Richard
BOUNCED EMAIL: I need to update my email address in my profile!
- Joined
- Oct 3, 1998
- Messages
- 1,742
I have known Matt since before 1st grade, coming up on 28 years of freindship now. He lives out of state now, but makes it back to Oklahoma from time to time. He was here yesterday and surprised me with an awesome gift. It is a Blackjack "Shining Mountains" bowie. The blade is 10.5" of 52100 steel with Blackjacks convex edge. This knife was pretty limited in production numbers, and has been out of production for a while.
This knife begs to be used, and I couldnt resist working it out. I live out in the sticks, and the woods behind our house are pretty thick. Some dying trees and brush need to be cleared from time to time (just to lazy to do it much). We did a bit of it yesterday (would have been more, but the heat and humidity here is a killer). He took his Randall 14 and I took my new Blackjack bowie. We had a blast doing our 'work'. It was more like play time.
There was plenty of chopping to be done (with alot more to do). Many of the ones that need to be cleared run about 3 inches across, a bit more for some. His Randall did pretty well being a fairly light and small knife (compared to this bowie). Chopping through them with the Randall usuaslly took a few chops, but was fairly quick.
After a while we went to work with the Blackjack. When there was not enough room to get a good swing, then some of them took 3 or 4 chops. When there was room to get a good swing, and assuming we got the angle right and did our part, one chop went through as much as 3 - 3.5 inches making a very clean and smooth cut all the way through. On thicker wood, one chop was enough to bury the blade almost its entire width, which is considerable.
I lost count of how many things we chopped, but enough for me to know that until mankind invents a real light saber, this will do just fine
The edge had very little dulling, and the edge was extremely easy to restore to original sharpness. Probably about 5 minutes, if that much.
The handle was very comfortable, and I didnt feel any sore spots, nor did I develop any blisters. I think this is because of the ease in which it does its job. When it hits the wood, there is not much felt impact shock as it just gos through whatever is in its way. The drop at the end of the handle adds a great deal of grip security.
After sharpeing it back up, I used flitz metal polish to clean it up. You would be hard pressed to tell that the knife has ever been used. Hold it just right, and you might see a few small scratches, but thats it.
I have custom bowie from DeLeon custom knives and have been pleased with its chopping ability after a bladesmith here on the forums reprofiled the edge for me. Now after trying this Blackjack, the design and overall balance and ability to cut and chop out perform my DeLeon by a wide margin. Lots of cutting and chopping power with relatively little effort.
This has, in a very short time, become one of my very favorite knives I have ever owned. Its even better as it was a gift from the best freind I ever had...thanks Matt
This knife begs to be used, and I couldnt resist working it out. I live out in the sticks, and the woods behind our house are pretty thick. Some dying trees and brush need to be cleared from time to time (just to lazy to do it much). We did a bit of it yesterday (would have been more, but the heat and humidity here is a killer). He took his Randall 14 and I took my new Blackjack bowie. We had a blast doing our 'work'. It was more like play time.
There was plenty of chopping to be done (with alot more to do). Many of the ones that need to be cleared run about 3 inches across, a bit more for some. His Randall did pretty well being a fairly light and small knife (compared to this bowie). Chopping through them with the Randall usuaslly took a few chops, but was fairly quick.
After a while we went to work with the Blackjack. When there was not enough room to get a good swing, then some of them took 3 or 4 chops. When there was room to get a good swing, and assuming we got the angle right and did our part, one chop went through as much as 3 - 3.5 inches making a very clean and smooth cut all the way through. On thicker wood, one chop was enough to bury the blade almost its entire width, which is considerable.
I lost count of how many things we chopped, but enough for me to know that until mankind invents a real light saber, this will do just fine
The edge had very little dulling, and the edge was extremely easy to restore to original sharpness. Probably about 5 minutes, if that much.
The handle was very comfortable, and I didnt feel any sore spots, nor did I develop any blisters. I think this is because of the ease in which it does its job. When it hits the wood, there is not much felt impact shock as it just gos through whatever is in its way. The drop at the end of the handle adds a great deal of grip security.
After sharpeing it back up, I used flitz metal polish to clean it up. You would be hard pressed to tell that the knife has ever been used. Hold it just right, and you might see a few small scratches, but thats it.
I have custom bowie from DeLeon custom knives and have been pleased with its chopping ability after a bladesmith here on the forums reprofiled the edge for me. Now after trying this Blackjack, the design and overall balance and ability to cut and chop out perform my DeLeon by a wide margin. Lots of cutting and chopping power with relatively little effort.
This has, in a very short time, become one of my very favorite knives I have ever owned. Its even better as it was a gift from the best freind I ever had...thanks Matt
