Bermont River Knives

flyin polack

PR Addict
Well, the prototypes have come back from the field with good feedback so the first actual order went out last week.

What's in a name...? My mother and father divorced early in my childhood and she remarried. . I did not get along well with my step dad for various reasons, but mostly because of my real dads jealousy causing trouble. My father was an alcoholic and died in a bar fight when I was 18. After that, my step dad and I began to grow closer together. He was a perfectionist and when I was 8-10 years old that was a real pain in my butt. What I didn't realize is that his habits were rubbing off on me even though I hated it. As it turned out, my step dad was an awesome dad that I never really had. His middle name was Bermont... My wife and I lost a child to a miscarriage late in our lives. We were so looking forward to having a child at this point in our lives with all of the "youth" problems behind us. That child's name was to be River. Together the name Bermont River pays tribute to my late step dad for all the work habits he engrained in me, and the joy we felt when looking forward to my son. It fits perfect.

I have always been obsessed with knives but never realized that you could make your own. 4 years ago while duck hunting in ND, I met a legend in the business-Phil Wilson. His knives are the epitome of what the ultimate goal for a knife has always been to me.

After some prompting, I assembled the tools one by one and dove in. My thought of the ultimate knife is one that holds an edge for a long time and melts in your hand when you are using it. Since I love to elk hunt in the wilderness (where you can't go home and sharpen your knife) a knive that holds an edge, stands up to weather, and is an extension of your hand is important to me. These thoughts are in my mind when making all my knives.

To me, a knife has 2 key elements. Design and edge retention. The steel I have settled on is a stainless steel that is specifically made for cutting. It has been refined for the knife making industry. CPM S90V is an extremely hard and tough steel that will hold an edge for a very long time. I do all my own work from start to finish. I have my own kiln and do the heat treating in house and monitor the hardness throughout he process.

The original intention was to come up with a few designs and offer them to customers. Needing designs, I asked a few guys to send me a cut out of what they wanted. The Grizzly and Brandon are products of customers sending me a cutout and the knife was made to match.

While I am not sure where the company will go from there I am excited to make knives how ever they come to me.

Here are some of my Prototypes and sold knives:





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Zach Kaisers filet Knife. Zach is hard on stuff and he didn't break this! Success!
It is made from CPM154, Micarta handle, with brass hardware. 6" blade with good flex. Rockwell 61.5c. Steel did not hold an edge as well as CPM S90V.

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The Malard- Small bird and fish knife made from CPM S90V, Desert ironwood handle with brass bolster, pins and lanyard hole. 61c Rockwell

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6" Filet knife from CPM154, tan micarta handle,brass Corby bolts, bolster and lanyard hole. 61c Rockwell
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The Whitetail.
8" hunter with 4" blade. CMP S90V steel, desert ironwood handle, brass bolster, pins and lanyard hole. 61c Rockwell.
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The Grizzly
CPM S90V @61.5c Rockwell. Brass bolster, pins and lanyard hole in a black G10 handle.
This knife gutted, skinned and quartered 7 deer and was still sharp.

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First custom made knife made from a cardboard cutout that the customer sent.
CPM S90V steel @61c Rockwell, Stainless Corby bolts and Desert ironwood handles.
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This is how the first custom knife came to me along with a photo of what he was thinking.
 
Absolutely awesome work. I dabbled in knife making but been too busy to really take my time and learn. Are they for sale? Any Damascus? I have two a friend bought me and I only got blood on it once. Too pretty. Lol
 
Thanks! The ones in the photos are all sold or Prototypes in the field. I'm headed towards the custom route...you draw it...I make it...within reason

No Damascus for me. Rusts too easy. I want an edge that holds forever...
 
Good to know. I'm a fan of the whitetail. Looks like it would fit my needs. Estimate of something similar? Only thing, for my personal taste, I'm not a huge fan of brass (or gold). Other options there?

I get ya on the Damascus. The ones I have are for fun and probably won't get any further field use. I only gutted one deer with it just for the photos for my buddy.
 
Very nice work. Good but sad story about your life, thanks for sharing. I knew a machinist that made knives as a hobby. His were like trophy knives, not a practical use knife like yours.
 
Good to know. I'm a fan of the whitetail. Looks like it would fit my needs. Estimate of something similar? Only thing, for my personal taste, I'm not a huge fan of brass (or gold). Other options there?

I get ya on the Damascus. The ones I have are for fun and probably won't get any further field use. I only gutted one deer with it just for the photos for my buddy.

The brass can be changed to nickel silver, stainless or removed. Just the parts for these knives are $100. That's the steel, hardware, grinding belts and sheath. They are starting at $200. It takes 3-5 weeks to produce one with my work schedule and only working on weekends. It takes 24 hours to heat treat and temper them but it is a fun process.
 
Understand. I will let you know when I save up a little play money for sure. What are you using to heat treat?
 
I have an Evenheat KO18 kiln. It goes to 2400 degrees. The recipe I use for S90V calls for 2150 at the blade for 20 min then plate quench. I use 2 frozen pieces of aluminum 12"x12"x1'. After that it is 12 hours in liquid nitrogen and then 2 temper cycles for 2 hours each...
 
Sounds intense. Lol. I barely have time to grab a couple hours in the stand let alone put that kind of time into making things. I have three things I want make. A useable knife such as what your creating, a recurve, and woody arrows. One day..
 
My ex father in law just passed away and he gave me some of his traditional archery equipment. A long bow and wood arrows with swedged broadheads were in the mix. Plan to take a doe with the set up if I can get proficient with it.
 
I was hoping to get done buck hunting early this year as I had 3 patterned well. As luck would have it, since opening weekend their pattern has completely disappeared. However, I plan to pull out my grandfather's bow he bought as a kid, and try to shoot a doe with it. He passed away earlier this year. It's only 40# but I'm going to try to get super up close and personal to make it happen.
 
The latest offering from Bermont River Knives.

This one is called the "Mallard" . Most knife makers have a variation of a "bird and trout" knife for light duty, small scale work.

This knife is 8" long with a 3-3/4"blade. The steel is Crucible Industries CPM
S90V at 60.5C Rockwell. The handle is desert ironwood polished to a gloss finish held on with stainless Corby bolts. The sheath is .060"Kydex custom molded to the knife.

The knife comes with the sheath and embroidered carrying case.




 
Here is the latest from Bermont River Knives

This is the Grizzly. The blade is 3/16" thick CPM S90V at 60.5HRC. It is a full flat grind with a thicker edge at the rear to handle the tough duty requirements of game processing. The handle is desert ironwood with brass Corby bolts and finger guard. The handle is buffed to a gloss finish and melts in your hand. Thanks to Jen Kaiser for the great photos.
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Latest knives made for my mule deer hunt. A matched pair sort of designed to work together. The drop point can do the field work and the skinner did a great job of taking the hide off.
Usual steel-CPM S90V at 60.5Rch. This time I tried a hidden tang design. Made for a lighter overall knife. Nickle silver finger guard with desert ironwood handles. The colored spacers were due to not having a mill long enough to mill out the hole. Added a nice accent.
Gave these both away to the guys that took us to their lease in Nebraska. Great guys and worth the trip to go out there.
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Here's the latest. All were Christmas presents that had me in a time crunch and no time for quality pictures.

Wall Creek Drop Point Hunter
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Jonny's Bowie Knife. 14" overall length, 9" Blade
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Rick Crists Whitetail Hunter
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Latest from Bermont River Knives. The Grizzley in a hidden tang version. The steel is CPM S90V at 62 Rockwell with a Stainless steel finger guard with yellow accents. The handle is desert ironwood with a mo robust profile. The blade is 4-3/4 long by 1-1/4 deep with an overall length of 9-1/4. The sheath is made of dark brown Kydex and is custom molded to the knife. This would be an excellent big game knife or for whitetail.
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This is the Mallard. This full tang model is made from CPM S90V at 62 Rockwell. The handle is desert ironwood held on with nickle silver Korby bolts. The blade is 4" long by 1" tall. The overall length is 8". The edge of this blade is tapered from .020" at the tip to .035 at the rear of the blade. This make the blade good for delicate work in the tip and if more heavy duty work is required then the rear of the blade is used. The sheath is Kydex that is custom molded to the knife. This is a great little multi purpose knife that could be used for fish and birds and even light work on a deer.

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Christmas time is near...Are one of these going to be under the tree for you?

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Whitetail
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Mallard
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Boning knife top, fillet knife bottom
 
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