Camp Knife Challenge Results!!!!!

Other Tests

For all you still reading, I ended up stopping my tests here. There are two more than I really wanted to do, but did not get to. They were:

Game

I really wanted to process a deer with these knives. My friend Nick (NWA) did his best to shoot a deer that we could hack up, and he did! However, it ended up being while I was teaching Land Nav for the weekend. With the high temps around here, by the time I got home, he had the thing all cut up.

So, good job on Nick for doing his part. I wish I could have done mine.

Limbing/Brush Clearing

At this point, I really wish the knives could go to someone like Horn Dog. He has nice lush vegetation to slice and palmettos to play with. I am not far enough south for that, and yet not far enough north to get into any of the pine and spruce type of forests. Lost of hardwoods around here, and to be honest, I have never really had to do any clearing of this kind. Even in the thick and tangles swamps, I usually end up picking a different route rather than trying to clear one.

Long way of saying, I think this would be a cool task for a “Camp Knife” but I was not able to come up with anything that I thought had enough meaning to test.

Post Test Inspection

I was not overly taxing on any of these knives. I had to beat on a couple handles no and then, and I know that did not have any effect. I really did not expect to see much in terms of damage. But, I wanted to check each one over at the end.

I am happy to report that I only noticed a couple reportable things, and it is minor. All knives look good, fared well, and most have decent sharpness. I was about to repeat the sharpness test, and I didn’t feel it was fair because as much as I tried, use was not perfectly consistent.

One thing I did notice is a bit of edge dulling in several places on Koyote’s knife.

IMG_4852.jpg


Easily worked out in a minute or so.

The other was a very similar, but super small section on Patrick’s knife. Being smaller, I tried and tried, but was not even able to get a picture of it.

So, that is it.

Final Thoughts on Knives

I will comment on all knives, but in my mind there are a couple real standouts here. First off, I knew what to expect from the likes of Koyote, Rick, Laconico, Koster and Fiddleback. I had a high expectation and knew I was getting a fine knife. However, there are 2 in this lot that surprised me. There were Noshtero and Bruce Culberson.

This is knife number 6 for Noshtero. It is certainly rough around the edges, and I am sure he will get there on a lot of stuff. However, he pretty much stepped up and played with the big boys, and in my opinion, did a good job of it.

Bruce Culberson???? Where the hell did this come from? I have to be honest, I do not follow other custom makers very much and had no idea what Bruce was capable of. I have to say I was very, very pleasantly surprised by this knife. I will comment more in his section.

Koyote

Very cool knife. I dig. Not typical of something I would normally go for, and that is why I am happy that I got to play with something that was different for me. Very cool.

Noshtero

I have to hand it to you. Knife number 6 and you did a damn fine job. Congrats!

Bruce Culberson

Holy crap! All around, this is one damn fine knife. Very useable, and awesome handle. I love the comfort factor of this knife.

With this knife, you are getting 12” of 3/16” O1, very nicely ground, extremely sharp, extremely nice sheath and a HAND SANDED finish for $185!!!! Are you kidding me? If I did not make knives, I would not walk, I would RUN to buy a knife like this!

If there was a price to performance ratio in this evaluation, I am sure you would win it. Damn fine job sir!

Koster

I like the design. Details are nice, and primary grinds are done well. Overall, a really cool knife.

SDS

I think this is a cool knife. Its design however did make me realize some of the short comings in a wider blade shape. While I think this knife would excel at other tasks, I think it was just a big undersized for what this testing was trying to accomplish.

Craig Wheatley

I know I was a bit hard on this knife in the Fit and Finish section, but overall it was a great performer. Any time you go with that type of grind you have to realize it will be better at some tasks than others. Overall, I like this knife, but could probably live with it being a touch less wide from edge to spine.

Stomper

I have to say, in terms of usefulness, I do really like this knife. It’s weakest area is probably chopping, but that goes along with the straight back design (which I do like). John’s knives are a super bargain.

Fiddleback

Andy: I absolutely love this knife. It is a winner design and as the name implies, I think it would be the perfect hunting knife. You noticed that the things it scored well on, it was among the top. If it did not score well, it was pretty much due to size alone.

So, while this is an awesome knife, I wish it would have done better in the overall total, and I think its lower ranking was strictly because the overall length.

If you had given me a Woodsman, with a similar grind, I have no doubts that you would be in the very top (if not the top spot) of this testing. I think the “one knife does all” concept may not be the best, but indeed is suited to something a tad larger. And this is coming from a guy who is not the biggest fan of large knives : )

Rick

I am just in love with this knife. I love curves (on more than knives too!). At first, I thought the design could have been totally for eye appeal. But, I was shocked at how much I liked using it. I am also a sucker for the traditional looks, so that helps too.

Laconico

Ray’s knife is impressive. No way around it. It is amazingly perfect, clean and extremely well made. I don’t think I would have any issues with any knife design that came out of Ray’s shop.

Patrick

What to say about this one : ) The design is probably more in one direction than any of the other knives. What it did good, it did real good. But the design being biased that way, also made it not do so well in the other categories. It is a beast of a knife, and shown that it can do all things. It just does some with less finesse than others in the contest. Still, a very cool display of something I am not used to using.

Final Totals

So, here are the final totals.

Koyote 55.5
Noshtero 53
Bruce Culberson 62.5
Koster 49
SDS 49
Craig Wheatley 51
Stomper 54
Fiddleback 53.5
Rick 64.5
Laconico 60
Patrick 52


The cool thing about this test, that if you have time, you can customize the results to your liking by introducing a weighting factor. If you lay each category and score out on paper (or in excel) you can give each task a priority or weighting factor.

If you rate all tasks of equal importance, you can come up with the same total I did. If you thinking “Cooking” is more important than “Chopping” give each a different weighting factor (say 5 and 3 respectively) and then multiply everything out, and add it up.

The result could be a different winner, and more tailored to your own particular needs.

I hope you all have enjoyed this! I realize it could have gone on and on and been much more extensive. However, I have put literally hours and hours into this thing and at some point I know you guys want to see something!!!! : )

Time to get on with things.

Thank you all again for entering. I am going to take a breather for awhile, but will try to answer questions in a timely manner.

B
 
Dude, this is an amazing effort. I have been trying to read as soon as you post, going to take all night
Excellent Job
 
Outstanding Bro

I'm sure I speak for everyone here when I tell you we appreciate your time -effort--and skill to pull of this test!!!!

Now I have more knives I have to get!!!
 
I just wanted to note that I put these photos on one of my photobucket accounts with a current bandwidth used of 0!

If it happens to hit its limit soon, I will pay to upgrade so people can keep viewing this.

B
 
I'm sure glad I asked if you'd do the testing Brian because I'm quite sure that nobody else on the forum would have taken such good pics and gone into so much detail on the testing.......I can't thank ya enough buddy, awesome job !!!!
 
Good lord, it makes me want to take a nap thinking about the work you put into this man! Thanks much, from yet another grateful knife nut. You put a lot of really impressive steel through some useful and important tests.

Lots of good observations, and as usual your pictures make all the difference in the world.

Hats off to you, sir!
 
We all made good knives for this challenge and I congradulate every knifemaker who participated. However, I don't think these knives are any better than any other knives we've made in the past or some that you see in these forums. What I'm really amazed in is the work of Brian, the tester. The work you did and the write up is just out of this world. This is better than any article in any knife magazine that I've ever read. You did such a great job on it. This test should be published in a magazine or book. Congrats to you Brian Andrews!:thumbup:
 
Wow - What a great review. Makes me wish I was sitting in your backyard that day just handing you stuff, taking pics, and fondling the knives you were not using.

I enjoy watching all these makers do their things - and I have handled or owned over half of the makers knives on this list. I think your findings are right on. I like the fact that there is so much represented here - from forged - to stock removed, from bead blasted to horn.

Just - Wow...


TF
 
Just read this from beginning to end. This is already one of my favourite W&SS threads ever - it combines eye candy with a thorough and very useful discussion. Great work, Brian!

There's much to say and ask, but I'll jump in again later - I want to read what the participants had to say first.

EPIC THREAD!

All the best,

- Mike
 
Brian this was the best knife review/test I have ever read. It was entertaining with great info. You worded your opinions in an extremely fair way. I must say, at times, I couldn't tell whether you liked or disliked certain characteristics.... you slick talker.

Thanks SOOOOOOO much for taking the time to do all of this.

Rick.
 
That was a longer read than some novels. Excellent reviewing and great photo's, I am very thankful that you took all the time to do this so thoroughly. I think I'll read it a second time now :D.
 
Brian, that was an extremely professional, well thought out and incredibly technical yet readable review. As somebody else mentioned, pretty much blows away any review I've read to date. The shear amount of work you put into each of those tests alone was worth of applause. Fantastic pictures, frank and to the point commentary and logical rating schemes.

I think I just might give up trying to do reviews from now on. You've set the bar so high, I need a chair to reach the thing and I'm not sure of my ability to complete the chin-up.

Great stuff! I spent the last hour reading. I want to go back and do it all over again, like snuggling with your favorite book. The only thing I regret is not being around when some of this was going on.

To all the participating makers - great show. Your donation of time, effort, designs and great products produced something wonderful and new here at W&SS!
 
WOW!! What an outstanding job you did Brian!!!!! Thank you for the time and effort you put into this! I think you were extremely fair in your tests and ratings.

Makers, you all did an outstanding job!! Noshtero, I am super impressed with how far you have come in a such a short time bro!!!


Brian please let me know when you are going to the post office to ship these knives off to their makers so I can jack you!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Brian, my hat is off to you sir. You did an outstanding review and the amount of work required was far more than I had realized. Thank you for taking the time and effort to do this for us all.

I think everything shown and said was more than fair. I actually expected that my knife would receive lower numbers in some areas than you gave it.

My favorite among the bunch from what I have read and what I have seen in the pictures is Rick's knife. It looks like and old hunting knife that I'd just enjoy carrying into the woods.

I'm tickled to see something I made in that lineup. There is some high quality steel laying on that log.

I can't speak for everyone but this has been a blast for me and I can't say enough for the work that Brian put into this.

SDS
 
Bravo! This review was a breath of fresh air in an industry that often markets products surrounded with more hype then one would expect to find in a political speech.

There was a recent thread on the General section about a certain knife which claims to be endorsed by a certain military unit, after undergoing a series of mysterious 'unpublished' tests. Of course a meaningless claim without specific mention of the nature of the tests, as well as the knives which took part. Really it's just a way to use a certain military branch's reputation to move your product.

In reality this review and these tests are the ones that we as knife enthusiasts and users should champion. Real world use by people familiar with using knives 'in the bush'.

This review offers actual substance to digest rather trying to piggyback on the reputation of the Marines, Socom, the Seals, and whatever other military unit happens to seem really cool at the moment.
 
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Brian -- A huge thank you for the effort you put into this project. As others have said already, that was the best review I've ever read. You've really set the bar high.

Makers -- A huge thank you to you all too for making this possible. Impressive results all around; makes me happy to see the makers here turning out such excellent knives. Hats off to you for putting such a great display of cutlery together.

...And dear lawd, my checkbook can't take this place anymore
 
Good writeup! I liked the contrast between the different knives and how each of them excelled in something different. I'm sure it is nice for knifemakers to get some constructive criticism too. Great job everyone!
 
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