A couple of walking on egg shell questions !!!

pitdog

pitdog

Joined
Apr 13, 2007
Messages
12,294
I have come to realise that many people on this forum are very sensative when it comes to discussion about their beloved knives so I have to try and word my questions so they don't offend anyone ( much );).

Anyway when it comes to knife recommendations Fallknivens always get a large vote and yet I never see them being used hard in any pics ?
People say that they keep a great edge are really tough etc so I hope this is from experience and not from heresay ! I assume that those said owners have spent long periods cutting and shaping hard woods and battoning through knotty sections etc in order to provide this info, so where are the pics ?
All the hard use pics seem to be Busse's, SwampRats, Scrapyard and Ranger knives so please lets see some Fallkniven use and abuse as well !
My second question is regarding BRKT knives, I love the look of these by the way !
Most are made of A2 steel and again people swear that these knives are ultra tough, maintain a great edge etc and yet I only see pics of new shiney ones that don't even have a scratch on their pristine blades as they are carefully placed into position for their photo to be taken ?
I also noticed that the BRKT blades that are going to be taking impact use such as the new Golok, Machete and Axe are all made from 1095 ?
1095 is that steel which most people complain about TOPS Knives using and yet BRKT have swapped from A2 onto 1095 for their hard use knives!
 
I've had both and used both hard. Fallkniven F1, and several barkies. They're good knives.
 
Pit, you are asking about sacred cows here, the hordes will smite thee!

But seriously, it's tough to reccomend any knife without lots of use. I think most folks here have used what they reccomend to others.
 
Perhaps Fallkniven owners don't have the obsession to baton their knives or otherwise abuse them. My Fallknivens are used like all my knives but never abused !! Fallknivens are well designed, well made.and perform well. Try one , you might like it.
 
Interesting questions/challenge. I don't have any Fallkniven, because I prefer carbon steel blades. As far as BRKT when I reach for something for hard use I usually grab something with a grippier handle, and Barkies look great, but are smooth (generally). Maybe others who use their knives hard are in the same boat.

I should probably just get some sandpaper and rough up the micarta on my BRKT, but haven't brought myself to do it yet.
 
tknife said:
Pit, you are asking about sacred cows here, the hordes will smite thee!

But seriously, it's tough to reccomend any knife without lots of use. I think most folks here have used what they reccomend to others.
Click to expand...

LOL !!! I know what ya mean, I have learned that when mentioning the M-O-R-A word in the past, mind you at least people post pics of those being used !!!!

I really like the look of both Fallknivens and BRKT's but sometimes I have to ask these questions !

Another Holy grail is the Chris Reeve knives but look what happened to two of those when Noss tested them ! $400 down the drain !!!!!
 
I usually shy away from the posts asking "what knife" because there are just so many variables. I may have the complete opposite view of what the best knife is compared to the person asking. There are many highly reccomended knives that I just don't like, but they obviously work great for others that own them.
 
at the CT gathering i noticed that nearly every single person had a bark river on their belt, and a few people had fallknivens. as far as i could tell, i was the only one with a mora on my belt...

all of the knives at that gathering were used for food prep, fire prep, and general playing with. i myself got to play with a couple of prototypes batoning, slicing whittling etc, as well as sharpen several bark rivers. not only did they work great for work, but they held an edge well, barely losing any sharpness throughout my use, and they popped back very easily on some 1200 grit paper with a strop.

i didn't have a chance to use a fallkniven at all, but those that i looked at looked like they had good geometry for cutting and i saw at least one or two on people's belts.

about the chris reeves...they are pricy and i don't know that i have ever seen one with worn coating, as i have seen even busses with the coating well worn from use.

about using the 1095 with no complaints...i think that people complain about tops because of their very high prices for a fairly unsophisticated steel, whereas bark river charges a reasonable price for such a large piece of steel and i have never once heard someone complain about the grind on a bark river (quite the opposite with tops)
 
I don't typically baton with my knives, except for fun, and for making some quick firewood at home when I'm lazy - it's not necessary in any weather condition one can face in Finland. When I do baton stuff, it's typically with something big and heavy - like a Ranger RD9, or a Busse FBM.

I can and do appreciate a knife for hard use, but when it comes to most of my knives, I don't use them hard just to do it - rather, I'll do so only when I actually need to. With some of the designed for beating type of knives, like Busses and Rangers, it's fun to do things that you really wouldn't normally have to do.

As for Fällknivens, they're tough knives, certainly so compared to Moras, but in no way indestructible if you start the senseless beating thing. Fällknivens have somewhat acute tips, for example, and it won't be hard to break those off if one feels like, for some reason, digging a hole in a 2x4. But as Noss' testing and Fällkniven's own break testing (conducted by a well-respected Swedish university, in actual fact) shows, they will stand up to unusual abuse, if it comes to that. My user F1 and A1 have seen their share of batoning and what not, and are still going strong. No problems.

I posit, though, that if you routinely have to "shape" hardwoods by batoning through knots and such with your knife, you're already doing something wrong. Make note, I'm not saying batoning a knife through knotty woods is wrong - hell, I do that on occasion, especially with the bigger knives. I am saying, though, that if you often end up in situations where you have to baton your knife through knotty woods, as in you have no other practical choice but to do so, then you're doing something wrong.

Personally, I can enjoy all knives that are at least somewhat practical and comfortable to use - I do not mind if they're not Busse or Ranger tough, although if they're not, then they'd better cut well.

When it comes to the A1 chipping in Noss' tests - that's what happens to most steels when they have a relatively acute edge and that gets banged against concrete repeatedly. Doesn't bother me, as I do not normally work on concrete with my knives. If you have to do so, I suggest bringing an entry tool of some sort - Justin at Ranger Knives makes a rather fantastic one.

Now, to be the devil's advocate for a moment, if I were to be concerned about something in Fällkniven knives, instead of toughness, it would be the grind lines. I mean, honestly - has anyone ever seen and held a Fällkniven that had perfect grind lines? A straight tip? :p
 
Ha! Pitdog, the way you phrased your 'questions,' it almost sounds more like you are calling those brands out, rather than innocently inquiring! Har har!

Use what you like, and like what you use. That's how I fell. If you don't like it, don use it. Sell it off, salt it away, or whatever. I have purchased a few knives in my day that I wished performed better than they did without a ton of reprofiling, but hey, live and learn.

I have read up on and researched knives before buying them, and then again I have purchased a few just because I though they were nifty. Most knives that are used by all of us use here are decent knives. There are just widely varying preferences. But just because there haven't been pics posted on a particular knife going through it's paces doesn't mean that knife is junk. Nor does it mean that knife needs to be called to the colloseum for 'two knives enter, one knife leaves' cage match.

Speaking of Fallkniven, my F1 got rotated out of my regular user group long before I had a digital camera. I did put the baton to my F1 back in the day, but only against wood that could be slit half-way decently with the 4" blade. The knife worked for me.


Since we're talking about elusive and alleged working blades, here's a Marttiini 'novelty' Ranger 250 I got to use last fall. far from a true hard use blade, it'll do some actually work with a little finesse:
Ranger250003.jpg

Ranger250004.jpg

Ranger250005.jpg

My brother-in-law got that for me when he went to Finland for work last year. Although Marttiini labels it as a 'novelty,' it isn't too far off from their actual user knives. This one is just, dare I say, prettier.
 
Here is one example of a Bark River in action on another forum.

I understand that Marty Simon has abused his Fox River for a while and it remains his go-to knife.

One group of marines choose Bark River Gameskeeper after testing a number of knives. The result after some collaboration was the Bravo-1
 
"I also noticed that the BRKT blades that are going to be taking impact use such as the new Golok, Machete and Axe are all made from 1095 ?
1095 is that steel which most people complain about TOPS Knives using and yet BRKT have swapped from A2 onto 1095 for their hard use knives!"

Might this have something more to do with market forces? Isn't 1095 so cheap that I can get a bout 3 feet of it for around the price of four packets of cigarettes. Might the complaint about 1095 be justified if the raw material costs are so low one would expect a huge mark up to relate to the inclusion of some other expensive material, or design brilliance. I'm loathed to mention that specific company, but Micarta aint expensive, nor is 1095, and neither is drain paint. And they sure as hell aint making up the enormous shortfall with design. By comparing with BRKT on the basis of 1095 alone you aint comparing like things.
 
Thanks for those pics Hikeeba, pics like that are the response I was hoping for, I guess I'm just a sucker for seeing knives being used rather than just looking pretty. Your pics prove that a knife can still look pretty even when being used !!!!
Still no Fallkniven or BRKT action though.....C'mon guys get them out of those safes and put the first scratch on them, you will feel a whole lot better then !!!
 
Sharp Eye said:
Here is one example of a Bark River in action on another forum.

I understand that Marty Simon has abused his Fox River for a while and it remains his go-to knife.

One group of marines choose Bark River Gameskeeper after testing a number of knives. The result after some collaboration was the Bravo-1
Click to expand...

That's what I'm talking about, great stuff, thanks bro !!!!:D:thumbup:
 
Pit Dog,

I've owned a fallkniven f1, and an s-1 in the past..Both where great...I've done tons of battoning with the f1 and have carved detailed implements from hard wood with it..and it held up like a champ..in the hands of an fool anyting is breakable I suppose but these would pose a challenge to even the most inept of users, incidentally I traded both off not because I doubted them but just because they didn't "fit me all that well" I've owned 3 barkies 2 smaller ones and now the fox river..again I've had this for a few months and it is tough and simply the mid range fixed blade I've owned....I don't know about shippin things to Canada but if someone with a little more experience with that would chime in, and it seems simple enough I'd be happy to send it to you to try for a month or 2...You might want to consider this heavily however..because your wallet will never be the same once you've held a barkie.
 
Thanks for the offer Riley but I could'nt borrow anyone else's knife, just in case something did happen I'd feel so bad !!!
Good to hear that the Fallknivens held up though because I know that you are one who uses his knives regularly !!!
 
Here's some shots of my A1 getting all the abuse I'll ever throw at it.
It's well below freezing at this camp and the A1 has been on my pack all day,fresh out of the box.The wood is birch and quite frozen.I only got pictures of this one but there were a few that I split.
artictrip11.jpg

artictrip12.jpg

artictrip14.jpg

artictrip15.jpg

artictrip16-1.jpg

I was too bundled up to show that it was still shaving sharp.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top