Cliff Stamp's favorites

The F1 is a very nice medium use utility knife, it is promoted as a military survival knife which often means something you want to avoid, but this is a pretty solid cutting tool all around with no real weak points. It is a clean design with features like the extended tang which add to its performance unless the various "speed hole" additions often found on such blades. Peter is a solid guy who doesn't over hype his blades and is straightforward to talk to, it is worthwhile to spend some time on their forum on Knifeforums.com.

The only concern I would have with the F1 is regarding raw strength, they are not very difficult to break, I snapped both a VG-10 and an ATS-34 model with just wrist flexing in woods. This isn't a sign of poor quality, it just reflects the limitations of the thickness and the fairly tapered point. Is this important to you, if so then you may want to consider one of the heavier designs such as the S1 or A1, or even H1.

However if that tends to be along your viewpoint I would suggest moving away from stainless steels in general, in fact unless you are really fixed on having a stainless blade I would recommend looking at tool steel blades first. The only real reason to go with stainless is if you live in a really humid enviroment and you simply can't keep the tool steel blades sharp. You can try this out with a fairly cheap one like a puukko and judge from there.

Keeping the blade small and relatively inexpensive, the Howling Rat is one of the most versatile cutting blades I have seen which is also very strong and extremely durable in regards to taking shocks both on the edge and on the spine. The only real weak point for use in general is that it is fairly small and thus has little to no chopping ability and batoning in general is difficult due to lack of length. It also doesn't have a real prominent guard.

Unless you are packing a machete, saw or axe, or expect no significant wood work, then I would look into a slighly larger blade. The RD6 from Ranger Knives would give enough blade length to easily cut down saplings and as well be able to baton through thicker wood, if you do order one, specify the flat ground one with a profile for general wood craft not tactical because tactical to Justin means use like this :

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v618/RangerJD/77rk.jpg

and :

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v618/RangerJD/concrete.jpg

-Cliff
 
don't forget the HI khukuris. Are there really better choppers out there? Cliff, I seem to recall a review you did that showed them as pretty tough.
 
The HI khukuris are very tough and very strong, they are also very nice wood cutters. I have spent more than one afternoon with a HI large Ang Khola, usually the 18, and a bowie trying to decide which one I like more. I never did figure it out aside from the fact that I would be very pleased if I had either. They are however generally fairly heavy, my 18" one is 920 grams and the package including the sheath is a bit bulky.

As with all knives you want to spend time with them before making them part of a kit you would depend on. The khukuris maybe a bit more than most as the design is fairly unique and even if you are familiar with large wood chopping knives and even axes, khukuris need a bit of practice before they work well. Some never get the hang of them and simply don't like the way the grips work in hand.

I would also suggest looking at a small axe, the GB Wildlife Hatchet isn't a lot bigger than a medium sized knife and the knife vs hatchet debate is very much a personal one. A lot of these choices you can't always buy every single one and try out of course but the pass around forum is there and a valuable resources to see which way your preferences fall on many of these issues.

-Cliff
 
I liked Cliffs reviews of HI Khukuris so much I bought a few of them...no I'm addicted ;)

From hacking away in the back yard to carving the roast beast the Khuks are handier than I imagined

Rick
 
"I have spent more than one afternoon with a HI large Ang Khola, usually the 18, and a bowie trying to decide which one I like more."
Which Bowie were you looking at Cliff, if you don't mind me asking.
 
Several, pretty much all the large knives I have used I run against a large khukuri, large machete and small axe to gauge their abilities. The first few comparisons I made in depth were with the SHBM. The Battle Mistress in general did most knife tasks better and the khukuri was more fluid in thicker woods. After I spent a lot of time working with the larger khukuris and my wrist strength grew I got to favor them more because I was able to do lighter work such as limbing with them which was problematic before, right now I consider the SHBM to be too light and would prefer a heavier bowie for that type of work.

-Cliff
 
Cliff Stamp said:
Several, pretty much all the large knives I have used I run against a large khukuri, large machete and small axe to gauge their abilities. The first few comparisons I made in depth were with the SHBM. The Battle Mistress in general did most knife tasks better and the khukuri was more fluid in thicker woods. After I spent a lot of time working with the larger khukuris and my wrist strength grew I got to favor them more because I was able to do lighter work such as limbing with them which was problematic before, right now I consider the SHBM to be too light and would prefer a heavier bowie for that type of work.

-Cliff
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Cliff, you should have gotten a RAT DADDY from Swamp Rat. That could have replaced the BM.

Ok, send me the BM man, I know you hate it. So I'll take that withered thing off your hands. I'll send you a big massive bowie in it's place, ok? you need something different to test.
 
Cliff Stamp said:
You have to fight my brother for it, I promised it to him already. If you can take him you can have it.

-Cliff
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why fight when you can steal. :eek:
 
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