I will also say go with Leatherman!! You don't get any better for leather work than Dwayne and his wife.
Well you just hadda bring out the big guns halfway around the world! Odd thing though, I can send a package to you the same day as one to Canada and yours will most likely make it first. I think there is a time warp over the pond. Thank you folks! I cant say how much I appreciate my Bussekin customers. I might even have a sheath from the original run of the M9 LE's on hand. That is a story worth telling over the camp fire, what an adventure.
I know what I do with my gear, a first class sheath won't stay nice for long Which is why most of my outdoor clothing is form Army Surplus. (And our $ suck these days, I paid more than I should have for that blade). Funny thing about shipping, when ordering from Asia, earth's rotation is on your side. I once ordered a knife from http://japanesechefsknife.com/ on a Sunday night (was already Monday morning for them), and got it the same week. That was sweet.
Tell me about your dollar... yours is still better than our... I've noticed that when things are going to me through Chicago depo I wait close to a week longer than from the west coast or south of US.
I does suck. The extra I paid due to our dollar is what I would've paid for a nice sheath. Oh well. I did buy a whole lot of stuff when it was 1.20$USD back in 2007.
IT'S HERE! As I bought the M9 to replace my Bushcraft Series RD9, here is a few comparison pics: As you see, the cutting edge is a bit shorter, but with 1/4" vs 3/16" for thickness, I know it will chop better. The handle is definitely longer. I was expecting the scales to be thicker, but it is good. I have small hands. I am surprised about the ergonomics of the handle, it is really comfy in hand. The coating appears to be a good quality. A little disappointment is that the edge is not completely straight from heel to tip. No big deal as I plan to convex the edge anyway. Take a last look at this safe queen, because in my hands it will not stay that way. This will be my combo for next summer: (As you see, the RAT-3 is slightly used)
Love the Saber ground M9's! Good looking chunk o steel there! Congrats! The RD looks pretty nice as well, I have one of the original RD's when Justin was grinding them by hand. Awesome knife. Mine is the first full flat grind RD7. Proud poppa.
Yeah my RD is an Ontario Bushcraft series. They thinned it to 3/16. It is great for batoning, but too light to chop. The mass center is too close to the handle. I might try to get some steel removed from the handle to bring that balance forward. I still have a pre-Ontario RD6 that got stripped, convexed and got Kirinite scales added. Kirinite looks good, but gets slippery when your gloves are covered in snow.
Glad it made it to you. Enjoy it. I hated to let her go, but I still have another CG and an awesome LE. Leathermans sheaths are top notch too!
I tried the Kool Aid, not sure I like it. The blade look nice, the blade feels nice in the hand. As I mentioned earlier, the edge is disappointing. It is uneven, and dull. How dull? To be honest I have seen sharper knives at the dollar store. To be fair to Thrill, the knife was as described and the coating was perfect, so it clearly never has been used. So that dull, uneven edge came from the shop. I tested the blade in the bush a couple of time. The blade has a nice weight that should make it a great chopper, but that dull edge is counter-productive. It doesn't bite in the wood. And yes people made fun of me for paying that much for a dull knife, especially from people with Cold Steel on their belts (which are shaving sharp out of the box, I am not a fan of CS, but their knives sure are sharp). It is pretty bad when Cold Steel owners make fun of you. My Swamp Rat M9 is by far my most expensive knife, and by far the dullest. Kind of ruins the love story. A knife that expensive should be perfect out of the shop. I could call this one a sharpened prybar, but it lacks the "sharpened" part. I really wanted to love that knife, but it doesn't stand to its reputation. I know some of you guys will have a different experience, I know you guys love your kins, but I say things as they are. That knife doesn't meet the (high) expectations I had for it. I don't think I will keep it for long. I communicated with Swamp Rat. They can sharpen the blade for free, but I would have to pay the shipping. From up here that would come up to around 100$ for the round trip. I will not pay 100$ to get a 300$ knife sharp. Of course I could just sharpen the damn thing myself. My rant is more about principle. An unused knife should not need to be sent back to the shop for sharpening.
It's carbon steel that's been oxidising for a few years by the time it got to you. You could have honed/stripped it to get it to cut stuff, but really the edge 'might' need a bit o re-profiling to meet all your needs. Busse/Kin blades come mostly with quite obtuse edge geometry and require some work on the edge. Once you get to where you want it to be it is not difficult to maintain the edge. CS... You don't see Jerry suing other knife manufacturers because of their advertising... Yes, they come sharp, but M9 will last you much longer than the CS knives your friends have.
Grind is still uneven. I've put some extensive work on my Ontario RAT-3 second. Stripped it, then blued it, convexed it. I don't mind putting some work on a cheaper project knife. I just expected better from a knife that expensive. No I won't get a Cold Steel. I was thinking more like a Junglas.
And here is where it gets sticky. "Perfect out of the shop" is something that is different for everyone. I end up reprofiling about every swamprat I get as, like you, I am usually not happy with the edge straight from the shop. This doesn't bother me because I can put the geometry I want on it, BUT, I have access to a metal working shop and grinding equipment for my profession, so it's not an all day proposition. I suppose if I were trying to reprofile these by hand I'd be a lot less excited. I'd encourage you to take a look at Worldwood's Mountainmandu thread. http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1280429-The-MountainManDu-Journey He wanted better geometry put on the MMD than what came factory. It took WW and Josh at Razor Edge Knives a couple of trips back and forth to get the geometry right --- for WW's uses. Now if that knife were in the hands of one of our Australian brothers being driven through their hardwoods, there's a strong possibility it would need different geometry, we haven't seen enough reviews to make that call yet. But the point I'm trying to make is that we all use/abuse our blades differently and there is no single grind that everyone is going to be happy with straight from the shop. However, you've got plenty of blade there to put the grind you desire that is best for you. FWIW I've got two M9's, an LE and a Saber-ground like yours. My saber-ground M9 has had some reprofiling work done from the previous owner, and he knew what he was doing. I chopped a bunch of big alder out of the way of the road and camp trails this spring with it and it ate it up and is still sharp. I definitely understand your pain, but think if you get that blade ground to fit your purposes, you'll find there's huge potential in that slab of SR101.
Granted, edge can't be "perfect" for everybody and every use. It just puzzles me that a knife going through a quality control doesn't get close to having a half decent edge, and again, uneven. That edge is embarrassing. I tried to cut a watermelon with the knife. Just with the weight of the blade from maybe 6", it didn't even make a mark on the melon. That's how bad it is.
And I know you are right that with a reprofiling it could become my favorite knife, just pisses me off that it needs to.
