Checked out the Condor Hudson Bay with a couple of hawks

upnorth

upnorth

Joined
Nov 25, 2006
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I picked up a Condor Hudson Bay knife yesterday, simply for nostalgia and fun. The sheath is thick and robust but were the belt loop is attached to the sheath, with a swiveling rivet, it's thinned out horribly. This does not instill trust in me and I will correct this in the future. The knife itself feels slightly blade heavy giving a forward ballance. The mottling on the blade is not historicly accurate and the blade itself should be longer and of slightly thinner stock. There is a black wash spread on the blade and you can periferaly see the brush strokes. No biggie, it's more of a play knife for me than anything else. Fit and finnish was about 80% but the tang\grip seams are all tight and smooth, not bad really. I gave it a touch up and pulled some hawks out of the closet. The hawks were also moderately sharp, working sharp I would call it, same as the knife. The most effective chopper was the Cold Steel Rifleman, followed by the C.S. Frontier hawk, and trailing was the Hudson Bay. This was a simple chop off impression and no battoning was involved. Although the Rifleman was the best chopper, I found the Frontier to be more effective. The Frontier was more effective because its lighter weight was less fatiguing over time for me than the Rifleman. So the Frontier was my tool of choice between the three for chopping.
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With regard to the belt loop they skive the leather so ends fit together better (in theory) but it looks like they did a bit of a bum job on your example! Send that photo to Rick Jones at Condor with your mailing address and he'll send you a replacement. The leather never seems to match up perfectly like it would on a custom job, but it's usually a lot better than that!
 
WILLIAM.M said:
How does the handle on the Hudson Bay feel while chopping??
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Really good actually. I read\saw grumbling about it but it feels fine to me, more toward narrow than thick. I wear an XL glove and it feels long enough.
:thumbup:
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
With regard to the belt loop they skive the leather so ends fit together better (in theory) but it looks like they did a bit of a bum job on your example! Send that photo to Rick Jones at Condor with your mailing address and he'll send you a replacement. The leather never seems to match up perfectly like it would on a custom job, but it's usually a lot better than that!
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I like the sheath (not to be said on many factory knives) other than that issue and found it a little disappointing, I will thanks. For the minor nit picking I like the Hudson Bay actually, it's a fun knife. I know that it will perform better than it has basicly out of the box, with a light touch up. I'm going to sharpen it up until it slices paper, or damn close to it, then give it another go round. It's a lot of knife (and sheath) for what I paid.
:thumbup:
 
Not sure that the original Hudson Bay knife was longer. I believe in comparison to the Condor, the originals were blade narrower and shorter with a more pro-found swedge - I think more along the line of what BRKT offers.

Your Condor looks awesome for the price.
 
nice review. condor knives are some serious bang for the buck to say the least. I might have to check out this hudson bay and see if I like the pattern. thanks
 
Great review
thanks

Out of interest
What makes it a 'fun' knife
Why do you not see it as a serious knife
 
Sufler said:
Not sure that the original Hudson Bay knife was longer. I believe in comparison to the Condor, the originals were blade narrower and shorter with a more pro-found swedge - I think more along the line of what BRKT offers.

Your Condor looks awesome for the price.
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I may be wrong (not the first time, believe me). I'll post some pics of an authentic H.B.K.
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grunt soldier said:
nice review. condor knives are some serious bang for the buck to say the least. I might have to check out this hudson bay and see if I like the pattern. thanks
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It feels good in hand and I sharpened it up a bit more last night. I now have the knife getting really sharp and can slice paper toward the tip, but not quite along the belly. One more good session should get it to were it only needs touch ups after use. I paid $55.00 for it up here which is still half of what I would pay for a Becker or some such. From sharpening, the steel seems moderately hard, it sure isn't soft mush. I wiped a smear of mineral oil on the Walnut ? I believe grips and it sucked it up in minutes. It's one of those knives that slowly gets better as opposed to sucking after having it for a while. Other than peripheral issues, it is hard for me to really complain when you consider what you get for less than the price of an Endura.
:eek: :thumbup:
 
Hey upNorth, I'll talk to Rick and see what we can do. In the mean time, I accidentally deleted your pictures when trying to get the address for the leather sheath, can you repost them?
 
neeman said:
Great review
thanks

Out of interest
What makes it a 'fun' knife
Why do you not see it as a serious knife
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Probably because I lean more toward casual\fun outdoor activities. I am not a hard core survivalist type. My tools like tomahawks are just as much nostalgic ''toys'' for me, as real cutting tools. Because I enjoy history and the Fur Trade era of North America, I will tend to buy cutting tools that are similar to or patterned after knives\axes of that era. That is not to say that they aren't effective tools, people lived and died by their use. And I HAVE used them effectively, as have countless others. But in the cold light of reality there are tools such as Wetterlings axes or hand saws, that are simply more efficient wood processors.
 
Joezilla said:
nope not those, the other ones.
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This is it near as I can tell. I was just dissapointed that the thick material is removed to a couple of paper thin flaps and glued together ? Why not just keep the material and use a larger rivet ? When you look at it in hand, there isn't much supporting material there which seems a shame as the rest of the sheath is robust. One flap is super thin with the opposing flap retaining material, then you see the other side and it is reversed. So basicly both flaps are graduatingly beveled with thin material going to basicly paper thin, from left to right, on both flaps.
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I think it wouldn't hang as well on a belt, then. Instead of being able to hang pretty vertical it might want to lean into the leg. It's plenty tough, though--trust me! I've carried the 20" Viking, which is no lightweight, for years without any problem from the belt loop.
 
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