Condor Hudson Bay pics

E

endurawave

Joined
Dec 4, 2007
Messages
89
Here are some pics of my new Condor Hudson Bay, Carbon Steel 8.5" blade. Comes with a very nicely made brown leather sheath. Knife easily slides into sheath and it seams very secure.

My initial thoughts are its a great looking knife. Handle is nice, smooth, not as rough as some I've seen. This knife looks and feels very solid. I'm sure it will baton and process wood quite well. Sharpness out of the box, it will slice copy paper however does snag a bit and requires adjusting knife to get all the way thru paper. It shaves hare, but does not pop the hair off like a sharp blade will.

With 5 minutes on my leather belted Harbor Freight belt sander, I believe it will easily become hair popping sharp. BTW for anyone struggling to get that last degree of sharpness out of your blades. Get yourself either this little belt sander, or a set of Paper wheels. I have both, the paper wheels for me put on the sharpest edge, and with very little effort or skill. I went from never being able to get hair popping sharpness, to easily getting there with these 2 tools. Anyway back to the knife...

first impressions are great knife great value. Only negative I can see is handle is a bit thin for my taste. I will probably put one or two wraps of Camo form tape on it to solve that issue.

IMAG1269.jpg

IMAG1270.jpg

IMAG1271.jpg

IMAG1272.jpg

IMAG1273.jpg

IMAG1274.jpg

IMAG1275.jpg

IMAG1276.jpg

IMAG1277.jpg
 
I just got one for my birthday. You observations are right on. Sharp out of the box but not scary sharp. I have been using it to do some trail work cutting back light brush just to see what it will do. The handle is not made for that sort of work but the blade has done fine. After using it for an hour in place of my 18" Tramontina my curiosity was satisfied. It would work in a pinch but it is made for other fun chores.
 
Last edited:
looks like a knife i would get alotta use out of. with XL size hands, i will probably do something similar to what you mentioned withthe handle.
i been considering picking one up in the very near future, so thanks for sharing your first impression of the Condor.
 
I wish they did not do all that hammer marks: it looks a bit cheap.
I have got one: in real life it looks and feels much bigger than on a picture. And the handle is quite a bit rougher than on yours. I am going to change it anyway - so no worry! And there is nothing too difficult to fix using few simple tools.
 
I really like mine after I thinned out the edge and shoulders.

Not a chopper, but a good all round camping knife IMO.


utf-8BRFNDMDMyMjcgKDgwMHg2MDApLmpwZw_zps06cf22c1.jpg
 
Poez said:
I wish they did not do all that hammer marks: it looks a bit cheap.
I have got one: in real life it looks and feels much bigger than on a picture. And the handle is quite a bit rougher than on yours. I am going to change it anyway - so no worry! And there is nothing too difficult to fix using few simple tools.
Click to expand...

I could do without the Hammered look as well. I would have rather had the solid black fiinish, which I could have then removed, and forced a nice petina on it. But its brand new, and it may get to looking kind of cool with some real wear along with the hammered look.
 
I'd prefer it without the roll marking also, and would prefer that just the grey finish be applied. However it remains a heck of a knife for not much money. I like the handle dimensions myself, but I have smaller hands so I guess that makes sense. :p
 
Endurawave, could you specify which sander you have? I might have to get one of those.
 
I have one, and personally I think it leaves a lot to be desired. I keep changing my mind as to sell it or mod it.

First step would be grind off some of the useless metal behind the edge, and give it new longer wood scales...then a sheath that doesn't drag on the ground.

The good side is you do get a good knife/$ ratio with it.
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
I'd prefer it without the roll marking also, and would prefer that just the grey finish be applied. However it remains a heck of a knife for not much money. I like the handle dimensions myself, but I have smaller hands so I guess that makes sense. :p
Click to expand...

^ ^ ^ Yes, this, to a tee !!! ^ ^ ^
 
RDog said:
I have one, and personally I think it leaves a lot to be desired. I keep changing my mind as to sell it or mod it.

First step would be grind off some of the useless metal behind the edge, and give it new longer wood scales...then a sheath that doesn't drag on the ground.

The good side is you do get a good knife/$ ratio with it.
Click to expand...

I think you got one of the handful that came out without the primary grind as fully ground. There was a very short period where some of them were slipping through like that but it's resolved now.
 
Ok I had a chance to run the Hudson Bay blade over my paper wheels. Maybe 2 to 3 minutes, Only used the paper wheel to strop it, did not use the grit wheel.

Like I said before out of the box the blade is sharp. Its got a nice grind and I felt all it needed was stropping.

This was before stropping. It would cut paper but not cleanly.
IMAG1279.jpg



Here is after paper wheel, it glides thru paper now, and will pop arm hair, not bad for a... Brute of a Knife.
IMAG1278.jpg


Here are the paper wheels.
IMAG1281.jpg


So I stropped a little more, and it got a touch better yet.
IMAG1283.jpg
 
Last edited:
I like the size and overall shape as evident in your pictures. The handle shape and construction also looks like it would suit me very well. But I can't get into the blade 'dimples'.
 
Ya, I actually don't care for the dimples myself that much. I will say that in real life I think it looks better.
That said If I can pick-up a old style, non dimpled version I will.
 
I never had much interest in this blade until lately but this thread changed my mind and got me thinking. Seems to me like the leather sheath and the old-school looks of the knife would make it less intimidating and scary-looking when you come across pansies and bladephobics on the trail compared to something like the beckers or ontarios.
 
They just opened a brand new Harbor Freight less than a mile from my mail route! The workers already know my name as I go in there almost every day buying something!! LOL!
Love your Hudson Bay!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top