So, it's been a few months now that I've been carrying the Northwoods stockman that Dan gifted me, and for that time, I haven't carried another knife. Okay, the ever present Vic classic that's always on my keyring, but that's like a cosmic constant in my life, so I'm not sure that counts. For all intents, the Northwoods stockman has been my number one knife for all my cutting needs, so I figured I'd update things.
It took a little while to reacclimatize to carrying a pocket knife bigger than my much beloved and missed peanut. But at the same time, there was a weird vague sense of familiarity with it, since I spent about 25 years of my pre-knife knut life with a stockman. The Northwoods seems a bit lighter than the Buck, but it may be my imagination since with the rounded bolsters, it seems more streamlined and compact than my old 1960's 301.
The carbon steel blades have been very impressive, holding a very good edge, and when needed touching up, came back to hair shaving sharp on the nearest coffee mug with no problem. I've rubbed a little mineral oil into the wow scales, I don't really know if that's needed, but it was my way of fondling the knife and giving it the feeling of being a precious. The very easy pulls on the blades make working with the knife a breeze, even with my arthritis on a 'bad' day. Today is a cool rainy day after a low humidity warm day yesterday, and I still have no problem opening whatever blade I want on the Northwoods. The light blade pulls don't affect the use, since I was used to the friction folder resloza, and the Opinel without the locking ring, so I just use the knife like that. A cutting tool. It's opened UPS boxes, 20 50 pound plastic bags of white gravel from Lowes for redoing a patio area, Masking tape trim while repainting part of the house, The spey blade doing a good job with speckling in some very small nail holes in some textured wall paper so I didn't have to redo the wall, Breaking down a few boxes after a shopping trip to Sam's. Some other odds and end cutting jobs, all done with perfection.
I like how Northwoods has taken the blade grind down to a nice thin profile. Since I keep the spey blade pretty dull as my choice of blade saver, to use on those jobs that I really don't want to use a 'good' blade on, the thin profile is nice. Even dull it will open a box that's taped up with that fiber re enforced packing tape that just takes the edge right off a blade.
The joints are not sunken, but they are pretty darn low, and the closed profile of the knife is very pocket friendly. No fraying of pocket lining yet, and I don't think there will be. It makes a good worry stone, the wood feeling smooth and friendly to a worrying thumb. I'm happy with it still, and thanks again, Dan!
It took a little while to reacclimatize to carrying a pocket knife bigger than my much beloved and missed peanut. But at the same time, there was a weird vague sense of familiarity with it, since I spent about 25 years of my pre-knife knut life with a stockman. The Northwoods seems a bit lighter than the Buck, but it may be my imagination since with the rounded bolsters, it seems more streamlined and compact than my old 1960's 301.
The carbon steel blades have been very impressive, holding a very good edge, and when needed touching up, came back to hair shaving sharp on the nearest coffee mug with no problem. I've rubbed a little mineral oil into the wow scales, I don't really know if that's needed, but it was my way of fondling the knife and giving it the feeling of being a precious. The very easy pulls on the blades make working with the knife a breeze, even with my arthritis on a 'bad' day. Today is a cool rainy day after a low humidity warm day yesterday, and I still have no problem opening whatever blade I want on the Northwoods. The light blade pulls don't affect the use, since I was used to the friction folder resloza, and the Opinel without the locking ring, so I just use the knife like that. A cutting tool. It's opened UPS boxes, 20 50 pound plastic bags of white gravel from Lowes for redoing a patio area, Masking tape trim while repainting part of the house, The spey blade doing a good job with speckling in some very small nail holes in some textured wall paper so I didn't have to redo the wall, Breaking down a few boxes after a shopping trip to Sam's. Some other odds and end cutting jobs, all done with perfection.
I like how Northwoods has taken the blade grind down to a nice thin profile. Since I keep the spey blade pretty dull as my choice of blade saver, to use on those jobs that I really don't want to use a 'good' blade on, the thin profile is nice. Even dull it will open a box that's taped up with that fiber re enforced packing tape that just takes the edge right off a blade.
The joints are not sunken, but they are pretty darn low, and the closed profile of the knife is very pocket friendly. No fraying of pocket lining yet, and I don't think there will be. It makes a good worry stone, the wood feeling smooth and friendly to a worrying thumb. I'm happy with it still, and thanks again, Dan!
