WJFH
WJFH
The Wire Jack From Hell (WJFH) is a murderous little chunk of steel that never should have been allowed to escape the infernal pit that birthed it. It’s a prototype wire jack that was created in the sample room at Imperial and its design makes it likely from sometime between 1926 when G Schrade first patented the design and 1971 when OSHA was formed and started counting lost fingers in factories across America.
Where the Schrade wire jack is lean and efficient, the WJFH is heavy, hard to manipulate, and slams shut like a bear trap. The heavy frame makes opening the blade a chore – particularly if you were blessed with fat fingers. You have to pinch the frame with your thumb on one side and pointer & middle fingers on the other. As the blade opens that heavy spring starts to open up, gathering some unsuspecting finger meat as it’s widening. Then the blade finds the half stop which causes a violent, skin ripping contraction of the spring. After you recover from that you need to do it one more time to open the blade all the way. It’s even more harrowing when you go to close the blade because there’s so little real estate to hang onto, inevitably you find yourself with a finger in the path of the blade which closes with the urgency of a guillotine. The blade is moderately dull at the moment and will never meet a sharpening stone as long as I own it.
The knife is engineered beautifully with the moving parts exactly centered with barely enough room for a hair in the gaps. It’s just way too heavy and short to be safe. At 2-7/8” it weighs 2.2 oz compared to the small G Schrade wire jack which is 1.5 oz at 3.25”.
Where the Schrade wire jack is lean and efficient, the WJFH is heavy, hard to manipulate, and slams shut like a bear trap. The heavy frame makes opening the blade a chore – particularly if you were blessed with fat fingers. You have to pinch the frame with your thumb on one side and pointer & middle fingers on the other. As the blade opens that heavy spring starts to open up, gathering some unsuspecting finger meat as it’s widening. Then the blade finds the half stop which causes a violent, skin ripping contraction of the spring. After you recover from that you need to do it one more time to open the blade all the way. It’s even more harrowing when you go to close the blade because there’s so little real estate to hang onto, inevitably you find yourself with a finger in the path of the blade which closes with the urgency of a guillotine. The blade is moderately dull at the moment and will never meet a sharpening stone as long as I own it.
The knife is engineered beautifully with the moving parts exactly centered with barely enough room for a hair in the gaps. It’s just way too heavy and short to be safe. At 2-7/8” it weighs 2.2 oz compared to the small G Schrade wire jack which is 1.5 oz at 3.25”.
- Jason
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Re: WJFH
Very cool, Jason, I have never seen one before. Thanks for posting and your assessment.
John
John
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You're going to look awfully silly with that knife sticking out of your @#$. -Clint Eastwood, High Plains Drifter
You're going to look awfully silly with that knife sticking out of your @#$. -Clint Eastwood, High Plains Drifter
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Re: WJFH
WOW!!....now that's something different!
That's a BEAUTY, Jason!
PLEASE post it here also:
viewtopic.php?f=35&t=3137
Kid: "Wish we had time to bury them fellas."
Josey Wales: "To hell with them fellas. Buzzards got to eat, same as worms."
Clint Eastwood-The Outlaw Josey Wales
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Josey Wales: "To hell with them fellas. Buzzards got to eat, same as worms."
Clint Eastwood-The Outlaw Josey Wales
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Re: WJFH
Any DNA collectable on the WJFH that may be G. Schrades?
It's a shame it never made it to production.. There would be a lot of thinner fingers out there.
LOL
It's a shame it never made it to production.. There would be a lot of thinner fingers out there.
LOL
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Re: WJFH
Very interesting. That is a 1st for me.
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Treefarmer
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Re: WJFH
All the comments are appreciated
I didn't know about that thread - I'll copy and paste this over there. Thanks for sharing the link.New_Windsor_NY wrote: ↑Sun Oct 03, 2021 6:25 pm WOW!!....now that's something different!
That's a BEAUTY, Jason!
PLEASE post it here also:
viewtopic.php?f=35&t=3137
I bet anyone who has handled the knife left some DNA on it but none of that blood will trace back to G Schrade - this fleam is from Providence.
- Jason
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Re: WJFH
Odd looking little critter. First time seeing one for me too.
Forged on the anvil of discipline.
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"The #72 pattern has got to be pretty close to the perfect knife."
--T.J. Murphy 2012
The Few. The Proud.
Jerry D.
This country has become more about sub-groups than about it's unity as a nation.
"The #72 pattern has got to be pretty close to the perfect knife."
--T.J. Murphy 2012
Re: WJFH
Very solid little knife! Has any custom knifemaker successfully replicated a Wirejack?
It is an idea that still remains today. I know there's a Klecker design sold by CRKT that is a lockback, but has a one-piece frame that includes all functional parts.
Just how strong is the pull? I have a couple of older Cases with such strong springs, they feel like that if handled wrong, they might sever a finger, but this seems MUCH stronger.
It is an idea that still remains today. I know there's a Klecker design sold by CRKT that is a lockback, but has a one-piece frame that includes all functional parts.
Just how strong is the pull? I have a couple of older Cases with such strong springs, they feel like that if handled wrong, they might sever a finger, but this seems MUCH stronger.
Re: WJFH
Yup
I don't have a good way to measure the pull but I did a very unscientific test where I took a wire jack open to the half stop and then brought the blade down on the surface of a digital postal scale to see how much pressure it exerted before fully opening and it was consistently around 10 ounces. The same motion with the WJFH registered about 3.5 pounds. But it's more than just that. It's nearly impossible to get a grip on the blade (nail mark is just for show) and the resistance actually increases dramatically as the blade starts to rise. While you're struggling with the basic mechanics of it you are also contending with the blade trying to snap shut on your fingers while the spring is trying to pinch you. It attacks you from multiple angles all at once. It's a prototype that just didn't go well. I haven't seen another but I'm not surprised by that. The wire jack is a perfect design, for what it is. Why someone took a big slab of spring steel and tried to make a heavy duty version is beyond me.cody6268 wrote: ↑Mon Oct 04, 2021 5:20 pm Very solid little knife! Has any custom knifemaker successfully replicated a Wirejack?
It is an idea that still remains today. I know there's a Klecker design sold by CRKT that is a lockback, but has a one-piece frame that includes all functional parts.
Just how strong is the pull? I have a couple of older Cases with such strong springs, they feel like that if handled wrong, they might sever a finger, but this seems MUCH stronger.
- Jason