Gareth Bull Custom Folder, ispired by Hinderer, CRK, Strider and Burger knives

**marthinus** · 08-17-2011, 07:22 AM

Introduction
Ok, before I start some background. I met Gareth a year ago at our local knife show. He is the only frame lock maker in South Africa at the moment (that I know of). Here are a few pictures of his SA hunter model next to the Insingo.
http://i840.photobucket.com/albums/z...2/P8170030.jpg

I contacted him and asked for a few alterations and if he is willing to incorporate a few new ideas and so this folder came into being.

I indicated where I got the idea from in brackets when applicable.

Finally, these are thoughts written down as time goes by so please bear with me and the somewhat cryptic explanations at stages.

Stats:
• Sizes (what blade size and what handle size?)
Blade Length: 8.8cm
Overall Length: 20.3cm
Closed Length: 11.5cm
Blade Thickness: 0.3cm
Handle Thickness: 1.1cm without clip. 1.5 With clip
• Materials (what's it made of?)
Blade Material: RWL-34 (more can be read here: http://michaelwest.dk/knive/rwl34-datasheet.pdf)
Heat Treat Process:
Austenitize at 1080 for 10 minutes
Quench in air between 2 cold steel plates
Liquid nitrogen soak overnight
Temper at 180 for 2 hours
Liquid nitrogen 4 hours
Temper again at 180 for 2 hours
Blade Hardness: 58-60 HRC
Blade Style: Drop-Point
Weight: 80gr
Clip: Tip-Down, Right hand carry (believe it is done to order so what ever your preference)
Lock Mechanism: Frame lock of which the lock face has been heat treated in order to prevent excessive wear.
Price: R2000 for the knife, R200 for each extra scale and R3000 for the entire kit as seen.

(International, use this for currency conversion, http://www.x-rates.com/calculator.html convert South African Rand)
Gareth can be reached at: gbull1985 at gmail.com

Initial impression

Can be seen here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPFSZlkLfvU
General observation, wow! The lightning strike carbon fiber is a beautiful thing! The knife is light, thinner and smaller in the pocket as expected, however it sits comfortably in the hand and different grips. The pivot is LARGE (CRK Umnumzaan), action is smooth. Really big standoff (CRK Umnumzaan and Rick Hinderer).
The blade retention is really good, strongest I have of my limited frame and liner locks. Easy to open due to the same Lip opening as on Burger EXK knives. Lock is solid. No play open or during the motion of opening and closing (ie side to side ply around the pivot while opening or closing). Disengaging the lock gives you a nice thumb workout, very sturdy.
Everything is pretty much spot on according to my requests. The Pocket clip also functions as a stopper for accidental over extension of the lock (Rick Hinderer). You can feel it pushing against the lock when you try and push it past the frame.
This of course leeds us to the blade and grind. WOW! I am in love with this thing! Cant wait to start using it. Inspired by (Rick Hinderer’s) slicer grind but with a (John W Smith) twist. I don’t know if Rick does it the same way but the grind is thinner at the tip then at the hilt of the blades edge. So fine work can be done with the tip and harder cutting can be done at the hilt of the edge.
The edge came shaving sharp and the blade is perfectly centred.

After some further inspection I noticed there are 2 teflon washers as well as 2 perforated bronze washers.
There seems to be a cut out for the detent ball to role over the 90* corner of the lock face, thereby creating a smooth action opening and closing.
All the smaller cavities of the blade have been mirror finished. (Later talked to Gareth and he stated he does that to prevent any form of rust.
The lock is a bit sticky. (Gareth stated this can be due to residue of the bead blasting, recommended I use a magic marker and it worked so no issue)
I really like the one hole for the lanyard (Strider)

**marthinus** · 08-17-2011, 07:23 AM

Comfort
No real hotspots that I have encountered. The clip is placed very well.
Feels good in the hand, rides easy in the pocket. I carried it in my shirt pocket for some time, no issue in that regard.
Delica

Bone Collector

Burger EXK

**marthinus** · 08-17-2011, 07:24 AM

550HG

Sebenza

GB Custom

Blade & Cutting Performance (first impressions and after 10 days of EDC 18 October 2010)
Blade shape has been very useful. Kitchen duty gave me a good idea of how it will function as well as the stick carvings I did.
Cut tomato, avo, biltong (probably the same as beef jerky) and other assorted meats.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aItQm8e5IQg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vec12jXT77I

**marthinus** · 08-17-2011, 07:29 AM

Sharpening
RWL-34…..you beauty! What great steel!
Sharpness test:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-OUR4xUx90
Very fine grane structure, takes an edge very easily and holds it. Can be sharpened to a mirror finish and can take a good medium edge from a silicone stone.
Here are videos of the toothier edge in cutting some material.
Gareth Bull Custom Cardboard cut
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AWjMRBFPqA

Tire.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SdXLEmuxiU

Fuzz sticks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXX_M-CUeRE

And then after that I touched the edge up on the fine silicone stone again in less then 5 minute.

Size & Weight

Same size as the 550HG grip. Due to its light weight it rides easy in the pocket, yet when in the hand it feels solid. IWB carry, pocket carry, shirt pocket carry is comfortable.
Size comparison

**marthinus** · 08-17-2011, 07:33 AM

Ergonomics
I love it! The simple handle reminds me of the design philosophy of Loveless, Terzula, Carson and Smith. Good with solid feel. Not a knife designed for stabbing purposes.

General
I took the knife apart and here is the process. I swapped the handle scales, gave it a good cleaning.
The standoff is so close in tolerance to the female screw par I just did not even bother to remove it.

**marthinus** · 08-17-2011, 07:35 AM

**marthinus** · 08-17-2011, 07:36 AM

Pick scale

Results!

Deslike
Well, nothing at the moment. The lock gives significant resistance, but that is what I wanted, so no real complaints. My thumb is use to it now.

**marthinus** · 08-17-2011, 07:37 AM

Some pictures:

**Steven65** · 08-17-2011, 07:57 AM

That's a beauty Marthinus. Gareth is a really nice guy and I predict that he will be one of South Africa's top makers in the not to distant future.
I look forward to seeing that one in person.........

Steven

**Professor** · 08-17-2011, 08:06 AM

Marthinus,

Thank you so much for putting the time into this. That is a great folder, and the influences you mentioned are obvious. Very, very cool folder.

Prof.

**PatriotDan** · 08-17-2011, 08:10 AM

That's great looking knife and a kit to go with it. Good review also. Did you ask mr. Bull the reasons behind perforated washers?

**MT Damascus** · 08-17-2011, 08:14 AM

Yep, looks like a great little edc. Thanks for posting. The kit is just brilliant.

**timberweasel** · 08-17-2011, 08:38 AM

Very nice indeed! I also like the kit idea with the tools and swappable scale options... fantastic!

**Guy Vanderveken** · 08-17-2011, 09:02 AM

Fantastic review Marthinus,

Thank you for posting this- I will definitely call on Gareth in the not too distant future for something.

Great score- Great project. WOW- what a great Blade- now no one can ever say that you do not like options.

Cheers,
Guy

**ROBB** · 08-17-2011, 09:30 AM

Now that's what I call a review.

Gareth's got a pic of a different folder in the latest Blade Mag. Looks great also.

**Tostig** · 08-17-2011, 11:24 AM

Washers have the holes in them to hold lubricant , no ? Interesting and good looking knife. How on earth do you open it though ? Don't really see some of the
influences you mentioned either but it is a good looking tool !

IMO the knife , concept looks pretty original.

Thanks for sharing.

Tostig

**marthinus** · 08-17-2011, 01:15 PM

Thanks for all the kind words everyone! Gareth mentioned he had something in Blade Mag as well. So for those who can, have a look!

Originally Posted by PatriotDan

That's great looking knife and a kit to go with it. Good review also. Did you ask mr. Bull the reasons behind perforated washers?

As I understand it the perforated washers holds the lube for longer periods. I have experienced this with my Sebenza and since I cleaned the GB Custom I have not yet applied any new lube and it has been washed in warm water with soap that normally will remove any excess lubricant in my experience.

Originally Posted by Tostig

Washers have the holes in them to hold lubricant , no ? Interesting and good looking knife. How on earth do you open it though ? Don't really see some of the
influences you mentioned either but it is a good looking tool !

IMO the knife , concept looks pretty original.

Thanks for sharing.

Tostig

I presented Gareth with what I wanted, emailing pictures etc of grinds, folders, anything really I found interesting and wanted, some of my thoughts were, however, to much and Gareth was really kind in explaining why certain things can or cant work, at the end I left it in his hands in order to interpret it the way he wants and this is what I got. I am very happy to say the least.

Have a look, at 2:56 I open it right handed and left handed. Can be opened with gloves as well. Real easy once you get the hang of it and since this is a knife I will use for hunting I like no thumbstuds, disks etc, so nothing can catch on the blade or get stuck under a pin/hole or disk when really working in the buck.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPFSZlkLfvU

Or, pictures, this is old pictures of my Burger EXK1, same opening method.
See the protrusion past the corner near the pivot when the blade is closed?

Similar to the Burger EXK

**harkamus** · 08-17-2011, 02:38 PM

Beautiful. My initial thought was that it looked like a Burger EXK. This was confirmed when I read the entire thread title. haha. It's great to see more wonderful knife makers coming out of that part of the globe.