Batoning, prying, and cracking...general knife abuse

Daniel L said:
mistwalker - do you use the knives without gloves? If so, how do you find the exposed tang on the top of the handle?

I've noticed a trend for makers to do this - the BM Nimravus, CRK Green Beret, Strider - and to me its a "negative" that's been turned in to a "feature". They talk about that it is easier to index the edge because you can feel the spine. It also happens to mean you can be slack on tolerances and finish since now the tang and handle scales do not need to be flush!

I've handled a few exposed tang knives and found them plain uncomfortable... interested to hear your experienecs.
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In full agreement here.:thumbup:
 
Most of the knives with exposed tangs where the ability to easily index the knife in the hand is used as a marketing tool are classified as "tactical" knives (just as these are) as this is a good thing in the heat of combat. Any soldier who goes on patrol bare handed is taking a big chance, and a major injury risk. Most survival knives are going to be slanted to the military and S&R community for they are much more likely to find themselves in a "survival" situation. I prefer an exposed tang because that usualy means a true "full" tang which is generaly a stronger knife that will take abuse, but I agree that I'd rather not have have the tang protrude above the handle scales for bush work.

To answer your question, no I did not wear gloves, I very seldom do. Yes the protruding tang is a bit uncomfortable on the hand. However I have come to accept that most of the time any knife that is going to be this tough is going to have that and I can rehandle these knives if needs be.

While all of the handle scales on these knives is G-10 I like the scales on the SW4 (the drop point) best, they are much more comfortable for working with.
 
mistwalker said:
This is one of three new S&W designs that will be in the upcomming 2009 catalog that I have been sent for and testing and reviewing by Morgan Taylor of Taylor brands. ...
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Based on this statement and your subsequent shilling of other Taylor brand knives, I must wonder what exactly is the nature of your relationship with that company?
 
markksr said:
Based on this statement and your subsequent shilling of other Taylor brand knives, I must wonder what exactly is the nature of your relationship with that company?
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Well…I have no real relationship with Taylor LLC other than that of a pleased and inquisitive customer who wrote to tell them so and to ask some questions. I wanted to know what kind of steel was used, and if they had any intentions of making a shorter version or other variations of the extreme survival knife because, while the E,S. is definitely a tough as nails knife, a 7.5 inch blade is a bit much for EDC carry doing research in the bush. Also that as tough as this knife was a shorter one would in my opinion make for an even stronger knife by allowing less leverage on the blade when prying or digging which I tend to do a lot of in the field. I walk for miles in the bush and I like to limit how much I take in as I am always bringing things back out for use or study back at camp or back home. I like having a shorter stout knife that has a thicker than usual blade which gives it the weight to chop like a larger knife. For the last several years my EDC fixed blade has been and still is my SOG Bowie which is as always right here beside me. Morgan Taylor wrote me to say thanks for my response. In the return email I mentioned that I had done a short review on the E.S. on a wilderness site that I write on to share what I had learned about it with some friends. He , I assume, read what I had written, and then wrote back telling me of some new knives coming out with shorter thicker blades and asked if I’d be interested in checking them out in the field and giving him some feed back. Naturally I said of course. The demonstration shown in this thread was done with one of them yes, but is by far no knife review. The material in this thread is given as a demonstration of useable, and possibly even life saving wilderness skills which mentions specific attributes of the type knife needed and attributes of the knife used. Those attributes mentioned would apply to any knife of similar make-up. This just happens to be the one I used at the time. If you are interested in a review of this knife I will go ahead and tell you now as I have already told Mr. Taylor. That the blade design is very tough and good for rough work but the clearance holes in the tang and G-10 handle scales are a bit over-sized causing the handle scales to prematurely loosen. And that the edge retention of the 440 stainless wasn’t as good as the 1095 used on the Schrade knife I had been testing for possible future carry in emergency kits. Now having said this it is only fair to also add that I did beat the heck out of just the very tip of that knife while pushing on the handle with all the weight of my 6”-2” 260 pound body. A lot of more costly knives would have fared no better. And in response to my input, Mr. Taylor said he would see what could be done to remedy these problems. I am still evaluating the knife but it’s really not for me as an EDC. But it is a damned good beater blade to keep around.

Just to mention one fact. I own SOG knives and a CRK. I have written to both in the past and waited over a week just to get a reply from some lower ranking desk jockey that actually knew little about the questions I was asking that never got answered to my satisfaction. It took till the next day to get a reply to my letter to Schrade.

By the way, I don't intend to argue semantics with the maturity challenged but I'm not on Taylor LLC's payroll (I'll be sure to let you know if that changes) and I mention the good and the bad as I personally see it, and in any case the plural doesn't apply.
 
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Even if you're not on their cash payroll, if you are getting knives in return for "product placement", that is, featuring them in reviews to bring the brand name before the public, you are shilling.

That's s shame, because it lowers your standing in this community severely, and the reviews themselves were interesting and well illustrated.

When someone reviews a knife because the model is in current demand or others have asked if anyone using one can give them information on it, that is an unbiased, unpaid review. Yours do not seem to fall into this category.
 
markksr said:
Please see this post for further proof of this shill's attempted lies... http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6503020&postcount=149
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Markksr....


I have known Mistwalker for a couple years now and he is no shill I can assure you...

He does reviews of every piece of kit he gets. He bought the CRK look alike out of curiosity and wrote the company out of curiosity aswell. The owner replied and he was excited about it. (I have the email forwards) Mist was happy to recieve the additional knives to test out.

Esav .....
You may be right about this potentially being shilling........ but its purely an innocent mistake on Mist's end. I am Mod at a few sites he regulars.... I know his forum history well.

Please do not lump him into this category.....

It would be a shame to see him banned for a misunderstanding....


Rick
 
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This guy doesn't meet my personal definition of a shill at all. I guess maybe a little more disclosure would have been good, but just by reading his posts I thought it was pretty clear what the approximate relationship was...more than just a random customer, less than an employee. It turns out the connection was even looser than I thought and that might have been good to know right off the bat...

But overall I think the information he's provided more than balances out what in this case I believe to be a pretty minor oversight.

If he had a long term relationship with Schrade I would feel differently, but as it is I just appreciate both the clear, well-thought out reviews he's done and while I understand the nervousness some people here might have about potential shilling, I'd rather see this guy getting the benefit of the doubt.

Mistwalker, thanks for your great reviews; I hope you don't let the somewhat mistrustful guys around here prevent you from continuing to post.

But I also hope you don't judge them too harshly; they might be a little trigger happy but they are looking out for the best interests of the forum members.
 
misanthropist, a couple more posts like that and I'll have to change your username to philanthropist. :cool:
 
Yeah, I make a f**king lousy misanthrope...I have always been lousy at it!

But it came from a forum I joined ten years ago and by never changing it I feel like it keeps me honest, because I can always be attached to my previous outrageous claims!

I like to think of myself as a misanthrope in principle and a reluctantly decent human being in practise.
 
I see alot of us here supporting differnet makers..corporate, or otherwise. This guy happens to like a knife not in the "community"...personally, I like the change...CRK's are overpriced IMO..I have owned a few..and having a Machinest background..I can see the attraction to a cheaper version...great knives..just to much money for the average consumer. I never got the feeling that this guy (mistwalker) is a shill, I thought about it, but he is not.
He is reviewing knives that some here might squack at..or call POS...well, we all cant afford $400 dollar knives..and this just feels like snobbery at its worst.
 
misanthropist said:
This guy doesn't meet my personal definition of a shill at all. I guess maybe a little more disclosure would have been good, but just by reading his posts I thought it was pretty clear what the approximate relationship was...more than just a random customer, less than an employee. It turns out the connection was even looser than I thought and that might have been good to know right off the bat...

But overall I think the information he's provided more than balances out what in this case I believe to be a pretty minor oversight.

If he had a long term relationship with Schrade I would feel differently, but as it is I just appreciate both the clear, well-thought out reviews he's done and while I understand the nervousness some people here might have about potential shilling, I'd rather see this guy getting the benefit of the doubt.

Mistwalker, thanks for your great reviews; I hope you don't let the somewhat mistrustful guys around here prevent you from continuing to post.

But I also hope you don't judge them too harshly; they might be a little trigger happy but they are looking out for the best interests of the forum members.
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I'd like to say that I am sorry for the mix up in the time line of my posts. I simply did not understand the seriousness with which some subjects are taken on this site.

TO let people know a little more about me, I write articles on survival topics, do research on and test survival techniques in the field. This also leads to me testing the pieces of gear I run across and buy and I am imspired to share the results of that research with friends, or in this particular case people, with common interest.

Nothing that I have posted here so far, and in looking at the reception I received by some ever will be, posted here first. I buy, or in one instance so far recieve, products to test for future use. I then start compiling data on what I consider to be my "home" forum where I am known and accepted for who I am. I have always, and will very likely continue to do so, posted everything I've written on two other forums before I posted it here. By the time it makes it here it is all compiled into one post. Because I am so strictly limited on the ammount of photos I can use here and have to edit so many of them out of a first post, and put others in a subsequint post I got caught up in the photo editing and slipped on the text editing. I assure you all that I will make every effort pay more attention the the chronological order of events in the future.

Brian
 
Cool, man, I am sure you will be a very valued member of this site. I really enjoyed your AMK Heatsheet review, for instance.

Thanks for sticking around!
 
misanthropist said:
Cool, man, I am sure you will be a very valued member of this site. I really enjoyed your AMK Heatsheet review, for instance.

Thanks for sticking around!
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No problem. You know how it goes, if I based my conclusions on humanity by the actions of a few, I'd be likely be a hermit lol.
 
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