ausjulius,
I do live in Austria but I think there is no difference in the kind of knives used (except for law reasons).
I think the "limited interest" you mentioned happens because of the aproach taken. It seems like you want to make it "German" at all costs, but the only possibility i see to make a German knife is to make it in Germany. Made in Germany = German knife.
And even then, there is no such thing as the "ideal knife" for everybody. As you can see, people have very different preference concerning the materials used, and this will not change. The only thing that people seem to have quite similar opinions about is the size of the knife and a flat grind. I assume when somebody chooses to buy a russian knife, then probably because eigther he wants to buy a Russian style knife or out of sheer utility thinking.
that's a nice blade on your photo. I also like the ergonomic looking handle on the knife which is not simply a straight piece of material, but it lacks a finger guard which is a critical point for me. The rivets look a bit too fancy for me. Also I personally don't care for wood handles. Micarta is fine for me but this is a matter of personal preference. Also I would shorten the handle for 5mm and add them to the blade, but this again is a personal matter. VG10 is a great steel, so if you have something similar, use it by all means.
The
Sterkh 1 is pretty much the utility knife I would use, if it had a proper finger guard that is.
By the way, what I have not seen yet in the Kyzlyar sortiment is a small dagger with a 10 to 11 cm blade.
I hope you don't take my straight words as a personal attack. It's by sure not meant that way.
Tom
indeed , austria is for me the same as germany
( ,, well sort of.. i think there is not much difference between southern germans and austrians? less than say australians and english im shure
.. hehehe)
no offence :d..
the knfie in the link loks very german to me,...........
no i want not to make a "german knfie" , but a knife form the forum members ,, which happen to be germans,
if i wanted a german knife id buy a nicker from hurbertus.. and the post a photo of it here
some of the older puma knives look very german , while still shedding the form of the nicker....
these look very german to me,
i dont know if you germans perceve this welll, but to other folk germans have a specific style, in their clothign, bulidings, knives, guns ect ect..
a kind of ,, mehanical.. slightly cold, slightly mass produced, stylish look . lots of angles and such, and mostly some exstream proportions on them, that are not instantly observed,
(dont know if it offends any , but for the most part , german things look to me kind of totolitarian looking
, in a way, very regimental, but attractive none the less,)
seems always to me that some peice of poor mateiral mush be incorperated into german things
.. or some design fault,ushaly to keep the price down, .. or some times for some reason unknown
while at the same time keeping the item still attractive, adn pleasing to the eye
(like the BMW's with the battery under the back seat, or the large alloy guards on the pumas,, or the gren leather sheath on the nicker... or the plastic trigger on my 1996 mauser stright pull hunting rifle
..)
seems to be almost a prerqusite..
i think, like the small knife in the link ,a german knife should be,, somehtign modern looking, and mechanical, as it seems this day and age that germans are mostly not the old hunter who shoots deer in the forest.
so somehtign more modern would be correct,
hmm regarding the russina knife, there is many types, about 3 main styles, "kizlyar style" form the norht caucasus, , big blades, wood rivet grips, . engraving sometimes, many grooves in the blade, images impressed in the sheath,
"vorsma style" , leather or berch bark or oak grips, alloy guards and pommels, engraved pommel and guard, etched blades, polished, blades normaly quite curved, .. leather sheath of yellow or orange leather stiched in a special way and laced with leather thong,
and "zlatoust style" , having simple leather sheaths, . with no images, normaly dark brown, unpolished blades, sometimes gold inlayed images or logos, small etching, poor images, , handles with micarta or alloy guards, birtch and birtch bark handles, or leather, ..
these are the 3 main styles, then ther eis also the norhten style of knive,s same as the siberian knives and the scandinavian knives, also there is other native ethnic styles not used by the russis. ,
ther eis also some nevwer style of knives appearing, mostly,, rather "militaryish," with many quite useless features on them, mostly coming from the designer skrilev
in russia there is many many knife firms and custom makers, so specific styles develop as there is not a distance form the maker to the buyer, only a short phone call away,,
ther eis many milions of hunters, military, knife collectors, police, ect ect who buy knives, and the market is realy quite large,
ther eis a big following of knives among most rural russians, and knives ar epopular gifts, aspecialy to take camping (and in the case of dagestanis as weapons :S)
this means that styles local to the country or region form, as there is a huge internal market, and little or no export,
russians therefore now have "russianstyle knives"(in the past not , russians ushaly used ethnic knives of the sarrounding people, the finnish knive sbeing very popular before the revolution) these look russian, and can be said to be russian,,
germans had, many years ago such knive,s but now for me it looks as though the knfie tastes and people have departed fom the makers, and the makers market is greatly reduced,
in japan, france and america you can as with russia see a good deal of knives that one could say were representing somehtign about thier origin and were still holding their popularity amongst the local population,
but it seems in germany that is no so.....
i dont try to make a "super german knife" but just somehtign that most knife orientated germans woudl look at and say that looks sort of german to me, ...
but as im a german i can,,,,..
i havent enougth contact with germans to do this.....
also your tastes seem to be strongly influenced by those of the american market..
i can perceve the general russian stlye of knife.. somethign simple, with a birch bark handle or some other natural material,, not to thick balde, ..
or a dagestani knife , being aggressive, thick balde, curved , walnut handle proably engraved with something like a wolf or a nude woman
..
or the australian one, a simple hunting knife , as simple as can be, rivet grip,, made to last 100 years,, but as cheaply as can be,, proably , like most else,in aus it woudl be mad ein china :O heheheh, oh and like alsl ausse leather thigns the sheath would be of massive heavey ausse leather....
ah, i ramble on,
but no i only try to make an interesting topic on this forum,
as it is some fun to make a knife designed by members of an internet forum.
i did never say that this topic was only for "kizlya" , and by all means if one who make sknives woudl wish to join in the topic it would be most interesting,
"By the way, what I have not seen yet in the Kyzlyar sortiment is a small dagger with a 10 to 11 cm blade."
ah but there was.. :S alas , russian law makes this a cold weapon, so it was cancled, .. it had a 3.5cm wide 9cm long balde and a elastron and abs handle, ill try to find you soem pictures if you wish, unfortunaly it woudl require a gun licence in russia to own , so it was cancled..
ah no offence taken
I think we are on the same Frequency. 
