Brahma 119

LostViking

LostViking

Joined
Jan 1, 2009
Messages
3,431
Grabbing the Bull by the Horns!

Yesterday was my birthday. That in and of itself was nothing to write about. 58 years is rather unremarkable. My ankle, my knee, and my shoulder, would lead you to believe I'm actually older, if only I would let them. But me and the mind say we're still 38.

For this momentous day. I requested and received the following.
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When choosing knives or beer.
One can afford to make mistakes. Even bad beer isn't that bad.

Your bad knife will quickly sell. Because it probably isn't that bad. You just didn't think it through, and it it doesn't suit you. Someone else may love it.

On the other hand, when choosing a wife. It pays to get it right the first time. I did. And that was 30 years ago this month.

I wanted a simple day. With a fire, a knife, some food, and a beer. The bride delivered in a big way.

Meet my new pals. One will probably be with me for the rest of my life. The other wasn't around too long.
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I have been contemplating a Buck Brahma since they came out. And lately, I have been rediscovering my Buck knives. Reminding myself of what I already knew. They are fine working blades. Sharp, and nice looking. Maybe their looks are their weakness. They look so nice folks don't see them a real world workers.

Well folks, Buck took their venerable 119 in a different direction with the Brahma.

The original 119 Special was no slouch. It has been gracing spike camps and hunting cabins for may years. Some even saw service on pistol belts in Southeast Asia. A testament to the toughness and usability of this classic blade.

Somebody at Buck must have had a brainstorm. It might even have been a marketing guy or girl. Most likely to capitalize on all the explosion of survival, prepper, bushcrafter, popularity out there right now.

However it came about. I'm happy it did. I think this knife will be a home run for Buck.
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One look at this new Buck and two other knives immediately spring to mind.
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I am very fortunate, in that I own them both. Both of these are long lived and have earned their own reputation for toughness and being there when you need them. The Buck Brahma slides neatly in between them.
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I think Buck nailed it.
I make no bones about how much I like my KA-BAR. I really love that knife. I like my JPSK too. But if I had to choose between them. It would be the KA-BAR all the way.

Suddenly, I hold in my hand, a third choice.
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The KA-BAR was sharp out of the box. The Buck is sharper. The Bolt knife was a distant third. Differing blade geometry contributes to this as well. The Buck is hollow ground. The KA-BAR is a flat saber grind, and the JPSK is similar but leaning a little more toward convex.

The fit and finish lines up directly with their respective prices. With the Buck at the top. The KA-BAR a very close second. And the Ontario a distant third. Not horrible, just a little rougher around the edges.

When you run your hand around these knives. The little extra work Buck put in really stands out. The edges of the guard and the pommel are just a bit smoother and more welcoming to the hand.
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All in all. It was a fun afternoon/evening.

We hung out together, and had a few beers.
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We played with fire, and just generally got used to each other.
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If the VooDoo Ranger carries a knife. I bet he would like the Brahma!
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It was supposed to rain last night. So I shingled my fire to shed most of the water. In case I wanted to go back up this morning for a knives and coffee shot. We're currently getting some light rain. But I'm guessing I still have some coals.
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Once I accomplished all the have-to dos. I trotted back up to the the tarp and the fire.

My little shingle plan worked almost too well. We didn't get as Much rain as I had anticipated. All that was left was the two long pieces. So I set about coaxing some coals back into a fire.

First I scraped some Poplar bark to throw on the hot spots.
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Then, I added some feathers and twigs gathered last night while the Ranger and I were doing our thing.
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I had pretty good heat so I added some larger stuff right on. After about 20-30 minutes of smoke. It burst to life. I really enjoy morning fires that are willing to start themselves.
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Once I was sure my main fire was a go. I got messing around with the Brahma. I grabbed a stick a little larger in diameter than my thumb, and roughly a foot long.
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I split it down the middle, and then again into quarters.
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I had the idea to build a miniturized one stick fire on top of Table Rock. You don't have to burn down the entire forest everytime you have a fire.
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I would say the Brahma handles feather stick duty fairly well. Especially given the fact these are the first few I've tried with the knife.
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Right about here. The bride showed up with coffee. You'll see this shot in the knives and coffee thread later.
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With a healthy does of caffine. I went back to my mini fire. I split one of the quarters down to Pencil, lead sizes. And feathered a few of them.
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Here is the whole thing assembled and waiting for a spark i added a little more Poplar bark to help get things going. Pretty isn't it.
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Well at least it was. I pooched up my one strike fire streak with this little project. At this point is was drizzling lightly and the little pile was reluctant to light. I got a little over zealous with my striker and wiped most of the pile. So it was back to the drawing board.
This time I added some dandelion fluff that had been drying since they went to seed. It wasn't as explosive as I had hoped.
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This turned out to be more work than I had anticipated. I had a couple brief flash overs from the dandelion. But it didn't catch.

I reworked the pile, and had at it with the striker again. This time I had a spark catch. It was tiny, but it was there. It's visiable above and to the right of the fuller.
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Finally,
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A lot of fun for very little effort.
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As I sat there sipping my coffee. I added the remainder of that stick and some other scraps that were laying around. It burned for a little over a half hour.
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Then I got to thinking, the above wasn't truly a one stick fire. Because I used bark from another piece of wood and some dandelion for combustion.

So I took this piece and split it down.
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For starters, I turned the knife over and did some scraping. The spine does a nice job.
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Then, I took a small piece and sliced it. I needed to use the digital zoom on my point and shoot to try and show the detail. Not the best picture. But some of the detail can be seen. The Buck letters give some idea of the size. It looks like tiny wooded rope.
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And right about here. The real world creeps back in. I have a dump run to make. And other small projects to accomplish. So the rest will have to wait.

So far, I'm really liking the Brahma.
 
Saturday night dinner, Bull meets Pig.

Any knife I have designs on keeping, gets put through a rigorous amount of kitchen duty.

I see the Brahma as a long termer. So it participated in dinner. This certainly wasn't anything that tough.

The bride knocked it out of the park again last night. With roasted pork Loin, mashed potatoes and home made applesauce.
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At $2.99 a pound. It's a $1.50 a pound cheaper than spam! Plus due to some special the market was having. It came along with a free bag of potatoes and a free bag of onions. Coupons, Who Knew?


After a bit of a resting period, the Brahma got called in,
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Not surprisingly, the Buck knife slices well, I liked this shot better,
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Here is a plate full of home cooked goodness!
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What you guys didn't see. Is the Molasses cake she baked for my birthday. With a delicious orange butter cream frosting. I don't even like cake. But I love her Molasses Cake.

As an added benefit. There is enough pork loin left over for several days of work sandwiches. So you don't have to pay $9.00 a pound for some nitrate filled sliced deli meat.

The rub was a mix of rosemary, black pepper, thyme, garlic powder, basil, and salt. Grated parmesan cheese is also and option, but was not on this one. The rub adds a great flavor to the roast. It cooks at 350F for 20 minutes per pound.
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Sometimes I take for granted how wonderful my station in life is. Where I live. What I get to do. Who I share my life with. This weekend has gone a long way to remind me. I have a pretty good life!

We live pretty simply, but we have an aweful good time.
 
great knife. congrats and looked like a fun day there.

i dont care for the sheath. makes me not carry and use it. one of these days im gonna stick it in an extra 119 sheath and see if it fits. if it does i expect ill use mine much more.
 
I always enjoy LV's posts. I'll never forget how much I enjoyed his review when he first got the Kabar Dogs Head. What a great writer and photographer.
 
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