- Joined
- Apr 28, 2012
- Messages
- 100
Great review and shots. Those pics are both satisfying and frustrating; the endless itch.
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The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
Price is$300$250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.
Ask me about perfection, I'll show you my OPK!
- Thread starter kidcongo
- Start date
I am a huge fan of hollow handles, and have used a Jereboam for five years now. Besides my Randall Model 12, it is by far the knife I have the most heavily used. I re-coated mine in a green Cerakoat after the finish wore off.
I am not a fan of this knife for several reasons:
-It seems very slim and heavy for the 8.9" blade size: It actually weights slightly more than the 10" Lile Mission below it (!), which gives you an idea of its density... It is also balanced only 1/4" into the blade to the Lile's 3/4".
-The chopping performance is compromised by the narrow blade: It chops less than half as well as the Lile Mission, and barely over half as well the Randall Model 12:
-The chopping performance is further compromised by the narrower handle radius between thumb and forefinger, near the guard: A traditional fully cylindrical handle is much better here because, without this reduced radius near the guard, the knife sinks backwards into the hand much less, and so transmits more of the weight of the arm into the chop: Note the superb performance of the Lile Mission here, despite the Randall Model 12 being 20 ounces to its 16.9(!):
Because of how the narrow blade combines with the low sabre grind, the Chris Reeves has a tendency to hit the sides of a deep V cut, and will then viciously glance outward: It requires a wider V cut or it can be dangerous... The thinning of the handle near the guard seems to worsen this bouncing tendency...
-The CR edge bevel base thickness is 0.040" on my Jereboam, growing worse near the tip: Angle per side was no better than 18 degrees or so, and around 25 on the front third, and maybe even 35 near the tip. The edge was re-ground to be sharper near the tip, but I still consider it barely adequate... The Lile Mission's edge was 0.028", the Randall Model 12 and my Model 18 being both 0.020": This makes both the Randalls and the Lile far better slicers, and also better choppers. To be fair another Lile, a Sly II that I have, had to be re-ground from an initial 0.040" to a more useable 0.020" (initial workmanship was poor on that one, with wavy uneven surfaces), but the flat grind made its blade easier to re-grind than the hollow grind of the CR.
-The CR tube walls are nearly 1/8" thick, and this is way too strong and heavy, resulting in a very narrow and deep compartment that is inefficient compared to other hollow handles. The large inner step created by the cap's hugely long threading also makes filling the compartment very inefficient, this cap "step" pushing the content deeper as you screw the cap shut: Most other hollow handles do not have these disadvantages, but admittedly the Andrew Clifford that I have has even less internal space... The Liles have the largest inner space, and the Model 18 has a larger diameter, if less depth. Diameter seems much more helpful than depth for storing items...
-The edge holding of the A-2 carbon steel seems average, though it does seem less rust prone than Randall's 0-1, whose edge seems to dull just sitting in the sheath a few months... Stainless is always superior for these kinds of knives.
-Good points: The Jereboam is straight and precisely ground (though the secondary grind lines are not symmetrical). The sheath is very good. The knurled grip is absolutely superior, even if the handle shape is less efficient for chopping than a true tube handle.
-Bad points: It feels very heavy for the offered blade width/length, very dull on the front third of the edge, despite a finely applied initial edge.
I'll put it this way: The knife feels like a lifeless chunk, but I can't really explain the feeling beyond that.
The extra strength offered by the one-piece concept, over separate tube hollow handles, is to me illusory...: It likely does not make the blade itself stronger under batoning, and the thick one-piece handle walls may in fact keep the vibrations into the blade, possibly making the blade more likely to snap... The handle cannot really be wrapped with useful cordage in the way it is done on other, thinner wall tube handles. Also, true tube handles are fatter where it matters, near the guard, for much more efficient chopping use.
One thing that affects many more recent hollow handles is an obsessive overbuilding of the handle connection, resulting in too small compartments and an unnecessarily high handle weight. The CR line falls along these lines, while the Liles are correctly done in my view...
For a much lower price than a Lile, one of the most practical of the breed that I know of is the Andrew Clifford Sly II: It does, unfortunately, need to have its 0.040" edge thinned to 0.020" (easy to do by most pros), and the saw is useless for a simple lack of teeth top front dipping(!)...
The sheath is really its strongest, and most amazing, selling point: It is extraordinarily well-made, better than any other leather sheath you will ever see...: The tight interlocking feature of the sheath with the guard means the blade is fully stabilized without rubbing inside the sheath...: This means that even a dirty and contaminated blade can be put back into the sheath and will have the space all around itself to not be scratched or damaged at all by foreign particles, a truly unique quality backed by leather that is out of this world in thickness and quality...
Unfortunately it suffers from the same current obsession with overbuilt handle strength... But the sheath alone is worth the price of admission:
The knurled ACK handle is another big plus, because unlike the Reeves, the handle it is intended to accept cord on the outside (I wrapped 14' of 425 lbs cord), and yet the handle does not lose functionality if you remove the cord. The sheath, handle and 9.5" blade design (minus saw) really represents to me the most the concept can offer, although the "Mission" out-chops it. Too bad the ACK edge is a little on the thick side initially... The Lile Mission is very surprising in performance (and, unlike most, the Lile sawback works very well), while the Randall Model 18 has the thinnest initial edge: Avoid the useless sawback and the Randall becomes an even better choice. However, even its excellent sheath can't compare to the ACK sheath...
Gaston
I am not a fan of this knife for several reasons:
-It seems very slim and heavy for the 8.9" blade size: It actually weights slightly more than the 10" Lile Mission below it (!), which gives you an idea of its density... It is also balanced only 1/4" into the blade to the Lile's 3/4".
-The chopping performance is compromised by the narrow blade: It chops less than half as well as the Lile Mission, and barely over half as well the Randall Model 12:
-The chopping performance is further compromised by the narrower handle radius between thumb and forefinger, near the guard: A traditional fully cylindrical handle is much better here because, without this reduced radius near the guard, the knife sinks backwards into the hand much less, and so transmits more of the weight of the arm into the chop: Note the superb performance of the Lile Mission here, despite the Randall Model 12 being 20 ounces to its 16.9(!):
Because of how the narrow blade combines with the low sabre grind, the Chris Reeves has a tendency to hit the sides of a deep V cut, and will then viciously glance outward: It requires a wider V cut or it can be dangerous... The thinning of the handle near the guard seems to worsen this bouncing tendency...
-The CR edge bevel base thickness is 0.040" on my Jereboam, growing worse near the tip: Angle per side was no better than 18 degrees or so, and around 25 on the front third, and maybe even 35 near the tip. The edge was re-ground to be sharper near the tip, but I still consider it barely adequate... The Lile Mission's edge was 0.028", the Randall Model 12 and my Model 18 being both 0.020": This makes both the Randalls and the Lile far better slicers, and also better choppers. To be fair another Lile, a Sly II that I have, had to be re-ground from an initial 0.040" to a more useable 0.020" (initial workmanship was poor on that one, with wavy uneven surfaces), but the flat grind made its blade easier to re-grind than the hollow grind of the CR.
-The CR tube walls are nearly 1/8" thick, and this is way too strong and heavy, resulting in a very narrow and deep compartment that is inefficient compared to other hollow handles. The large inner step created by the cap's hugely long threading also makes filling the compartment very inefficient, this cap "step" pushing the content deeper as you screw the cap shut: Most other hollow handles do not have these disadvantages, but admittedly the Andrew Clifford that I have has even less internal space... The Liles have the largest inner space, and the Model 18 has a larger diameter, if less depth. Diameter seems much more helpful than depth for storing items...
-The edge holding of the A-2 carbon steel seems average, though it does seem less rust prone than Randall's 0-1, whose edge seems to dull just sitting in the sheath a few months... Stainless is always superior for these kinds of knives.
-Good points: The Jereboam is straight and precisely ground (though the secondary grind lines are not symmetrical). The sheath is very good. The knurled grip is absolutely superior, even if the handle shape is less efficient for chopping than a true tube handle.
-Bad points: It feels very heavy for the offered blade width/length, very dull on the front third of the edge, despite a finely applied initial edge.
I'll put it this way: The knife feels like a lifeless chunk, but I can't really explain the feeling beyond that.
The extra strength offered by the one-piece concept, over separate tube hollow handles, is to me illusory...: It likely does not make the blade itself stronger under batoning, and the thick one-piece handle walls may in fact keep the vibrations into the blade, possibly making the blade more likely to snap... The handle cannot really be wrapped with useful cordage in the way it is done on other, thinner wall tube handles. Also, true tube handles are fatter where it matters, near the guard, for much more efficient chopping use.
One thing that affects many more recent hollow handles is an obsessive overbuilding of the handle connection, resulting in too small compartments and an unnecessarily high handle weight. The CR line falls along these lines, while the Liles are correctly done in my view...
For a much lower price than a Lile, one of the most practical of the breed that I know of is the Andrew Clifford Sly II: It does, unfortunately, need to have its 0.040" edge thinned to 0.020" (easy to do by most pros), and the saw is useless for a simple lack of teeth top front dipping(!)...
The sheath is really its strongest, and most amazing, selling point: It is extraordinarily well-made, better than any other leather sheath you will ever see...: The tight interlocking feature of the sheath with the guard means the blade is fully stabilized without rubbing inside the sheath...: This means that even a dirty and contaminated blade can be put back into the sheath and will have the space all around itself to not be scratched or damaged at all by foreign particles, a truly unique quality backed by leather that is out of this world in thickness and quality...
Unfortunately it suffers from the same current obsession with overbuilt handle strength... But the sheath alone is worth the price of admission:
The knurled ACK handle is another big plus, because unlike the Reeves, the handle it is intended to accept cord on the outside (I wrapped 14' of 425 lbs cord), and yet the handle does not lose functionality if you remove the cord. The sheath, handle and 9.5" blade design (minus saw) really represents to me the most the concept can offer, although the "Mission" out-chops it. Too bad the ACK edge is a little on the thick side initially... The Lile Mission is very surprising in performance (and, unlike most, the Lile sawback works very well), while the Randall Model 18 has the thinnest initial edge: Avoid the useless sawback and the Randall becomes an even better choice. However, even its excellent sheath can't compare to the ACK sheath...
Gaston
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- Joined
- Jan 12, 2013
- Messages
- 3,195
Cody, gave in and got the Mountaineer 1. Thanks for the tip and advice.
***Seller's photo. I got the 2nd knife from the right.
Cool. Looks like a beaut! Hopefully you won't chuck it straight into the trash after Gaston444's scathing review of his OPK Jereboam.....ouch! Post pics when it shows up!
- Joined
- Apr 27, 2015
- Messages
- 537
Cody, gave in and got the Mountaineer 1. Thanks for the tip and advice.
***Seller's photo. I got the 2nd knife from the right.
Nice snag Zernan! Shoot me a pm when you're ready to let it go
- Joined
- Sep 16, 2014
- Messages
- 2,043
Hell naw! Lol. I tend to use my stuff and decide whether I like it or not. [emoji16]
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2014
- Messages
- 51
I am fortunate to have acquired a Project I and a Shadow IV over the years. I would like to add a Sable IV some day...
Well whatever bad I said about the Chris Reeve Jereboam, I have to correct what I said about the Andrew Clifford being a practical knife (even if it does look that way)...: Under mild chopping use, the edge, in less than ten strokes, curls up like soft rubber, and the dented apex turns around and points all the way up 180 degrees to the spine... In the same wood a Randall Model 12 shows no damage in a thousand strokes...
I did take some incredible pictures that I'll upload later, as my camera is broken, but the ACK's peformance is by far the most abysmal I have ever experienced with any knife, even compared to the disastrous Neeley SA9...: There were questionable delays in the purchase (an Ebay auction), and I suspect the knife was hurriedly made while I waited on an auction I had won for a non-existing knife: I got it a good five weeks after I won the auction, so over a month late...: The seller was the maker's nephew, and started making up a series of strange excuses right out of the gate, as soon as I won, like the paper of the authenticity certificate being cheap and needing to be re-printed(!)...
I suspect that to hurry things up the knife was not even hardened, as the performance was that of soft metal...
Gaston
P.S. I should mention that his nephew on Ebay goes by the name "Sonnerboomer", and being overly patient I did not give him negative feedback, which is still 100% positive on Ebay for this guy: I only found out about the unhardened edge months later, and given he is the maker's nephew (as acknowledged by the maker himself on his own site) I consider him responsible for the edge performance, and would give him negative feedback on the knife, if only because he claimed it would be an old serial numbered version, and instead I got a more recent un-numbered version, which is very suspicious, even though I did not initially care about this.
The number of delay excuses went like this:
1-Paper of authenticity certificate not "good enough": Offers to wait to have it re-printed (I declined).
2-Missing sharpening rod (already stated in the ad): Offers to wait to get one for me: I had my own and declined.
3-No response for a week, then "Wife" says Sonnerboomer is out on a trip...
4-Sonnerboomer claims package was sent to the wrong address, but that it is returning to be sent out again(!!!)
That was about one excuses per week before I got a tracking number, and one week later the knife, which looked good.
The knife had no serial number and had an edge too soft to cut cheese, but I only found this out months later.
That about sums it up.
As a side note, the maker jacked up the knife's price (Sly II) from $800 to over $1300 US, and says he is considering "only serious offers".
Gaston
I did take some incredible pictures that I'll upload later, as my camera is broken, but the ACK's peformance is by far the most abysmal I have ever experienced with any knife, even compared to the disastrous Neeley SA9...: There were questionable delays in the purchase (an Ebay auction), and I suspect the knife was hurriedly made while I waited on an auction I had won for a non-existing knife: I got it a good five weeks after I won the auction, so over a month late...: The seller was the maker's nephew, and started making up a series of strange excuses right out of the gate, as soon as I won, like the paper of the authenticity certificate being cheap and needing to be re-printed(!)...
I suspect that to hurry things up the knife was not even hardened, as the performance was that of soft metal...
Gaston
P.S. I should mention that his nephew on Ebay goes by the name "Sonnerboomer", and being overly patient I did not give him negative feedback, which is still 100% positive on Ebay for this guy: I only found out about the unhardened edge months later, and given he is the maker's nephew (as acknowledged by the maker himself on his own site) I consider him responsible for the edge performance, and would give him negative feedback on the knife, if only because he claimed it would be an old serial numbered version, and instead I got a more recent un-numbered version, which is very suspicious, even though I did not initially care about this.
The number of delay excuses went like this:
1-Paper of authenticity certificate not "good enough": Offers to wait to have it re-printed (I declined).
2-Missing sharpening rod (already stated in the ad): Offers to wait to get one for me: I had my own and declined.
3-No response for a week, then "Wife" says Sonnerboomer is out on a trip...
4-Sonnerboomer claims package was sent to the wrong address, but that it is returning to be sent out again(!!!)
That was about one excuses per week before I got a tracking number, and one week later the knife, which looked good.
The knife had no serial number and had an edge too soft to cut cheese, but I only found this out months later.
That about sums it up.
As a side note, the maker jacked up the knife's price (Sly II) from $800 to over $1300 US, and says he is considering "only serious offers".
Gaston
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- Joined
- Jan 12, 2013
- Messages
- 3,195
Well......photobucket kinda ruins this old thread with their stupid watermark. I’m never going to give them any money, so C’est la Vie.
Anyways..........I have used this little tank of a knife a tonne. It’s showing it’s age, but the gun coat is surprisingly durable. I’ve even batonned a pile of wood with this thing. It sharpens up so nicely, and edge holding of the A2 steel is fantastic. It’s really an achievement that CRK could make the complex machining of these one-piece knives happen, AND provide a resilient edge with great toughness and edge retention.
Lately.......it’s mostly my “breakfast knife”. Yeah I know, high quality kitchen knives are great and readily available, but we all know the guilty pleasure of meal-prep with a nice CRK, so give me this. This knife makes quick work of an onion, and can take the top right off an eggshell, with a well timed swing of the right pressure.
That is my morning challenge each day as I wake up for work. Top two eggs and pour them into the pan with no mess and no shell in the pan. The Mountaineer 1 has the perfect weight for this. It is also very easy to clean up and keep sanitary. It actually sits on my countertop everyday. My wife has come to accept its presence in the kitchen as “our normal”.
Anyways.......love all the flavours of CRK. This company makes some very solid products that have brought me a lot of joy, and proven to be exceedingly functional and durable.
Today’s onion:
Anyways..........I have used this little tank of a knife a tonne. It’s showing it’s age, but the gun coat is surprisingly durable. I’ve even batonned a pile of wood with this thing. It sharpens up so nicely, and edge holding of the A2 steel is fantastic. It’s really an achievement that CRK could make the complex machining of these one-piece knives happen, AND provide a resilient edge with great toughness and edge retention.
Lately.......it’s mostly my “breakfast knife”. Yeah I know, high quality kitchen knives are great and readily available, but we all know the guilty pleasure of meal-prep with a nice CRK, so give me this. This knife makes quick work of an onion, and can take the top right off an eggshell, with a well timed swing of the right pressure.
That is my morning challenge each day as I wake up for work. Top two eggs and pour them into the pan with no mess and no shell in the pan. The Mountaineer 1 has the perfect weight for this. It is also very easy to clean up and keep sanitary. It actually sits on my countertop everyday. My wife has come to accept its presence in the kitchen as “our normal”.
Anyways.......love all the flavours of CRK. This company makes some very solid products that have brought me a lot of joy, and proven to be exceedingly functional and durable.
Today’s onion:
- Joined
- Jan 12, 2013
- Messages
- 3,195
Reviving an old thread somewhat ruined by the old Photobucket collapse. Anyways. I hiked the Nootka Trail on remote Nootka Island, off the coast of Vancouver Island, which is itself off the coast of British Columbia. I took my OPK Mountaineer as my only knife, as there were five of us in the group and I didn’t need a back-up. Weight in the backpack was important as we flew into the lagoon at the north end of the island to start our hike, and we were only alllowed so much weight in the floatplane. Also, it’s a reasonably strenuous hike, so every ounce counts.
The knife performed well again. It’s been a great blade. The sheath sucks and if I were to bring this knife again it would be in a different sheath. The main issue is the sheath puts the hilt of the knife above the belt line, where it interferes with the backpack. I ended up having to carry the knife inside my pack after realizing this a little late.
Snapped a few pictures of the knife along the way.
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