- Joined
- Feb 14, 2008
- Messages
- 1,093
This is not a full-blown review. I just wanted to share a little on my Breeden/BTD CUB. Bear' reviewed it several days ago and was better able to cover the important apsects since he was instrumental in the design, while Bryan facilitated the realization of Bearthedog's ideas. I was impressed enough with what I saw in the review and the dimensions appealed to me, especially with the tall blade and chubby handle, that I quickly got on our own Brian Andrews' Off the Map Outfitters and found one left, in my favorite color, so I ordered it. I got busted though. Brian's wife noticed and I was "made" buying another knife while whining about all the steel I had piling up arouind me.
So, here's the deal - I have been using this little handful for a few days now. It's "that time of year" and I have an abundance of apples so I have been making something of apples regularly. Three softball-sized apples went into an apple crisp after being peeled and sectioned with this overly-large-for-paring knife, but it worked very well, much to my own surprise. I have prep'd several fires using it in normal fashion to baton some light kindling and make a basket of fuzzies. I have "whittled" with it for grins and slayed a few errant cherry saplings, all with little surprise at how well it worked. Kind of boring to this point, but tonight, after splitting some firewood, I realized it was in my pocket and decided to see how it fared at cross-batoning.
I admit to being very unfair to Bryan's knives but have come to expect that they are going to "take it," so I picked up an inch and a half stick of seasoned Cherry, laid it on the chopping block and went to work. It went through so easily that I was surprised so I just kept hammering. The last whack put the blade through and it stuck in the dirty, gritty stump (unprintable verbiage omitted) so I took a couple pics, wiggled it out and split the stick and made fuzzies. When I checked the edge, it was literally shaving sharp, and I had been using it a few days.
This is the "stick."
That is not my baton, it's the stick lying on the spine of the knife for display.
THAT is my baton. OK, it's more of a club - a nice piece of Apple that has beaten many knives "like they stole something," as Jake would say.
I see cross-batoning is very useful on green wood in particlar and it would have been easier with green wood and a fairer test, however, I modified the edge in my usual fashion by grinding out the secondary convex edge and feathering the convex from "zero" to about a half inch up the face of the blade and now have a very fine edge and "after-edge." I know I can do this with Bryan's knives because his HT has stood up to the fine edge and serious beatings, which is done to make sure I didn't get too thin. I didn't, and I tell you it IS thin and it WILL cut. One thing to note in cutting like this is that it helps greatly to only back up (support) the portion of the stick directly under the cut to allow the stick to "bend" as the knife wedges in. Otherwise, you will be working against a tremendous amount of friction made worse by pressure - your blade will be pinched. A cleaner cut, less stress on the knife and workpiece and less work on your part is a result of supporting only the small portion under the cut. Conserving energy is important in a survival situation and "smart use" of your tools, along with using properly made tools, will go a long way toward conserving energy you need to maintain your core temperature, collect and sterilize water, gather firewood, etc. Not to mention, when it's easier to do something you will be more likely to do it.
I should also mention that the service from Off the Map Outfitters was excellent. My order went through without a hitch, the knife arrived very promptly and I got a nice "thank you" note on the invoice.
Thanks for lookin'.
So, here's the deal - I have been using this little handful for a few days now. It's "that time of year" and I have an abundance of apples so I have been making something of apples regularly. Three softball-sized apples went into an apple crisp after being peeled and sectioned with this overly-large-for-paring knife, but it worked very well, much to my own surprise. I have prep'd several fires using it in normal fashion to baton some light kindling and make a basket of fuzzies. I have "whittled" with it for grins and slayed a few errant cherry saplings, all with little surprise at how well it worked. Kind of boring to this point, but tonight, after splitting some firewood, I realized it was in my pocket and decided to see how it fared at cross-batoning.
I admit to being very unfair to Bryan's knives but have come to expect that they are going to "take it," so I picked up an inch and a half stick of seasoned Cherry, laid it on the chopping block and went to work. It went through so easily that I was surprised so I just kept hammering. The last whack put the blade through and it stuck in the dirty, gritty stump (unprintable verbiage omitted) so I took a couple pics, wiggled it out and split the stick and made fuzzies. When I checked the edge, it was literally shaving sharp, and I had been using it a few days.
This is the "stick."
That is not my baton, it's the stick lying on the spine of the knife for display.
THAT is my baton. OK, it's more of a club - a nice piece of Apple that has beaten many knives "like they stole something," as Jake would say.
I see cross-batoning is very useful on green wood in particlar and it would have been easier with green wood and a fairer test, however, I modified the edge in my usual fashion by grinding out the secondary convex edge and feathering the convex from "zero" to about a half inch up the face of the blade and now have a very fine edge and "after-edge." I know I can do this with Bryan's knives because his HT has stood up to the fine edge and serious beatings, which is done to make sure I didn't get too thin. I didn't, and I tell you it IS thin and it WILL cut. One thing to note in cutting like this is that it helps greatly to only back up (support) the portion of the stick directly under the cut to allow the stick to "bend" as the knife wedges in. Otherwise, you will be working against a tremendous amount of friction made worse by pressure - your blade will be pinched. A cleaner cut, less stress on the knife and workpiece and less work on your part is a result of supporting only the small portion under the cut. Conserving energy is important in a survival situation and "smart use" of your tools, along with using properly made tools, will go a long way toward conserving energy you need to maintain your core temperature, collect and sterilize water, gather firewood, etc. Not to mention, when it's easier to do something you will be more likely to do it.
I should also mention that the service from Off the Map Outfitters was excellent. My order went through without a hitch, the knife arrived very promptly and I got a nice "thank you" note on the invoice.
Thanks for lookin'.
