Buck 119 chops & walk (pic heavy)

[kgd]

Inspired by Fonly's post (hope the tornado recovery is going okay!). I decided to do a little chopping with my own 119. Well really I just wanted to go for a walk with the dogs, but knife and camera came along for the ride.

Say hello to beta and max. Beta (all black) was our first dog, and she is definitely second in command (2nd to me). Beta ranks over max however. Beta came to us as a stray. We obtained max from the pound as a playmate for beta. Max was named by his previous owners - but we like the symmetry of names Betamax, a tribute to superior video technology that lost to marketting forces

The park was a tall grass prairie park in our town. Here is a field of goldroden. Also lots of fragmities (no thanks for the invader Europe!) and tree stands.

Okay - so I spotted some fallen timber and decided to do a little buck-chuck.
The first limb was about 2" diameter. The wood was wet on the outside but nice and dry in center. I couldn't tell what the original tree was. It took 44 chops to get through (though some of my chops were not accurate). Honestly, I know the buck isn't really balanced for a chopper but I expected a little better.

Next was a smaller limb - about 1" diameter. 22 Chops did the trick!

 

[kgd]

Finally - the piece of cake one. About 0.5" diameter (all same tree). 1 Chop easy.

Fortunately the edge suffered nothing. I had rebevelled it to 17o with a Lansky.

Just a couple more shots of the buck....

And then follow the leader...

Gotta stop and smell the berries..Sumac flowers make great tea (just avoid poison sumac - the white ones)

Hope you enjoyed. Tomorrow I will take them to the forested side of the park...

 

[ToddW]

Nice pics, love the greenery! Out here at this time of hte year it's all brown.

 

[DOC-CANADA]

The park was a tall grass prairie park in our town. Here is a field of goldroden. Also lots of fragmities (no thanks for the invader Europe!) and tree stands.

Thanks for the pictures, kgd.

Before you dump too hard on Phragmites, think about their practical value - the flowerheads make great tinder (can be blown into flame from a coal), the stalks can be used for mats, shelter coverings, etc. They are also edible (The Encyclopedia of Edible Plants of North America, François Couplan, Keats, 1998, ISBN# 0-87983-821-3, page 480) although I can't confirm from personal experience. And I'd rather see a patch of Phragmites than an expressway!!!

Since invasive plants are a fact of life, we should look for positive aspects of them, and also, by using them, we may lessen their impact?

Remember Garlic Mustard (Alliaria officinalis/A. petiolata) is edible.

Doc

 

[kgd]

Thanks ToddW - rain the past two weeks has perked things up some.

Doc_canada - yeah fragmites has been here a long time and dominates at lot of wetland around here. Prefer cattails myself. Thanks for the tips on its survival uses though! A tough as nails plant like that would be useful for shelter construction!

 

[Deerslayer71]

Tea any one?

KGD,
Could you expound a bit on the sumac tea? I've got a lot of this around my house and would like to try. Have you done this before?
What's your process?

 

[Fonly]

awsome pics kgd!

Yeah, the 119 is a nice knife, I like it alot, certainly great fit and finish. Plus its still a worker. Once I get back to Nova Scotia, I think I may favor this knife on my belt.

 

[kgd]

Deerslayer,

Very simple. Just pluck a few of the red berries from the cone and pop em in your mouth - you will taste a sour lemonade like flavour.

For ice tea - take a few of the cones, bruise them up in your hands and immerse in cold water. Place in the refridgerator for a couple of days. Afterwards I like to filter the water through a coffee filter to remove the hairs from the berries. It basically tastes like a slightly weak lemonade. You can add sugar or honey to sweeten to taste.

For hot tea - same process except boil. It is good after about 2 minutes in a rolling boil. Again filtering through a coffee filter helps rid of the fine hairs around the berries. Taste it and add more berries/cone if need be. The cones are best harvest prior to heavy rains as the rains will wash out some of the flavour.

It is a great source of Vitamin C

Enjoy!

 

[Varg Lobos]

Great pics.

I recently re-discovered my Buck 119. It's a great knife. It took the backseat while I was busy buying and trying other knives. Now it's back.

Thanks for the pics.

 

[longbow50]

Love the pics...beautiful country.

 

[Macclint]

Did that one pic have nicks in the4 blade?

 

[555]

Great pictures of the outdoors and the dogs.

And I've always liked Buck USA products and 119 is one of them.:thumbup:

 

[kgd]

Did that one pic have nicks in the4 blade?

That was pieces of wood fibre adhering to the edge in the close up picture of the blade. The edge was in perfect shape after the little bit of chopping I did on 3 branches. I should qualify that on the 2" branch I was really reefing hard on the chops. The knife still scrapes hair well without need of touchup - just wiped it down when I came home.

While I wish it was a bit heavier and blade heavy for chopping I was pleased with its robustness on this small test. Earlier I had chipped the same knife rather easily during yard work. In one instance I was cutting plastic zipties on a plastic coated chainlink fence. On one cut, the knife hit the rusted part of the fence top pole and a half moon chip ~ 2 mm popped out. I did the same another time when pruning my roses and the knife hit the brick of my house. That was just dumb, but not much force caused the chip.

On the wood - and it was hard well dried wood, the buck seemed to do well. It also sliced into the notch effortlessly. I was considering batoning through the larger part of the limb but after the 40 + 22 + 1 chops I was getting a bit ansy to get moving again.

Overall I do like the 119 and don't regret purchasing it. Other than a couple of delica's, wave, juice and dive knives - this was my first camping fixed blade purchase. Also for those Canuks on the forum, the 119 and 110 can be had at most local hardware stores (Canadian Tire; Walmart ect.) as a walk in purchase. It is amazing how difficult it is to find a name brand hunting knife in retail stores around here.

I am of course looking to add to my collection after reading all the wonderful opinions on these forums.