- Joined
- Nov 11, 2007
- Messages
- 1,169
Got a chance to spend some more time with the Bushmasters today even if it was just in my backyard.
First impressions of the bushmasters were very favorable toward the tapered tang model. The taper and liners are visually quite impressive, but it was the 1 oz difference in weight and the shift of the balance point toward the blade that made all the difference for me.
Second impressions were, holy crap! this knife is way bigger than the bushcraft, especially when looking at the pictures. For those of you that wanted a larger knife and handle, you got it!
One other note about the handle, Dan went with the smaller set of thumb grooves on the prototype and it gives you just enough room to get your thumb in there for whittling tasks where you really need to bear down. I think it is a great improvement; they could even shift forward a little more to give you some more room in my view:
Now I generally like a 4", full tang knife for general utility work in the woods. Never thought a 5" blade bought you that much except less capabilities with the precision work. I've got to say the bushmasters handled the precision stuff just fine, handled like a smaller blade. Maybe it was the tapered tang and it's balance, it just worked for me.
So I did a few bushcraft type tasks with the bushmasters, first up was some precision work building a figure 4 deadfall trigger. They did just great, found myself reaching again and again for the tapered tang.
So here's a pic of the completed figure 4 with a field expedient 25lb weight plate for the deadfall. Geometry's pretty bad on the figure 4, but hey it worked and that's all that matters I guess:
My 2 year old was not amused.
Next up was some rough stuff, batoning into some really dense wood I picked up somewhere. I actually got a little worried here, and trying to remember what type of steel these were. I was hoping 3V. But the bushmaster handled it just fine:
Finally, did a little drilling into a fireboard to test tip strength. As expected I probably could have drilled into a brick with no problems:
So my final impressions were the Bushmaster will make an excellent all around utility knife that gives you a bigger blade but still handles like a smaller one when you need it to. I love the balance of the tapered tang, and if I can't convince Dan to drill some holes in a full tang model for me, thats what I will be getting. Thanks for sending these around Dan, the Bushmaster, Bushcraft, and Bushkit make an awesome trifecta.
First impressions of the bushmasters were very favorable toward the tapered tang model. The taper and liners are visually quite impressive, but it was the 1 oz difference in weight and the shift of the balance point toward the blade that made all the difference for me.
Second impressions were, holy crap! this knife is way bigger than the bushcraft, especially when looking at the pictures. For those of you that wanted a larger knife and handle, you got it!
One other note about the handle, Dan went with the smaller set of thumb grooves on the prototype and it gives you just enough room to get your thumb in there for whittling tasks where you really need to bear down. I think it is a great improvement; they could even shift forward a little more to give you some more room in my view:
Now I generally like a 4", full tang knife for general utility work in the woods. Never thought a 5" blade bought you that much except less capabilities with the precision work. I've got to say the bushmasters handled the precision stuff just fine, handled like a smaller blade. Maybe it was the tapered tang and it's balance, it just worked for me.
So I did a few bushcraft type tasks with the bushmasters, first up was some precision work building a figure 4 deadfall trigger. They did just great, found myself reaching again and again for the tapered tang.
So here's a pic of the completed figure 4 with a field expedient 25lb weight plate for the deadfall. Geometry's pretty bad on the figure 4, but hey it worked and that's all that matters I guess:
My 2 year old was not amused.
Next up was some rough stuff, batoning into some really dense wood I picked up somewhere. I actually got a little worried here, and trying to remember what type of steel these were. I was hoping 3V. But the bushmaster handled it just fine:
Finally, did a little drilling into a fireboard to test tip strength. As expected I probably could have drilled into a brick with no problems:
So my final impressions were the Bushmaster will make an excellent all around utility knife that gives you a bigger blade but still handles like a smaller one when you need it to. I love the balance of the tapered tang, and if I can't convince Dan to drill some holes in a full tang model for me, thats what I will be getting. Thanks for sending these around Dan, the Bushmaster, Bushcraft, and Bushkit make an awesome trifecta.
