% ready to go out of the box. The blade is a full flat grind, ready for a hone and stropping, and is flexible and nimble while still being quite tough and stout through the blade. The finished knife feels great in the hand and will make a fine camp companion.A note on the steel; I used a round file to enlarge the rear hole to just over ¼" so I could add a lanyard tube. The three holes in the handle are all just barely over 3/16", so that true 3/16" pins will easily fit through. I don't recommend enlarging these holes as it took me about an hour of solid, steady filing to get it where it needed to be. Save yourself the hassle and just add 3/16" pins. Trust me. An industrial drill bit wouldn't cut deeper than 1/64" before burning up. This is hard steel.For the handle build, I used curly maple handle scales, 3/16" brass rod, a piece of ¼" copper flush line, and Loc-Tite two-part epoxy. The finish is dark mahogany Danish oil. I used a drill press, a hacksaw, an angle grinder with a sanding disc, and a roll of 80 grit sandpaper belt to fit and shape the handle. I also used brake cleaner to take the finish off the blank and clean all the surfaces before gluing.The blank comes coated in a very tough, clear lacquer that I had to use a solvent and/or sandpaper to remove. This is necessary for at least the handle portion of the knife, as you want your epoxy sticking to the metal, not a coating sitting on top of the metal. I could have left the coating on the blade, too, but will likely force a patina on it later down the road so I prepared for that eventuality.To mate this to a handle, purchase some knife scales of your choice in ¼" to ½" thickness. Your final handle thickness will be the thickness of your two scales plus that of the ⅛" blade, so ½" handle scales (remember, times two scales) will yield a 1⅛" thick finished handle. This is all about personal preference. Try going to Home Depot and getting your hands on a wooden dowel rod of the finished size you're looking for and then find what feels best in your hand. Use that as a baseline for how thick you want your scales to be. Even a nicely figured set of curly maple scales shouldn't cost you more than ten bucks, max, so shop accordingly. Your scales will need to be at least 1½" wide by 4½" long for this blank.Once you have all your materials then remove the coating from the blank, scuff the hell out of the handle portion with sandpaper, clamp your blank how you want it to sit on your scales, and very carefully use a 3/16" drill bit to drill the holes in the scales. Use a clamp to keep everything steady so your holes all line up. Take your one drilled scale and clamp it to your undrilled scale. Now, drill all the way through the holes and out the other side to get both scales ready. Unclamp your two scales together and pencil in the blade blank's outline, using the drilled holes as your guide for where you need the blank to sit. Use a saw to trim to just outside that line. Cut your pins to length (I do 1½" long pins for good measure) and then dry fit everything. Make sure it goes together easy with no miss and no fuss. If the pins a re just a little bit tight, it's perfect.While your scales are rough cut, drilled, and clamped together finish shaping the top edge of the wood. It will be very hard and time-intensive to do this later, as that part of the scale will sit against the blade and be difficult to shape.When ready for final assembly, scuff every mating surface with sandpaper; pins, scales, and blank. Clean those surfaces with some brake cleaner on a shop towel, and set aside. Mix your glue and be sure to spread glue on every mating surface. Don't just put it on the scales, coat the blank and pins, too.Fit it all together, clamp it up with at least two clamps, and let it dry for a full 24 hours.Once dry, unclamp it and go to town with grinder and sandpaper. Once done shaping, hit it with some Danish oil. Easy peasy.

I bought both the Kephart and Bushlore blanks, this is a dual review and comparison. I've never had either of these in my hand before today, blank or otherwise. I was surprised to find that the Bushlore is bigger than the Kephart. I expected it to be the other way. Both are a bargain in my opinion, I'm going to get handles on these and make some sheaths, I bet I have to buy a few more after I show these off.Bushlore - Good heft, grinds are symmetrical, fit and finish is good not great. The Condor name and ElSalvador are stamped into the blade. The Scandi grind is spot on but not polished, there are grinder marks as you can see in the pics. It is shaving sharp and as I said the grinds are symmetrical so you can polish it out with a little work. If you bought a blank you intended to work on it anyway right?Kephart - thinner than the Bushlore, full flat grind with a secondary beveled edge. Again, grind is not polished but symmetrical. Simple and clean, should be easy to shape a handle for this one. Simple clean design, etched name not stamped.

This is of course a knife blank, a cheap way to get a quality knife that you need to attach handle scales and make a sheath for it. Condor makes great working blades, and this is no different. They are great value knives.The blade came with a nice smooth finish, although it had some scratches. This has led me to decide on a stonewashed finish for the finished project. This will hide the scratches that my blade came with, as well as hide any scratches that may be made from use.1075 is a High Carbon steel, meaning it will rust if it is not cared for. The blade came lightly oiled and rust free. After I finish the knife, I will use it as a steak and kitchen knife to get a nice and natural patina. The patina will help protect the blade from rust. It is not the thickest knife in the world, but it is not designed to be.It came with a *decent* edge. Nothing to write home about. That said, I plan on reprofiling after the project is done.I have ordered Terotuf scale material and plan on using that for my “Modern Kephart” project. I will update with pictures and more info as I finish the blank.Update #1: I have crowned the spine of the blade up until the drop towards the point. I have stonewashed the flats of the handle and the highest points of the grind. I then added a small choil to base of the blade. After all of this, I polished the blade and handle area with Flitz Metal Polish. I plan to start using it as a kitchen knife to develop the patina. The scale material is still on its way.Update #2: The knife is practically finished, I just need to epoxy everything together. The handle scales are a layered TeroTuf in coyote brown and Canvas Micarta in black. I used brass tubing to serve as pins for the scales, and I’ll likely run a small lanyard through the bottom one. One thing I did notice with my knife: the holes drilled were not 3/16”, and instead they were 7/32”.Overall a fun project and a decent blade. Great for those who want to work with scales or just make a fun beater knife.

Nice Kephart style blade by Condor.Took me 2 days to put ironwood (don't do it!) scales with brass pins.The blade came dull, but the steel is fairly easy to sharpen.

Quality seems good