Browning Crowell/Barker Competition Knife Field Test Video Completed.

N

noss4

Joined
Jul 7, 2006
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I took the Browning competition knife out in the field for a good workout.

Blade: 10 inch
Blade thickness: 1/4"
Steel: 1085 carbon
Grind: Full flat
Edge: Convex



Chopping: the Browning did well at chopping 4" diameter hard wood logs. It takes deep bits in the wood and gets through them quickly with minimal effort and energy. The 10 inch blade is very stiff. I could not feel it flex during chopping like I could the Ontario RTAKII. The knife feels very solid during use.
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Whittling: I cut down some small diameter trees and used the Browning to put a nice point on the end.

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Batoning: I split some of the larger diameter wood I chopped with it. The 10 inch blade is very nice for this kind of work. The wood I was splitting was fairly tough and I had to hit the spine hard to get through it. The knife is very solid for this type of work.

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Cutting rope free hanging. After all of the above I tried to cut some free hanging 1/2" braided nylon rope. The blade still had the factory edge on it.I was able to cut the first two pieces in a single blow. The third took a few
swings. You have to hit it just right.

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Overall: The knife did very well and is a pleasure to use in the field. It can accomplish a lot of work with minimal effort. The knife could be a little more blade heavy for field use. The Micarta handles are a little slick. I enjoyed using it in the field.

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Note: I took three blades out in to the field the Browning the Cold Steel kukri machete and a Mora clipper carbon steel knife. We had a camera malfunction and I lost 20 minutes of footage of the browning and the machete. The chopping footage of the bigger logs was lost. I apologize about this.

The videos are in two parts. They are posted at www.knifetests.com

Enjoy the videos. They were made for you. :thumbup:
 
awesome! Love the work you do. But what I need to know is, if I have the Kbar heavy bowie, will I notice a big step up, performance-wise, by moving to the Browning? I just use it for gardening, but I like to garden in style!
 
fishface5: Well for gardening I'm not sure you will notice any difference between the two. If you do a lot of bush trimming then you may notice some performance increase. The Browning can easily slice through about 1.5" trees or bushes with a single swing but you have do this just right at the correct angle.
but it is not too hard to do.

The handle on the k-Bar is better in my opinion. The Browning handle is to slick
and I advise you to use a forward lanyard when you swing away.

As far as style goes. Yes it will be a step up the browning is a pretty knife compared to the K-Bar. :D
 
Noss, thanks for the review. I tend to prefer real world testing of knives like you did here to destructive testing, even though that can be fun at times. ;) Some years back when I got my first Khukuri or two a friend and I took his video camera out in my moms back yard for a little "testing" we did some simmalare things to what you did. Sure was fun!

Is there any chance you could do a side by side comparison between the Browning and Kabar heavy bowie? I also have a Kabar Heavy Bowie and for the fun of it would love to see them compared. Thanks,

Heber
 
wildmanh: Your welcome. Field usage and destructive testing are different. They show different things about a knife. I don't have a k-bar on hand at the moment. I gave the two I had away to my family members but I have been meaning to order another. I'll see what I do.


mmmotorcycle: No problem bro. I have 2 of them one is going to meet it's maker. The other I'm keeping for myself.
 
Noss, am looking forward to your destructive test of the browning. More out of curiosity then anything. If you do get another Kabar, please test it along side your surviving Browning. :)

In the pictures you are wearing gloves while using the Browning. Did you ever try it with out the gloves? if so how was the grip, good bad? Thanks,

Heber
 
wildmanh: I'll test it along side the Browning for sure. I tried it with 2 pair of gloves and barehanded. It was very hot and humid in the woods and my hands were sweaty. It was slippery with no gloves and better with the second pair I used.
 
noss4 said:
wildmanh: I'll test it along side the Browning for sure. I tried it with 2 pair of gloves and barehanded. It was very hot and humid in the woods and my hands were sweaty. It was slippery with no gloves and better with the second pair I used.
Click to expand...

Noss, bead blast the micarta. I did that to some of my smoother handles and it provided a nice texture. I used 320 grit media.
 
Cobalt: Thats a good idea. I didn't think of that. I was thinking of ways to add some grip without using tape. Thanks
 
Great testing.Has anyone done some really harsh or destructive testing on one of these yet?Seems like it should take it well considering the steel and geometry,if the tempering was done correctly.
 
Finally bought the Barker & it feels so much more refined than the KaBar Heavy Bowie, I couldn't be happier. The handles are slicker than the KaBar but the forward lanyard makes that less of an issue. It much out-performs the KaBar in terms of sheer chopping ability. However due to the tapering blade thickness I doubt that it would take as much abuse as the KaBar. It's an amazingly refined knife for the $$$.
 
m: I plan to destruction test the Browning. It's 1085 Like the K-bar heavy Bowie was it performed very well under stress. It does have a thiner tapered design as fishface5 noted below. Most of the bulk of the blade is in the center then it tapers down at the ends. The Browning has a very long 10 inch blade but it is a very ridged stiff design. When you chop hard with it you can hardly feel it flex.

fishface5: Cool.. It's a darn nice blade for the money and nicer than many knives I have seen for more cash. As you said the grips are slick on it. Cobalt gave a good suggestion to bead blast the micarta for added grip. I plan to try this on the one I keep for myself.
 
Noss:

Try the bead blasting it on the one you plan to test to destruction, first. Make your mistakes there, first. You don't care how that handle turns out. By the time you bead blast your keeper, you'll have some experience under your belt.
 
Raymond1000: Good Idea. Trial and error is always good before before I screw up the keeper. We will see how it comes out on the test blade. The grips
do need some texture to them.
 
I have been thinking about placing some pads of 3M StairStep tape on the handle and see how that works. The tape is black so the appearance shouldn't look off, just not sure if the tape will stand up to harsh abuse without coming off. It, the tape, has a really good ahhesive on it and I will probably have to rough up the areas where I plan to apply it. Will let you know how it works out.:D
 
I have used that tape on a few of my slicker knives and it has held up surprisingly well. I have not applied it to anything besides a flat surface though.
 
I've used the Stairtape primarily on my pocket clips so that I can get a better purchase on them when drawing them out of my pocket. I like deep carry clips and all my folders pretty much carry this way and the extra grip of the Stairtape really works well.

I'll apply some on my Browning and then give it a workout over the next several days and then let you know how it works out.
 
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