- Joined
- Nov 16, 2007
- Messages
- 723
I received the Bushmasters finally! My first impression is that they are SUBSTANTIALLY larger than the Bushcraft! They are almost 10" overall, and sport a hefty 5" blade that is 1 1/8" wide. I was struck with how beautiful the wood handled knife was, and I LOVED the tapered tang, and how cool it looked with the black liners. The Micarta one was rough and ready, with the usual Koster fit and finish... both of them looked like awesome users, but I was drawn to the wood handled one, as it felt lighter in my hand.
The 3 sheaths that came with the knives were very nice, with 2 of them being by JRE, and the third was unmarked. I like the unmarked sheath the best, as it had thicker leather, a more "custom" less "production" look to it, and was better stitched, IMHO. The JRE sheaths were adequate, and looked to hold the knife in very well. Both of the belt sheaths could hold the knife, and be shaken upside down without releasing the knife... (I like that!) The JRE dangler/snap sheath was the typical JRE sheath construction like for the craft, just a little larger and beefier. the knives were a little tight fit for it, but Im sure it would stretch a bit. Overall, nice leather!
I started playing and chopping some 2x4's that I had laying around, and after some splitting, I decided to try my hand at quickly whittling a VERY crude spoon... (my first ever attempt...)
I noticed that while the woodhandled knife appeared to be a bit sharper, the micarta handled bushy was more efficient at both battoning, AND whittling... After about 20 minutes of interchanging use between the two, I had the CRUDE makings of a spoon... (I think.)
My thumb was getting a little sore from all those push-cuts, and I saw that nice pile of shavings, so I decided to get my firesteel and a tiny bit of drier lint, and have a go at starting a fire.
I tried 6 times to strike a spark using the micarta handled bushy, and all i was getting was some very weak sparks, not the usual stream of them like I get with my bushmaster??? I switched to the wood handled knife, and on the first strike, I had the usual shower of sparks, and on the second attempt, the lint caught a spark...
In no time, we had fire, Baby!!
I tried striking the firesteel with the canvas micarta at the thumbnotches just to see if this would work any better, and it DID seem to create more sparks when struck there, but when you struck it with the portion of the blade past the thumbgrooves, no luck. The wood handled knife has no thumbgrooves, and it sends showers of sparks flying. Maybe the two knives are different metals?
After cleaning up a bit, I decided to break out MY Kosters, and get them together with our guests for some group shots...
Here you can get a better idea of the size comparison between the master and the craft... The Nessie is thrown in just because I love that knife...
and a spine shot of the group:
Some more Koster Knife Pron...
All in all, the knives were excellent. After handling them both a bit, I think I like the looks of the wood handled knife, and the finesse of the tapered tang, but I think i would prefer the Micarta myself. Its a workhorse, and takes no prisoners... There have been threads here about the 5" knife vs the 4" , and this is a classic example...If I had just one knife to take to the woods, It would be a 5". This can handle all tasks of light chopping, battoning, and can still perform well in the more detail oriented tasks like carving, whittling, etc.
When these knives become available, I will definitely be ordering one!
Thanks to Dan for the Passaround!
PS: I had more pics, but the server only let me post 10...lol.
The 3 sheaths that came with the knives were very nice, with 2 of them being by JRE, and the third was unmarked. I like the unmarked sheath the best, as it had thicker leather, a more "custom" less "production" look to it, and was better stitched, IMHO. The JRE sheaths were adequate, and looked to hold the knife in very well. Both of the belt sheaths could hold the knife, and be shaken upside down without releasing the knife... (I like that!) The JRE dangler/snap sheath was the typical JRE sheath construction like for the craft, just a little larger and beefier. the knives were a little tight fit for it, but Im sure it would stretch a bit. Overall, nice leather!
I started playing and chopping some 2x4's that I had laying around, and after some splitting, I decided to try my hand at quickly whittling a VERY crude spoon... (my first ever attempt...)
I noticed that while the woodhandled knife appeared to be a bit sharper, the micarta handled bushy was more efficient at both battoning, AND whittling... After about 20 minutes of interchanging use between the two, I had the CRUDE makings of a spoon... (I think.)
My thumb was getting a little sore from all those push-cuts, and I saw that nice pile of shavings, so I decided to get my firesteel and a tiny bit of drier lint, and have a go at starting a fire.
I tried 6 times to strike a spark using the micarta handled bushy, and all i was getting was some very weak sparks, not the usual stream of them like I get with my bushmaster??? I switched to the wood handled knife, and on the first strike, I had the usual shower of sparks, and on the second attempt, the lint caught a spark...
In no time, we had fire, Baby!!
I tried striking the firesteel with the canvas micarta at the thumbnotches just to see if this would work any better, and it DID seem to create more sparks when struck there, but when you struck it with the portion of the blade past the thumbgrooves, no luck. The wood handled knife has no thumbgrooves, and it sends showers of sparks flying. Maybe the two knives are different metals?
After cleaning up a bit, I decided to break out MY Kosters, and get them together with our guests for some group shots...
Here you can get a better idea of the size comparison between the master and the craft... The Nessie is thrown in just because I love that knife...
and a spine shot of the group:
Some more Koster Knife Pron...
All in all, the knives were excellent. After handling them both a bit, I think I like the looks of the wood handled knife, and the finesse of the tapered tang, but I think i would prefer the Micarta myself. Its a workhorse, and takes no prisoners... There have been threads here about the 5" knife vs the 4" , and this is a classic example...If I had just one knife to take to the woods, It would be a 5". This can handle all tasks of light chopping, battoning, and can still perform well in the more detail oriented tasks like carving, whittling, etc.
When these knives become available, I will definitely be ordering one!
Thanks to Dan for the Passaround!
PS: I had more pics, but the server only let me post 10...lol.
