Bushcraft STYLE Knife Passaround

[KuRUpTD]

I was fortunate enough to score one of these bushcraft knives from Walter Davis and it finally arrived today . This knife was scary sharp out of the box and might already be my favorite I hope to get out and put it to the test soon. Walt's craftsmanship is top-notch and I hope this passaround gives him the recognition he deserves.

 

[tonym]

Told you you would love it!!

Report back here after you give it some use bro!!

 

[tonym]

Whats the word Wade?

 

[tonym]

Just a heads up.

I sent our newest mod Joezilla my own personal bushcraft by Walter to test out during the P.W.Y.P. Gathering in N.C.

There should be fair amount of people there, and Joe said he would report back with his feedback for Walter!

I look forward to the great pics Joe takes as well as his personal feedback. Maybe he will even shoot a video!

 

[tonym]

Bump for Wade.

 

[WadeH]

Thayne the knife should be in yours in a day or two. I was given to the Post Office Saturday, but not sure if it left there Sat. or today, but either way it is on its way to you. Sorry of the delays guys and I will get my review posted either tonight or tomorrow. Have most of it type already just need a little review of it. Thayne you are going to really like the babies.

 

[tknife]

Cool thanks for the heads up :thumbup: Looking forward to playing with them.

 

[WadeH]

First I would like to apologize for taking so long with these knives. If I was to tell the truth, and I had my way both of these knives would still be with me. I put both knives through a variety of tests. After allot of work with both of them and allot of pictures taken I discovered that there was a problem with my camera and storage card. Well either that or I know even less about operating them that I think I do. I lost almost all of the pictures that I had taken. So I went back and tried to at least take some more pictures that would show some of the tests that I did. Then between the bad weather, the rain, storms, tornadoes, and some damage to the post office close to my house we finally got some pictures taken and the knives mailed off. So most of the pictures I have and will post here are third round pictures and were taken with my old fashioned 35mm Nikon with 200 ISO Kodiak color film. There may be a few of you who do not even know what kind o f camera I am talking about.  Which all of this whining really means is that I got to spend some extra time with the knives and now I have an excuse to buy a new camera.
My first impressions were very good and I liked the looks of both very much. They both fit my hand very well and the handle material had just the right texture to give good grip wet or dry without being overly rough on the hands. I did use both to help prepare a salad and tried them both with wet hands and they handled beautifully. I believe a person could use the knives all day very comfortably. My personal preference would be for the larger knife with the Red and Black scales. Not because it was better made or handled better, but since my wife went to the University of Georgia and we have football season tickets she would kill me if I choose another color. She takes this football allegiance very seriously. The color of the handle would be the only reason for me to select it over its counter part.
Talfuchre did an excellent review earlier and I agree with pretty much everything he said and there is not a whole lot to add to it. The biggest problem I would have with any of them is the sheath. Some people probably would not really harp much on the sheath, but to me it is part of the set. It is the first thing people see and gives a person their first impression of what they are going to see. Overall the sheaths are very well built, they really are built like a tank, it is just the ascetic part of the sheath that is the problem. Like Talfuchre said, there are knots where they do not need to be, the welts need to be done different, and other things like that. I do not need to harp on these and I sure do not want to hurt Walt’s feelings at all. So I do not think I need to keep beating a dead horse here. If I remember correctly Talfuchre said that he has already talked to Walt about what needs to be done with his sheath making.
There really was very little that I did not like about either one of the knives. In my opinion you really have to get nit picky to find any problems with either of them. I know Talfuchre talked about the pins not in a straight line on the smaller knife and he is right. I just do not have big problem with it as it is not readily noticeable, unless you are looking for it, because it is the middle pin and right in the middle of the big swell in the handle. Now if you eye ball it from the end it is about 1/16th to 1/8th out of alignment. I believe a little more care in finishing the handle could be taken, mainly around the Thong holes. The only other complaint I would have is the finish on the blades. These are sanded across the width of the blade, I would rather see them sanded along the length of the blade. This is just a personal preference and has no bearing on the quality of this knife. I am just one of those people that likes things a certain way. I have never really liked a mirror polish on a blade because the first time you use it you have scratches on it and I think when doing a matt finish the final sanding should be done along the length of the blade. Like I said I am really getting picky here and if it was not a review I would not even mention it.

Here are a few pics of them:

I had been doing a little leather work and thought I would see how they would cut a few pieces. They did very well.



I had lost all of the pictures taken while cutting up all of the veggies for a salad, but I was able to do a few while preping me some Strawberries to make some Strawberry Shortcake.



to be continued.

 

[WadeH]

Here are some pictures doing some fire making prep work:

I did allot more batoning with these knives than the pictures show. These are some replacement photos of the ones that I lost, somehow. I am still blaming the camera for losing all of my pictures. These and some of the others were taken with a different camera and I had no problems at all with it.




Here are a couple feather sticks. Both knives worked great doing these.




These blades hold an excellent edge. After all of the beating and use I put these knives through I never had to sharpen it, all I did during all of its use was work it on my strop once, which brought it right back to where it would shave hair on my arm. I did touch the blade up before sending it on to Thayne but it did not take hardly any work on it at all to bring it back to a hair splitting edge.

to be continued,

 

[WadeH]

I did compare them both with one of my knives, a Puma. This knife is probably almost thirty years old. It was made back when they used some of the best steel in the world. It was kind of a unfair comparison because the Puma is a bigger knife with a blade of 6 ½ inches long.



I did some chopping with both the Puma and the Red and Black knife. The Puma did a little better, but it was only because of the size advantage.



I would feel very comfortable using the Red and Black or even the smaller one as my only knife in the woods. Both of the knives are easy to work with and they feel good in your hands doing all of the chores I worked them with.


Summary or final thoughts:

These are both really good knives and I would not mind having either of them on my hip at anytime. I believe Walt needs to do a few things to improve his knives. I would like to see the finish on the blades be a little bit different as I stated already, a little more care in the finish of the handles, and as already mentioned work on improving his sheaths. I would offer one other thing or suggestion on these knives is to put a spacer or liner between the blade and the scales. For instance, the Red and Black knife could have a red liner. Just adds a little extra something to the overall package. All of the problems that I have mentioned on Walt’s knives are pretty minor, but improving all of these minor things is what that’s that knife from being a good knife to a really great knife. Walt I want to thank you for allowing me the opportunity to handle some of your knives, it was a great honor and you make a really good knife. I wish you only the best in your future knife making career.

 

[WalterDavis]

WadeH, thanks for the great review:thumbup: Sorry about your camera problems, I hate it when stuff like that happens:grumpy: I do appreciate you taking the time to go over these as detailed as you did, and I definitely appreciate you being picky with your review Really, it helps me tremendously to hear what needs to be improved on, and what everyone's preferences are. Thank-you much for the honesty:thumbup:

Just so you know where I'm at on some of this (not being defensive, just explaining), after TF's review, he spent a bit of time and detailed out what I could do to work on my sheaths and make them better. I won't say that they're good yet, but they are improving As far as liners and blade finish, those are comes and goes with each knife. I don't follow set patterns or do things exactly the same with each knife, as I think that takes the fun out of having a handmade knife. I will eventually get some of my designs down to the point of having the blanks cut out, but for now I enjoy the individual-ness of each knife I make. So, some have machine finishes on the blades, some are hand-finished, some etched, some blued, just depends on what I'm feeling Most of my satin finishes, machine or hand, do get run on the buffer a bit, mostly because with the propensity of the steel to rust, I've found they better resist corrosion if I polish them, then go back to the sandpaper. Of course, if someone has a preference, I'm all ears- especially when they've got their checkbook handy I have started cleaning the thong holes better to remove the roughness from contouring them.

Again, thanks for the great input, Wade! It is very much appreciated:thumbup: I'm glad you enjoyed them. I'm definitely taking all this advice to heart, and my knives (and sheaths) are already getting better, which is exactly what I wanted:thumbup:

-Walter

 

[tonym]

Great review Wade!

Nice pics as well!

 

[Diomedes Industries]

I was fortunate enough to score one of these bushcraft knives from Walter Davis and it finally arrived today . This knife was scary sharp out of the box and might already be my favorite I hope to get out and put it to the test soon. Walt's craftsmanship is top-notch and I hope this passaround gives him the recognition he deserves.

HEY! Did Walt do some tooling on this sheath? Good job Walt stepping out of your comfort zone! Looks like you did a simple pear shading tool in a random pattern. Breaks up the plainness of a woodcraft sheath.

TF

 

[tknife]

I got the note from the mailman that they tried to deliver it, so I will be heading to the PO today to pick these up. So I should get to play with them this weekend.

 

[tknife]

I did some playing with the knives today. There has been some great constructive feedback on them already. I mostly used the smaller knife because I liked the slightly fatter handle better, though I thought both knives were comfortable.

I did a little batonning, the thin blade stock slid through easily

Cut some notches

Was able to easily get some paper thin curls with it, the edge geometry is great

I have an broken hickory axe handle, this thing is hard as a rock, but I was able to get some little curlies going

I really like the sloped portion of the handle near the blade. It's a comfortabe and secure spot for my thumb when slicing in a reverse grip

So far I have used the knife for a few hours cutting different things and I really enjoyed using it. Handles are a pet peeve of mine, and Walt's are done right. they are well rounded on the corners and are nice and hand filling without feeling blocky.

The only thing I would change on this knife is I think the point is a bit too thin. If I were to order one, and I most likely will, I would ask Walt for slightly thicker stock and to leave more metal out to the tip. It's just personal preference for me, but I would love this thing in 5/32" Though it performed perfectly in 1/8th thickness. With a couple sheath improvements that Tal has pointed out, the whole package would be perfect. Walt's prices are a great value, so I will have to grab one of these before his prices go up!

 

[Diomedes Industries]

You may want to keep your eyes open. Walt is sending me some beaut's and I will be panting them very soon.

I liked the hell out of his / Tony's knife.

TF

 

[WalterDavis]

Tknife, I'm glad you liked 'em:thumbup: I guess I need to get a hold of some 5/32" stock to keep handy. I did try making a couple of the larger knives out of 3/16", but I just couldn't get the edge geometry quite as thin as I like for this style, but now that my skills have improved, I don't think I'd have any problem with some thicker stock

I'm happy you like my handles. That's one area that I really focus on, as I absolutely hate buying a knife and finding out that it's uncomfortable. I'd much rather put out an ugly, useful knife than one that's pretty but painful to use

Thanks for the great review:thumbup:

Walter

Walter

 

[tknife]

udtjim, these two are headed your way today :thumbup:

 

[udtjim]

These got to me today and I will be able to give them a try this week and get them off to the next guy, However, right now I am not sure who that is.

First impression is WOW, Nice stuff indeed.:thumbup:

 

[WalterDavis]

Glad to hear it! I hope they perform up to your expectations:thumbup: