become a reviewer and KEEP what you review CONTEST -- *WINNER CHOSEN!*

[machine26]

Didn't see that we could enter multiple reviews til now. Here's another:

When I found out Aitor is importing their knives to the US again I just couldn't wait to get in on the action. I ordered a JK 3 from knifeworks during their labor day sell and waited not so patiently for it to arrive. I finally got it yesterday, immediately went to my favorite bushcrafting area and put it to use.

The knife has a 4 1/8" blade that's 5mm thick. The handle is made from the same plastic that all Aitor sheaths are made from.

Here is the knife with all the survival components laid out. It has a small survival kit with multitool, compass in the screw off butt, and slingshot bands. The GI compass is in the pic to show that the small compass is accurate, sorry for the lousy pic quality. My camera doesn't do all that well in bright lighting.

Comparison pic. Randall 18 on top, buck 119, Aitor and CRK mountaineer 1. As you can see this is a small knife.

Hair shaving sharp from the factory.

Onto the tests. I think it's safe to skip chopping with this knife . First test is carving standard notches and sharpening a spear point.
With the sharp thin blade and comfortable round handle carving tasks are no real chore.

Next I made a fish spear. Thinner the blade the easier this task. Found that out yesterday as well while using that filet knife for camp tasks.

Feather sticks. Again the sharp thin blade makes this easy, and obviously my technique is improving. Go check out my older reviews to see some B grade feather sticks lol.

And now onto the last task, batonning. I saved this til last for obvious reasons. It does fine as long as you keep it within reason. Choose straight smaller wood with small or no knots and it will do fine. If you try bashing this thing through something too bad you will break it. I would rate it up there with a mora on the toughness scale.

After everything is said and done I'm happy with my knife purchase. It isn't the toughest blade to beat on but works very well for it's intended uses. It kept its edge well during testing and sharpened back up to razor sharp with ease. I experienced no handle loosening or defects of any sort.

I did replace the slingshot band and put some survival kit in it's place. I also replaced its factory survival kit with storm matches, striker and the sewing kit it came with.

 

[machine26]

Here is a little review of the mountaineer 1 I did a couple weeks ago. I did basic camp/survival tasks with it.

Here is a comparison pic with the BK5 just to give everyone a size reference, it's a little fella.

Here is a pic batonning kindling with it, worked just fine for this, just keep the wood size reasonable.

Making trap parts and fuzz sticks ad processing fatlighter. It's very sharp and nimble knife, finer tasks is where it excels.

Cutting down a small tree to make a spear. I'm sure most of you guys know thi technique. Bend the tree and cut down into it at the apex of the bend, itll dang near cut he tree in half with one cut. It was kinda difficult doing all this and taking a pic at the same time.

Batonnig the end of the tree off to make it the correct length.

Finished spear.

Overall impressions are good. It's a small knife that's very sharp and very capable if used correctly. It works great for finer tasks and food prep. Reminds me of a mora, just more robust and beefy.

Hope ya'll enjoyed the review.

 

[machine26]

As you can see my reviews follow the same basic formula. Makes sense to do the things in reviews that I typically do in the woods I suppose. One more for good measure.

I've had this JK knife for 2.5 or so years. I've never really put it to much use for 2 reasons: It's the first knife JK sold and I honestly didn't know how to sharpen a convex edge, I recently started stropping, yeah pretty simple. Onto the testing.

First up is a comparison pic with a large sebenza. It's a medium sized blade measuring about 6" long.

Here is an in hand shot, feels like it was made for me, the handle is absolutely perfect for my medium/large hands. Sidenote: Thank you for camera stabalization, otherwise this would be a blurry mess.

It's sharp, stropped it up a bit, completely takes all hair off with one swipe. Good enough I reckon.

Carving and fishing spear. This blade goes through wood like a hot knife through butter. Stated before how well it fits my hand, I could carve with this knife for hours.

Not the best feathers but paper thin and do their job.

Yep I even batonned it, super thin sharp edge. I was a little paranoid that some edge damage would occur but it didnt. Note: This is nicely seasoned wood, was a shelter support pole from 2 years ago.

No edge damage. Still hair shaving sharp.

After all is said and done I don't hesitate one bit to say this is the best overall outdoors knife I have. It's outstanding ergonomics, medium sized blade shape, excllent edge holding/taking and simple/clean look, this knife is a winner.

I won't say it's my favorite fixed blade, but each time I cut something with it, it gets closer and closer to the number one spot.

 

[neuron]

Alright, the deadline of October 25 has officially passed. There were a number of very good entries, and, if the reviews are to some degree representative, also a wide range of preferred types and uses of knives.

I've discussed it with Darrel and the one that stood out most to us was crimsonfalcon07's superbly detailed, clear, and methodical review. So he's going to be the "official" guy who gets HTM goodies sent to him to review on a regular basis. However, and again assuming that the reviews were somewhat representative of each person's taste, I wouldn't rule out some of the other entrants receiving a knife to review at some point down the road (for instance, the HTM/Randall King fixed blade for machine26, Darrel's upcoming gent's knife for LX_Emergency, and so forth).

Thanks again to everyone who entered! :thumbup:

 

[neuron]

Also, don't forget that the custom DDR AXD giveaway contest is still running (and has received surprisingly few entries so far given the hefty prize!). So get over there, think up something that fits the contest criteria, and give it a shot!

 

[machine26]

Alright, the deadline of October 25 has officially passed. There were a number of very good entries, and, if the reviews are to some degree representative, also a wide range of preferred types and uses of knives.

I've discussed it with Darrel and the one that stood out most to us was crimsonfalcon07's superbly detailed, clear, and methodical review. So he's going to be the "official" guy who gets HTM goodies sent to him to review on a regular basis. However, and again assuming that the reviews were somewhat representative of each person's taste, I wouldn't rule out some of the other entrants receiving a knife to review at some point down the road (for instance, the HTM/Randall King fixed blade for machine26, Darrel's upcoming gent's knife for LX_Emergency, and so forth).

Thanks again to everyone who entered! :thumbup:

Congrats, Crimsonfalcon.

I'll keep my fingers crossed about that fixed blade.

 

[crimsonfalcon07]

Hooray, thanks! I'm excited to put out some video and photo reviews here. I liked seeing all of the reviews in this thread too. This was a fun one to follow.

 

[DCXXVI]

congrats man cant wait to see what you put out!!!

 

[wroughndt]

Awesome! Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy, congratulations Crimsonfalcon07!

 

[harkamus]

Gratz, Crimson!

 

[Scurvy092]

Congrats!!

 

[LX_Emergency]

Congrats Crimsonfalcon. Well deserved!

 

[LX_Emergency]

However, and again assuming that the reviews were somewhat representative of each person's taste, I wouldn't rule out some of the other entrants receiving a knife to review at some point down the road (for instance, the HTM/Randall King fixed blade for machine26, Darrel's upcoming gent's knife for LX_Emergency, and so forth).

Also, That would be SUPER awesome and I'd be honored.

 

[crimsonfalcon07]

Thanks fellas, I'm excited to get some good reviews out there for Darrel's work.