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Terrill

Joined
Feb 23, 2000
Messages
632
I mentioned a while back that Mark Hazen was bringing me a knife to tear apart. First the basics. It is a 10" long, 3/16 thick ATS-34, hollow ground blade. The handle material is kingwood and it has red spacers. When he brought it by it didn't have its final finish and he told me if it held up to the test he would finish it for me. I hauled it to the mountains and tried my best to wear it out. I had a few black cherry trees that I wanted to take out and thought that would be a good place to start. It was raining a bit but I thought that would help judge the handle shape. One problem I have always found in a large knife when doing some chopping, is having it slip in my hand. Another is blisters. Well between the rain and the fact that I decided not to wear gloves really put this one to the test. What surprized me the most was that after a few selected chops, I forgot about judging the knife's merits and just started clearing brush. The handle shape was all anyone could ever ask for. No slippage and no blisters. Now I have an adverage size hand and if you have large hands you may want the handle a shade longer. I gave it a solid work out for about 1 1/2 hours before I called it a day. The sizes of trees went up to about 4" in dia. and I didn't hesitate to give the blade a bit of twist to free up the chips while cutting. With the 10" blade and taperred tang the balance point is about an inch in front of the bolsters giving the knife just a bit of blade heavy feel. This allowed a feel of control while chopping without wearing out my wrist. The final results: I had an area of about 10 yards all around my peach trees cleared and a lot of black cherry saplings laying around. The blade was still sharp enough that it would of been a waste of energy to try and improve it. It would still shave hair. I half way expected the handle to crack or separate after it dried out but it held together as if it hadn't been used. When I got back to town, Mark took it and put the bead blast finish on it and brought it back to me. Now it is going in my truck for future use. Also, I can use it as a judge for future knives. He has a design in the works that I'm just waiting to head to the woods with.
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Nice job, Terril. Everything I need to know and nothing that I don't. I have been admiring Mark's work for a couple months now. Nice designs, nice fit & finish and VERY nice prices. I had just not seen much written on him or his blades and as a result was hesitant to try a blade for myself. Just might have to do that now. BTW, what is the handle material on your knife and what type of sheath came with it? Thanks.
 
Gorgeous knife, but I have one suggestion for the maker. That squared off area in front of the guard should be ground out a little more forward and rounded off, so that a person could choke up on the knife.
 
This one came without a sheath for two reasons. First it was made to tear apart (that didn't happen) and second, I always make my own. That's my hobby and I'm left handed on top of everything else. But Mark always provides a leather sheath (right or left handed).
Danbo, not a bad suggestion, I'll past it along.
I almost forgot. The handle is Kingwood. I must admit, the material surprized me. When I first got the knife it was only shaped with no finish or polish. The handle was subjected to a good bit of water since it was raining while I tested it and I have seen no ill effects what so ever. Mark's favorite material is micarta but he knew I liked woods.
 
Hey Danbo, thanks for the suggestion on the finger groove to choke up on the knife. I will put that on the next ones. Great Ideal!!!!!. Thanks, Mark
 
More and more we seem to be seeing evidence of excellent performance from ATS-34/154CM steel in big blades.

Thanks for the report, Terrill.
 
Bronco, I don't think I can say a thing against the performance of the steel. It had a good edge when I started and still had a good one when I finished. The only resharpening was done after the bead blast finish was put on. Now I didn't try it out on any rocks but it did go through a good bit of chopping. Mark has another monster in the works which will be more on the lines of heavy duty survival knife. I plan to give it a good going over when I get the first one and then send it to Dexter to let him play a bit.
 
That is a very nice looking knife, Terrill. I really like it, except for the ricasso.

A bit odd, but was checking out the new indexing software for knives that was presented in a thread on either the Custom or Shop Talk forum -- I think. Can't remember if I was checking out Tactical or Hunting knives, or both, but came across a goodly number of Hazen knives.

I really liked most of them, with teh exception of the ricasso. That half step removal just sort of eliminates the ability to use the ricasso to choke up, IMO. It may be a unique visual effect, but I'd lots rather have a useable ricasso.

Hazen's knives appear to be well-balanced and I really like his blade shapes. His handles appear to be quite ergonomic, or at least comfortable. His prices are excellent also.
 
Bugs, I got a call first thing this morning. Mark was telling me about the post and how it would work well to change the notch. I guess I found out that reviews help the maker just as much as future buyers. One advantage with custom knives is that in most cases, the maker is willing to work with the customer on making modifications.
 
OK Mark, give everyone your address and email! Then when you make the modifications to the ricasso on the next one don't forget to let me test it!
 
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