Charlie Ridge Survival knife

Rockywolf

Rockywolf

Joined
Oct 16, 2005
Messages
7,499
So last year ilbruche reviewed this knife and I fell in love with the design. In the review he made a comment about adding a wood handle and bringing the grind closer to it for detail work. I thought those comments excellent suggestions and set about making them reality. I saved some money, sold some knives, and contacted Mark. He is a nice man to deal and talk with, and puts out an excellent product, as many of you here already know!
Ilbruche (where is he these days?) beat the tar out of the knife already, so no need for me to repeat those tests.
http://216.26.177.84/forums/showthread.php?t=591725&highlight=charlie+ridge
I used it in the kitchen dicing onions and potatoes, and cutting bacon for my egg bake. It kept my knuckles off the cutting board and slices like a dream. I almost always use my new knives in the kitchen first- food prep is the most common use they will see!

I wandered outside for some wood to carve and chanced upon my neighbor's Xmas tree. A couple of push cuts and the sap was oozing.
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I snicked off a couple branches very easily with snap cuts and did a bit of light chopping. The knife isn't heavy or large, in fact it is very light in the hand and nimble for the blade length, which is almost 6 inches. Handle is 4 inches of osage and it has a protruding butt. :D
Sheath is a heavy pouch style that leaves 3 inches to grab onto for ease of removal. Enjoy.

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nice score there Rocky...:thumbup: those knives are bad a$$... i love the osage scales...
 
What is the philosophy behind the large exposed-metal butt? Doesn't look like its needed for balance, nor is it for pounding (and the knife is too practical to be a 'skull crusher').
 
Very functional looking knife that, a little large in the butt for me but I could get her on a diet I suppose.
 
The big butt is for pounding into whatever you want. Or for lashing or cracking coconuts (or zombies!).
 
I think I would like this knife more if the handle was different. While I'm sure its solid knife wood handle just detracts from the knife because it looks like pine. Also is the handle comfortable it looks kinda of blocky.
 
At the risk of sounding rude, I gotta say that I would like that knife a LOT more without the far-too-extended tang. It looks like the maker forgot to put the rear bolster on a knife that didn't need one anyway.

I just don't see a need for that... it looks like the handle is plenty big for a solid grip, and the knife is 100%-utilitarian otherwise :thumbup:

An 1/8" of exposed tang beyond the handle, so impacts don't affect the scale material? That makes sense... but there's too much of a good thing there.

It seems that extended tang would bring the balance further back; this is not a good thing for a knife that may be asked to chop and slash. If the knife is fairly lightweight overall, and with that "short" of a blade, balance is even MORE important than on a larger knife.

Safetyman mentioned that there's no choil... I definitely agree with that feature. Make the whole blade sharp, I say.

I certainly mean no offense to the owner or maker, but that tang feature is a deal-breaker for me. I just don't see any advantage to it, on an otherwise well-designed knife. Strictly my opinion.

Other than that, it looks great! Enjoy :)
 
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It is a nice knife, and every review i have seen has been a positive one, but the butt... it just rubs me the wrong way.
 
That's why I love you guys and your opinions! We all don't have to love the big butt on this baby. I like it and it's all mine. Mark will make it differently if you want him to.
 
Rockywolf said:
Mark will make it differently if you want him to.
Click to expand...

This knife was built to Rock'ys specs....:thumbup:

If you have money and want a skinny, medium, large or "butt-less"" knife, I can do that too, just shoot me a PM! ....:thumbup: that is why it is called a 'custom' knife making....:D

Enjoy the knife, Rocky!

cheers!

Mark
 
Rock on Mark and RockyWolf! You've shown both guts and class. I look forward to seeing other knives you may design/forge/build together or seperately.

Once again, I think it's COOL that both of you have the courtesy and professionalism to take our comments with a grain of salt and respond without malice.

Gentlemen... that shows class. Thank you for sharing that knife with us!

Best Regards, JT
 
James_Terrio said:
Rock on Mark and RockyWolf! You've shown both guts and class. I look forward to seeing other knives you may design/forge/build together or seperately.

Once again, I think it's COOL that both of you have the courtesy and professionalism to take our comments with a grain of salt and respond without malice.

Gentlemen... that shows class. Thank you for sharing that knife with us!

Best Regards, JT
Click to expand...

Thanks brother!
 
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