Mistwalker
Gold Member
- Joined
- Dec 22, 2007
- Messages
- 19,051
tfields, thanks for the review. Unlike you it would be easy for me to choose a favorite to carry and that would be the BK-2 because it is US made and Ka-Bar's 1095CroVan is better than any other 1095 in my opinion because it is tough as hell like 1095 is supposed to be but with the added chromium and vanadium also has a level of corrosion resistance that other 1095 steels do not.
The back story behind the SCHF9 design is that I am a major fan of the old Schrades and Old Timers. I have an old 185OT Woodsman that was my favorite knife when I bought my first one over thirty years ago. I bought one of the new hollow handled Schrades and put it through hell and did a review. There was soooo much flack over it being a near copy of the CRK Project I (which I've never owned and had never seen) that I was talking to Morgan Taylor and mentioned them actually designing a knife of their own that would really stand up to the "Extreme Survival" they were writing on the blades of their Extreme Survival line. Because a lot of the knives in that line were very very similar to other designs on the market and in my opinion the 420J steel they were using in some of them wouldn't hold up to extremes. He asked me what knife I'd design for an extreme survival situation in a wilderness environment. I sent him a sketch of the knife that later became the SCHF9 as an example of what I would want in that situation. A knife design that built heavy enough that it could handle abuse, with multi-position grip for versatility, and a blade geometry that worked fairly well for both slicing and chopping...as well as sticking if needs be. He liked the design and offered to buy it immediately and pay me to design a few more. BUT I was so adamant about the 1095 steel and it not being made in main land China, factors which apparently significantly raised production costs, that the other designs were put off till a future date.
They stayed true to the design drawings, which that grind may not have been easy. So far all of them I have handled have come with a sharp edge, and the heat treat of all I have tested has done pretty well. I asked for an RC no higher than 57 and no lower than 55...shooting for 56...so it could easily be maintained using a stone in a wilderness environment. I've seen one review where the reviewer inadvertently stabbed and chopped the knife into the rock he was using for a chopping block with little deformation of the steel.
Would it be a better knife if made by Ka-Bar? Duh, obviously. Are there going to be bad ones out there, of course it's mass produced in high quantities. Even Ka-Bar with their high QC standards has experienced inclusions.
It was designed with these thoughts in mind...as well as getting it back out if it become hung up in bone or cartilage.
The back story behind the SCHF9 design is that I am a major fan of the old Schrades and Old Timers. I have an old 185OT Woodsman that was my favorite knife when I bought my first one over thirty years ago. I bought one of the new hollow handled Schrades and put it through hell and did a review. There was soooo much flack over it being a near copy of the CRK Project I (which I've never owned and had never seen) that I was talking to Morgan Taylor and mentioned them actually designing a knife of their own that would really stand up to the "Extreme Survival" they were writing on the blades of their Extreme Survival line. Because a lot of the knives in that line were very very similar to other designs on the market and in my opinion the 420J steel they were using in some of them wouldn't hold up to extremes. He asked me what knife I'd design for an extreme survival situation in a wilderness environment. I sent him a sketch of the knife that later became the SCHF9 as an example of what I would want in that situation. A knife design that built heavy enough that it could handle abuse, with multi-position grip for versatility, and a blade geometry that worked fairly well for both slicing and chopping...as well as sticking if needs be. He liked the design and offered to buy it immediately and pay me to design a few more. BUT I was so adamant about the 1095 steel and it not being made in main land China, factors which apparently significantly raised production costs, that the other designs were put off till a future date.
They stayed true to the design drawings, which that grind may not have been easy. So far all of them I have handled have come with a sharp edge, and the heat treat of all I have tested has done pretty well. I asked for an RC no higher than 57 and no lower than 55...shooting for 56...so it could easily be maintained using a stone in a wilderness environment. I've seen one review where the reviewer inadvertently stabbed and chopped the knife into the rock he was using for a chopping block with little deformation of the steel.
Would it be a better knife if made by Ka-Bar? Duh, obviously. Are there going to be bad ones out there, of course it's mass produced in high quantities. Even Ka-Bar with their high QC standards has experienced inclusions.
Hmm. So just from what I have seen from both of them, if you had to stick something, the Schrade would be better at that right?
It was designed with these thoughts in mind...as well as getting it back out if it become hung up in bone or cartilage.
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I think that we think alike, haha. Glad you kept that in mind too. I am definitely gonna be getting one as soon as I can get a little extra cash together. Thanks again!
