Just recieved the Potbelly today and wanted to see how it stacked up against BK7. Both are hefty, over built knives that IMHO look cool :4: , but of course there is more than looking cool to a knife, so lets see how they do.
First the two knives with their sheaths and extras.
Back of the sheaths. I like how the Potbelly's sheath has the rows of molle webbing and behind each patch of webbing is a belt loop(see the twig). Because of the position of the webbing and belt loops behind them you can wear the sheath higher up which prevents it from flopping around. It's my favorite feature of the sheath. Overall it seems that the Potbelly's sheath blows the Bk7's away in quality.
Spine shot. Both are quite robust and overly built.
Ok now to the testing. First up is the chopping. I chopped 20 times into the dead pine tree with each knife. The BK7 did fine but the Potbelly dominated. The extra weight obviously helped and I'm fairly certain that the hollow grind did as well.
Next up is notching/trap making. Both are quite nimble in hand despite their large size. They both are comfortable as well. I think the BK7 would be more comfortable for longer periods of use.
Both made fuzz sticks fine. This is a skill I'm very much a noob at. I really need to work on it. I would wager that any knife better than a dull butter knife would be better at making fuzz sticks than my skill level.
BK7:
Potbelly:
Time for batonning. I rarely ever baton and when I do its small (wrist sized or smaller) stuff. I know alot of you guys like bashing on knives though so I figured "what the hey, lets go for it".
Yeah thats a big piece of wood, had to lean it over to baton lol.
The BK7 with the thinner blade seemed to baton easier but it might've been due to the piece of wood being smaller.
Shot of the two after testing was complete.
Impressions after testing:
I think both knives are great. I'm not really into larger knives(anything over 5.5") so I'm quite surprised about how nimble and light in the hand these large knives feel. For "survival" and camp tasks I think the JAB would make the better choice. It chops better and is thicker so it's less likely to be broke while prying. It also comes with the piggyback which is pretty decent for doing small jobs.
I hope you enjoyed the comparison, and as always if you'd like to see something specific done with the knives just let me know.
Shot of the piggyback doing small things.
First the two knives with their sheaths and extras.
Back of the sheaths. I like how the Potbelly's sheath has the rows of molle webbing and behind each patch of webbing is a belt loop(see the twig). Because of the position of the webbing and belt loops behind them you can wear the sheath higher up which prevents it from flopping around. It's my favorite feature of the sheath. Overall it seems that the Potbelly's sheath blows the Bk7's away in quality.
Spine shot. Both are quite robust and overly built.
Ok now to the testing. First up is the chopping. I chopped 20 times into the dead pine tree with each knife. The BK7 did fine but the Potbelly dominated. The extra weight obviously helped and I'm fairly certain that the hollow grind did as well.
Next up is notching/trap making. Both are quite nimble in hand despite their large size. They both are comfortable as well. I think the BK7 would be more comfortable for longer periods of use.
Both made fuzz sticks fine. This is a skill I'm very much a noob at. I really need to work on it. I would wager that any knife better than a dull butter knife would be better at making fuzz sticks than my skill level.
BK7:
Potbelly:
Time for batonning. I rarely ever baton and when I do its small (wrist sized or smaller) stuff. I know alot of you guys like bashing on knives though so I figured "what the hey, lets go for it".
Yeah thats a big piece of wood, had to lean it over to baton lol.
The BK7 with the thinner blade seemed to baton easier but it might've been due to the piece of wood being smaller.
Shot of the two after testing was complete.
Impressions after testing:
I think both knives are great. I'm not really into larger knives(anything over 5.5") so I'm quite surprised about how nimble and light in the hand these large knives feel. For "survival" and camp tasks I think the JAB would make the better choice. It chops better and is thicker so it's less likely to be broke while prying. It also comes with the piggyback which is pretty decent for doing small jobs.
I hope you enjoyed the comparison, and as always if you'd like to see something specific done with the knives just let me know.
Shot of the piggyback doing small things.
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