Bamboo's (Ken Craggs) first knife review

Rick Lowe

Rick Lowe

Joined
Jan 6, 2005
Messages
1,331
Snagged this a couple of weeks ago and promised Ken I'd try and do a user review. First, the basics: Black bolsters over Black & Brown canvas over natural canvas w/ white pinstripes, Dual mosaics, 5 3/8” blade, 10 ¼” oal, SFT Tang, convex on 3/16” 01 steel. Very attractive combination and I expected it to be user friendly. The handle shape is very comfortable in the hand with great placement of the palm swells and general thickness. My hands are pretty big, especially width of palm, so I like a full handle and this fits just right. Little details are important to me and one to note here is the way the micarta has been shaped so that the textured layers are even on both slabs for a true custom look. The texture of the brown micarta is matched almost perfectly to the texture of the black bolsters. Well done and pretty darn cool. Here's a beauty shot before use.
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And a comparison photo with a Duke and Bushcrafter.
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Shots of the handle in my hand. Plenty of room, yet snug and no movement.
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The edge was super sharp out of the box and I felt no need to do anything prior to testing it. First off was the fire starter shavings (everybody has to do these). The wood is a block of kiln dried pecan that I use as a "whocker" when forging and it's hard. No problem getting nice thin shavings even though the blade is 3/16"thick.
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Next, since this size blade lends itself to chopping, I took one section off the bottom corner by chopping. Quick work and easy to do with the weight of the blade. This knife balances right at my first finger in the curve behind the guard and that made it very comfortable in this type of work. In all the cutting and chopping I never had a hint of a hot spot wanting to form. Very good feel in the hand while using.
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Here's a photo of the amount I ended up slicing off the pecan block.
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After all the slicing and chopping I took a good look at the edge and couldn't find any damage. It also felt just as sharp as at the beginning. Did take a minute to strop the edge before going inside.
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Now to the kitchen. Although this is a thicker blade, I wanted to show how it can stand up to kitchen duty. I thought to try a couple different items including a pretty ripe banana, tomato and an apple.
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Got into the banana first and you can see the thin slices that resulted. Next I peeled the apple and sliced and diced. Last was the tomato, some cilantro and chicken for tonight's enchiladas. The edge geometry and thickness of the blade is not designed for chef work, but it sure did a fine job on this stuff.
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My apologies for the poor photos, but I wanted to get this out for everybody to get a good look at what Ken can do. This knife will stay with me and I'll use it! I would have loved to have had it 40 some years ago while back packing in country. Good job Ken Cragg!
 
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That is a really sweet blade man!!! Nice review Rick...
We need to see more of these so I can get one!
 
Thank you Rick! I appreciate the review and all your support. I've got more on the way too....
 
Great review Rick! Great to see a review by the master leather bender himself :). And great design Ken, great to see youre putting out your own.

Sorry if I am missing it, but what is the knife called?
 
Rick,
Great review!
That is a beautiful knife you picked up.
Ken please please make more with bolsters and micartia;)
 
Great review Rick, thanks for sharing that, enjoyed it. Great looking functional blade, nicely done Ken.
 
catalystman80 said:
Great review Rick! Great to see a review by the master leather bender himself :). And great design Ken, great to see youre putting out your own.

Sorry if I am missing it, but what is the knife called?
Click to expand...

Thank you. I call that one my Field knife, the smaller version is the Scout. And I have one sized even smaller yet called the Ute.
 
Great looking knife, Ken! Great review Rick! You need to show us what kind of amazing leather art you put together for her!
 
Rick, thanks for that review. Glad to see Cragg's knife in such capable hands. Nice job of blending the activities outside and inside.

Ken, congrats to you sir. Can't wait to see what is next.
 
Nice Rick, thank you. Will be nice to see more of what Ken starts putting out there, looking very good so far.
 
Great review Rick! That is a very nice looking knife. Well done Ken!!!
 
Thanks for taking the time to do this review Rick. I appreciate the in hand photo as well as the comparison shot with the Bushcrafter and Duke. I like having a visual reference for scale. Ken's fit and finish work looks excellent too. Thank you both for your contributions.

Phil
 
Nice review Rick! Its pretty amazing to me to see everyone in the shop learning and making great knives!
 
Thanks to all for the kind comments. It was really fun doing this review although the photo work was daunting to say the least. These were just about the same testing I use when making a knife, so I felt comfortable in seeing how Ken's work handled them. As with any of the people working with Andy, I expected fit and finish to be at a high level and the understanding of the heat treat process complete. I wasn't disappointed in either area.

Phil, the "in hand" photos help me, too. It's nice to see a hand around the handle. For reference, I wear X-large gloves.

Andy your time and patience is being well rewarded with the work coming out of the shop, on all fronts!
 
Nice review Brother RLo.
Good for you BBoo, Maybe I'll get a close up at the Blade.
 
Nice review Rick. I have had the opportunity to handle Ken's work in person, and I like what I've seen. There is definitely one of Kens knives in my future :)
 
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