Last night a friend and I went to the beach for a little fire, I decided to take my BA-E along for a little field testing.
The first thing to do was shave some Maya wood to start the fire. Nice thin curly shavings, no problem. Then some kindling. This was kinda interesting as it was all mahogony. See, I used to be a professional woodworking and I'm in the process of packing for a move. So I've got all these off-cuts that I really can't cart around with me. So I figure if they're gonna get burned it's gonna be by me.
The BA-E split up a half dozen boards with ease. Too much in fact. I foolishly didn't but one of the boards under the one's I was splitting and you guessed it - I hit a rock. The damage was minimal, some rolling and denting, possibly one chip. Maximum depth was approximately 0.3 mm.
I continued to use the BA-E to make four fuzz-sticks. It sliced up the mahogony beautifully and left the kind of shine on the wood that my hand-planes do. Hmmm...perhaps I should add a Busse to my woodworking tools...
Unfortunately I also used my BA-E (unintentionally) to scare the williy's out of someone. While watching the embers of the fire glow in the night (BTW, I discovered that mahogony burns so hot that the coals glow with a blue flame for hours after the main fire is out. It was so hot we couldn't touch any of the rock that made up the fire ring!) a couple came along and asked if they could warm themselves by the fire. While talking there he commented on what a great fire I had. I mentioned that I thought it was pretty good considering I started it with spark and tinder rather than matches and paper. He asked me how I did that so I got my Blastmatch out of my jacket pocket and a scrap of Maya wood. Then without really thinking about it I reached under my sweater and took hold of my BA-E (which, BTW, lives in an absolutely wonderful kydex sheath made for my by Normark), pulled it out and shaved off some Maya and popped it back in the sheath.
I didn't really notice any reaction but my friend told me an interesting tale. She said that all of a sudden my hand went under my sweater, there was a "shreek" as I drew the knife, then suddenly I had a knife in my hand and all you could see was the edge reflecting the light from the coals and then as quick as it appeared it was gone again.
The fellow apparently jumped back two feet, grapped his companian to protect her and said "Did you see that knife!?" My friend, choking on her laughter, said "Oh, you finally noticed the knife?" Well they didn't stay long after that, in fact they quickly thanked up for sharing the heat of the fire and then they were on their way.
I don't like to scare people with my knives, it makes life hard for all of us knifenuts. But I gotta tell ya, I've been laughing about it all night. I mean, I'm on a beach in a rural area, a knife is not that uncommon. And the BA-E is not exactly a big knife. Good thing I wasn't wearing my Battle Mistress!!
Well, to end my tale I need to tell you about touching the blade up. When we got back to my car I looked at the edge in the light, not too much damage, I could easily fix it on my EdgePro. Was it still sharp? Every part of the knife would shave. Now I know I didn't really make the knife work, but still...
When I got home I decided to see what it would take to get the dings and what-have-you out of the blade using just field equipment. I steeled the blade a few times, then stroked it about a dozen times on a medium ceramic. Then stropped it four or five times. Most of the damage was gone, certainly it was perfect working condition. Today I'll take out that little ding, but it's nice to know that due to the nature of INFI it's quite easy to repear most damage in the field.
Now if only my Mr. Mojo would get here!
The first thing to do was shave some Maya wood to start the fire. Nice thin curly shavings, no problem. Then some kindling. This was kinda interesting as it was all mahogony. See, I used to be a professional woodworking and I'm in the process of packing for a move. So I've got all these off-cuts that I really can't cart around with me. So I figure if they're gonna get burned it's gonna be by me.
The BA-E split up a half dozen boards with ease. Too much in fact. I foolishly didn't but one of the boards under the one's I was splitting and you guessed it - I hit a rock. The damage was minimal, some rolling and denting, possibly one chip. Maximum depth was approximately 0.3 mm.
I continued to use the BA-E to make four fuzz-sticks. It sliced up the mahogony beautifully and left the kind of shine on the wood that my hand-planes do. Hmmm...perhaps I should add a Busse to my woodworking tools...
Unfortunately I also used my BA-E (unintentionally) to scare the williy's out of someone. While watching the embers of the fire glow in the night (BTW, I discovered that mahogony burns so hot that the coals glow with a blue flame for hours after the main fire is out. It was so hot we couldn't touch any of the rock that made up the fire ring!) a couple came along and asked if they could warm themselves by the fire. While talking there he commented on what a great fire I had. I mentioned that I thought it was pretty good considering I started it with spark and tinder rather than matches and paper. He asked me how I did that so I got my Blastmatch out of my jacket pocket and a scrap of Maya wood. Then without really thinking about it I reached under my sweater and took hold of my BA-E (which, BTW, lives in an absolutely wonderful kydex sheath made for my by Normark), pulled it out and shaved off some Maya and popped it back in the sheath.
I didn't really notice any reaction but my friend told me an interesting tale. She said that all of a sudden my hand went under my sweater, there was a "shreek" as I drew the knife, then suddenly I had a knife in my hand and all you could see was the edge reflecting the light from the coals and then as quick as it appeared it was gone again.
The fellow apparently jumped back two feet, grapped his companian to protect her and said "Did you see that knife!?" My friend, choking on her laughter, said "Oh, you finally noticed the knife?" Well they didn't stay long after that, in fact they quickly thanked up for sharing the heat of the fire and then they were on their way.
I don't like to scare people with my knives, it makes life hard for all of us knifenuts. But I gotta tell ya, I've been laughing about it all night. I mean, I'm on a beach in a rural area, a knife is not that uncommon. And the BA-E is not exactly a big knife. Good thing I wasn't wearing my Battle Mistress!!
Well, to end my tale I need to tell you about touching the blade up. When we got back to my car I looked at the edge in the light, not too much damage, I could easily fix it on my EdgePro. Was it still sharp? Every part of the knife would shave. Now I know I didn't really make the knife work, but still...
When I got home I decided to see what it would take to get the dings and what-have-you out of the blade using just field equipment. I steeled the blade a few times, then stroked it about a dozen times on a medium ceramic. Then stropped it four or five times. Most of the damage was gone, certainly it was perfect working condition. Today I'll take out that little ding, but it's nice to know that due to the nature of INFI it's quite easy to repear most damage in the field.
Now if only my Mr. Mojo would get here!
