The Outfitter
Jackson Hole is a premier hunting destination worthy of a superior hunting knife. NWKW has created the ideal backcountry hunting knife with a blade big enough for everything the deep woods of the Snake River Range demands, but compact enough to pack in with ease. Although it is most at home belly deep inside an elk carcass within the Teton Wilderness or skinning a speed goat on the flats of Sublette County, it will also serve you well as a ranch or camp knife.
Developed in collaboration with local professional outfitters, NWKW has created something unique and tailored to the needs of the Jackson Hole hunter. The handle is shortened to make it less cumbersome inside a carcass and the fitted leather belt sheath is easy in-and-out but holds the knife securely when things turn into a rodeo. The details are what counts and the extended choil will prevent your blood-soaked hands from slipping forward onto the blade. The addition of a lanyard hole for a p-cord loop eliminates struggling to pull it from its leather belt sheath if your hands are slick with blood.
Most knives start to dull after the first kill but The Outfitter will continue to cut with razor-sharp accuracy. Once it does need sharpening, the addition of the Spanish ricasso makes at home or backcountry sharpening no problem. Some local Jackson guides subscribe to an old wives tale that washing your knife between kills in the same season is bad luck. If you are bringing your knife to our shop to sharpen mid-season, wash that shit first. Cutting up your food with a dirty knife is just gross and we don't want to touch it either.
Desert Ironwood
As the first major addition to our hunting knife collection since switching to G10 handles for our "G-Fusion" line, New West KnifeWorks is proud to offer our line of Desert Ironwood S35VN hunting knives. After months of testing various hardwoods and laminate woods for durability, water resistance, and overall look and feel, the richly textured desert ironwood rose to the top.
Because desert ironwood grows in such water-depleted environments, its grain structure is incredibly dense (so dense that it sinks in water), which leads it to have incredible strength and durability. In fact - this wood is so hard that it takes more material and time for our production team to get the scales shaped into New West's smooth and ergonomic knife handles.
To care for this material, we recommend avoiding harsh soaps or solvents on the handle (a little dish soap now and then is fine). The deep colors and rich shine quickly come back to life with a bit of mineral oil applied with a rag. No lacquer or sealant is applied to the ironwood, so it will readily absorb the oil and look shiny and new all over again.
Here in Wyoming, we can hunt the following species with The Outfitter by our side:
elk, mule deer ("muley"), white-tailed deer, bison (buffalo), pronghorn ("speed goat"), bighorn sheep, grouse, moose ("swamp donkey"), mountain goat, turkey, sandhill crane, pheasant, black bear, mountain lion, coyote.
