- Joined
- Oct 29, 2005
- Messages
- 214
I have been eyeing Bryan Breeden’s work for a few years now. From everything I have seen and read about, Bryan puts his outdoors experience into each knife he makes. I never pulled the trigger on one when they rarely come up for sale on the secondary market. Participating in the SERE knife thread opened a door for me to a custom knife maker that is top shelf in many ways. Not only is Bryan a first rate individual, he makes a superb using knife.
As I was looking through the Breeden Knife thread on this forum, I noticed the Potbelly. I had been thinking of getting a Hudson Bay style knife at the time. The Potbelly reminded me of a Hudson Bay with some enhanced features; handle with more gripping positions, curved edge etc...
I was lucky enough to score that Breeden Potbelly (BPB) knife, because to my surprise no one bought it. Brian actually sent it to me to use, and if I liked it, it was mine or he would have built one with changes if I wanted (how cool is that).
(Keep in mind this was a family camping trip not a survival/bushcraft practice outing. That will come at a later date)
I was able to test it out on a camping trip this last weekend. Once camp was set up, dinner needed to be made. I do all my cooking with lodge cast iron on the open fire. A good cooking fire requires a nice bed of hot coals. I had a lot of maple on hand, so that’s what was used. I split some chunks down smaller with the BPB to get things burning faster.
BPB was also used to harvest and split a mountain of oak, thorn apple and spruce for fires.
Even after hard use the knife remained RAZOR sharp. Very impressive.
The first night was really nice, clear and cool.
The second night not so much. Starting late afternoon, the rain started. A storm that was supposed to miss our location, blew in unexpectedly. The temp dropped a few degrees, to about 55F, add a cold rain and it makes things miserable. I had a canopy up, but the wind kept blowing the rain in. The big tarp was brought out and we had to get it up in the pouring rain. Poles had to be chopped out from local saplings and put up, but at one point it continued to rain so hard that water kept collecting in one spot of the tarp and needed to be drained off before there was a collapse. I was able to cut a 3 foot pole/peg, chop a point on it and hammer it into the earth with the flat of the BPB. 550 cord was then rigged to the tarp, pulled tight and tied off to the pole/peg to form a low spot so the water would drain. Needless to say, we were wet and cold from this but had a large amount of dry wood at the ready. Sorry, no pics of hell night.
My hands were cold and wet, but due to the contour of the handle, composition of the burlap micarta, and stainless hollow pins, the knife locked in with out slipping. The burlap micarta is some super nice handle material. This is my first knife with it and I am very pleased.
The day after the trip we all had a craving for hot chicken soup. The BPB was used exclusively in the kitchen for the prep work. This also shows versatility of the edge geometry.
All in all, as I said before, this is a superbly crafted tool with soul and character. I have owned and used enough knives in my time (some very expensive) to know what will work and will not. The heat treat and edge geometry is spot on. I have heard that Bryan’s knives come sharp, but this was impressively sharp and remained that way after a weekend of hard use. I did strop it on a plain leather belt before the kitchen duty, but in reality, it did not need it.
Specs:
Steel- O1
Blade- 8.75 long by ¼ inch thick and over 2 inches wide.
Handle length- 6 inches
Handle scales- burlap micarta held with hollow stainless pins/epoxy
Sheath- kydex
Weight-?, balance is superb.
Bryan you are a class act. Thanks so much for the opportunity to use and purchase the BPB. Outstanding blade and will not be my last from you.
As I was looking through the Breeden Knife thread on this forum, I noticed the Potbelly. I had been thinking of getting a Hudson Bay style knife at the time. The Potbelly reminded me of a Hudson Bay with some enhanced features; handle with more gripping positions, curved edge etc...
I was lucky enough to score that Breeden Potbelly (BPB) knife, because to my surprise no one bought it. Brian actually sent it to me to use, and if I liked it, it was mine or he would have built one with changes if I wanted (how cool is that).
(Keep in mind this was a family camping trip not a survival/bushcraft practice outing. That will come at a later date)
I was able to test it out on a camping trip this last weekend. Once camp was set up, dinner needed to be made. I do all my cooking with lodge cast iron on the open fire. A good cooking fire requires a nice bed of hot coals. I had a lot of maple on hand, so that’s what was used. I split some chunks down smaller with the BPB to get things burning faster.
BPB was also used to harvest and split a mountain of oak, thorn apple and spruce for fires.
Even after hard use the knife remained RAZOR sharp. Very impressive.
The first night was really nice, clear and cool.
The second night not so much. Starting late afternoon, the rain started. A storm that was supposed to miss our location, blew in unexpectedly. The temp dropped a few degrees, to about 55F, add a cold rain and it makes things miserable. I had a canopy up, but the wind kept blowing the rain in. The big tarp was brought out and we had to get it up in the pouring rain. Poles had to be chopped out from local saplings and put up, but at one point it continued to rain so hard that water kept collecting in one spot of the tarp and needed to be drained off before there was a collapse. I was able to cut a 3 foot pole/peg, chop a point on it and hammer it into the earth with the flat of the BPB. 550 cord was then rigged to the tarp, pulled tight and tied off to the pole/peg to form a low spot so the water would drain. Needless to say, we were wet and cold from this but had a large amount of dry wood at the ready. Sorry, no pics of hell night.
My hands were cold and wet, but due to the contour of the handle, composition of the burlap micarta, and stainless hollow pins, the knife locked in with out slipping. The burlap micarta is some super nice handle material. This is my first knife with it and I am very pleased.
The day after the trip we all had a craving for hot chicken soup. The BPB was used exclusively in the kitchen for the prep work. This also shows versatility of the edge geometry.
All in all, as I said before, this is a superbly crafted tool with soul and character. I have owned and used enough knives in my time (some very expensive) to know what will work and will not. The heat treat and edge geometry is spot on. I have heard that Bryan’s knives come sharp, but this was impressively sharp and remained that way after a weekend of hard use. I did strop it on a plain leather belt before the kitchen duty, but in reality, it did not need it.
Specs:
Steel- O1
Blade- 8.75 long by ¼ inch thick and over 2 inches wide.
Handle length- 6 inches
Handle scales- burlap micarta held with hollow stainless pins/epoxy
Sheath- kydex
Weight-?, balance is superb.
Bryan you are a class act. Thanks so much for the opportunity to use and purchase the BPB. Outstanding blade and will not be my last from you.
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