ASH1 (skinny) vs. Hell Razor

[DWRW]

Aside from the CBT, there seems to be a fair number of similarities between the Skinny Ash and Hell Razor.

They are both about .22" thick.

The Hell Razor is just a hair longer in the blade and most of the rest of the extra length is just in the larger/longer pommel.

The ASH has a taller blade.



I saved a picture that was posted a while pack with the two knives side by side or back to back.

I tinkered with my photo-editing software and was able to come up with a semi-transparent overlay of the two knives.

I think it is pretty cool.

I lined up the guards/talon holes:

Of any of you who own both, how do you compare (specifically) the Skinny Ash since it is more similar in thickness and theoretically weight - to the Hell Razor?

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[silverdragon33]

never held a skinny ASH. the closest i have is an ASH-1 SE which is nearly identical in weight.
as for the ASH SE the thickness of the actual blade is about the same because of the full height grind on the ASH is a little too much and it makes the blade skinnier than the tang.
balance wise the HR has slightly more forward heft, about 3/4" difference in the COG. i imagine the skinny ash would be comparable to the HR here because of the convex grind making it a meatier blade.
the handles make it so you can easily hold the HR way further back and therefore chop easier.
i prefer the HR. many others prefer the ASH, but i dig the bevels and overall design of the HR.

 

[rt014]

There's definitely a lot of overlap there

 

[madborderman07]

i have both, the HR is the 2008 comp grade one so i am not sure if that is identical to the normal HR, anyhow i like the HR much more and i havent even used it yet, it just feels better in the hand to me. It is still a toss up so far between the HR which is my only HR and my CG ash-1, to which is my favorite user.

 

[wired45]

Very Cool Pic . Thanks that kind of pic would help a lot of people see how close some of the knifes are .Keep up the great pics .Hellrazor for me :thumbup:

 

[DWRW]

Very Cool Pic . Thanks that kind of pic would help a lot of people see how close some of the knifes are .Keep up the great pics .Hellrazor for me :thumbup:

Thanks, I had to use somebody else's pics that had a perfectly perpendicular angle to be able to do this type of over-lay in a way that had any worthwhile value for comparison.

I have the exact Skinny Ash as shown, but I don't have a Hell Razor.

I have a handful of pieces of INFI, but none that have relative comparison values.

I wish I had more INFI that I could take pics of for comparison purposes. But, I have to rely on the other Hogs to post pics I can work with.

I think I like my Skinny Ash pretty well, but I would love to have a satin Mud Razor.

I am hoping Jerry would bring the Mud Razors back again for $247 again. :thumbup: :thumbup:

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[Rooster81]

Anyone else have both blades? I'm thinking of getting one or the other. It seems they'd perform equally well, the differences coming down to personal preference of things like the handle / blade style / balance.

 

[silverdragon33]

actually they are both 3/16" thick. the HR has a slightly more forward balance and a handle you can choke back on more comfortably, making it more suited to light chopping. they're both great blades, but I think the HR is more versatile.

 

[adrock1978]

Might be a dumb question, but are both photos scaled properly, based on the known lengths? I'm an architect. I can't help it.

 

[lsheldon]

Might be a dumb question, but are both photos scaled properly, based on the known lengths? I'm an architect. I can't help it.

That is just what I was thinking too. And I'm no architect (unless I go out on Friday night, then I'm an architect, or a doctor, and sometimes a fireman).

 

[AZTimT]

actually they are both 3/16" thick. the HR has a slightly more forward balance and a handle you can choke back on more comfortably, making it more suited to light chopping. they're both great blades, but I think the HR is more versatile.

Yup, both the Skinny ASH and the Hell Razor are a convex saber ground .187 under any coating they might have, but one has CBT & fuller. Both of these blades are around 14.5 oz depending on handle material.

You can't really go wrong with either of them so get whichever one you like the looks of better.

The ASH LE/SE Full flat grind is the one that is .22 just like the SFNO. I think of the HR as a Skinny SFNO with more of a spear point and a swedge and a tad less belly at about a 4 oz weight savings. Same handle, similar shape, less INFI and plenty strong.

Might be a dumb question, but are both photos scaled properly, based on the known lengths? I'm an architect. I can't help it.

It's close, but not quite. The HR blade is a full .50 inch longer than the Skinny ASH when stacked choil on choil and the difference is more visible in person but hard to capture with camera angles.

The overlying areas of the two blades in that image remind me a little bit of the Tank Buster.

The thumb ramps on the HR spine are very comfortable and the chopping balance gets better if you grind the trident down a bit since there is a lot of extra metal just hanging out there to catch on stuff. Mine is a work in progress that may wind up looking like a Marco Bolo with the giant EDC handle shape before I'm done.

 

[Rooster81]

Excellent info Mr. AZTimT. That looks like a SAR 6 on the top, correct? Is that shorter than the HR? Also, what are the two blades on the right and left sides with the blue handles?

Thanks

 

[BlackNinja]

Great picture, thanks for sharing! :thumbup:

I have never owned an ASH of any kind (only SH I’ve ever owned is a SH-E) but I did own a HR and loved it – it’s one of my favorite models.

 

[AZTimT]

Excellent info Mr. AZTimT. That looks like a SAR 6 on the top, correct? Is that shorter than the HR? Also, what are the two blades on the right and left sides with the blue handles?

Thanks

Yes, that is a SAR 6 on the top and both it and the Hell Razor have the same length blade from talon hole to tip but the HR is longer overall due to the long trident skull crusher which mine no longer has. Right now they are the same length exactly.

The blade on the right is an Satin Jack Tac (SJTac) that was sent in to Busse to be stripped then given a competition finish and topped off with the blue/black handles. On the left is a Tank Buster the way it was ordered from Busse back when they were on the site.

Great picture, thanks for sharing! :thumbup:

I have never owned an ASH of any kind (only SH I’ve ever owned is a SH-E) but I did own a HR and loved it – it’s one of my favorite models.

No problem, and yes, the Hell Razor is a sweet one for sure. The beauty of the ASH is that it locks your hand in really well without a lanyard so that you don't have to worry about it slipping out of your hand very easily. In other words, it is a very good one to grab if you are in a big hurry.

 

[Rooster81]

trident skull crusher

Awesome

 

[Rooster81]

Yes, that is a SAR 6 on the top and both it and the Hell Razor have the same length blade

Thanks. According to the Busse sight the SAR 6 blade is 6 1/4 inches. I assumed that meant the tip to the handle (including choil), but they must mean cutting edge. I was going to ask you to compare the SAR 6 to the ASH and HR, but then found your SAR 6 review and it appears the SAR 6 is your favorite medium blade.

 

[AZTimT]

Thanks. According to the Busse sight the SAR 6 blade is 6 1/4 inches. I assumed that meant the tip to the handle (including choil), but they must mean cutting edge. I was going to ask you to compare the SAR 6 to the ASH and HR, but then found your SAR 6 review and it appears the SAR 6 is your favorite medium blade.

The measurement thing can be a little weird.

The SAR6 is my favorite, but smaller hands prefer different handles. This quote from a post in the ASH vs SFNO thread has pics of hand size comparison along with the associated model preference by handle feel.

LightGuy, since you specifically asked about comfort of handles and not performance I enlisted my fiancee to help out with this.

First, you did not mention whether your BATac was standard or mags and whether it was thin .187 or thick .27 but both of us prefer the feel of standard handles on the thinner blade in that handle shape so maybe that may help you a bit.

Next, I took almost all of my midsized blades and had her rate them with her small hands and then I rated them with my XXL hands strictly by the feel of the handles and not by user preference. We don't have access to any medium size hands here or I would have included that info. Here are also a couple of size comparison shots for you to get an idea of hand size differences followed by handle preference.

Hers vs mine on standard 8 1/2 x 11" printer paper:

Hers vs mine holding a 1911 (something you could easily do at a gun shop if you don't have one):

Her hand on a BOSS Jack vs mine (something you said you have):

Her order of preference vs mine:

What I have deduced from this little test is that a mag handled ASH1 will feel better across the board then a SFNO of either standard or mag handles, but a hand smoothed mag SFNO may feel just as good. A hand smoothed mag ASH1 should feel the best of all. You can always sand down your handles a bit to make them fit your hand better as you see with the hell razor in the middle which made it feel better than the machined mag SFNO to both of our hands. Neither one of us liked the feel of standard handles on the two flat ground SFNO's I have previously sold.

I hope this helps with your question about the handles a bit, but you may actually have to hold both to know for sure. I have never had a problem with pinky bite on an ASH, just with a standard handled snake cgfbm. You can sand sharp spots down if you need to.

 

[d762nato]

Daauuum! Tim you've got some pretty good size meathooks there and your pretty furry too.

 

[Rooster81]

It's like an optical illusion, the gun and knives look so much bigger in her hands.

Much appreciated info.