Douk-douk versus mercator versus Svord Peasant

S

sja2249

Joined
Feb 11, 2006
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How do these compare? Are the blade steels any good? At the moment, I'm leaning towards the Mercator. Is there anything else similar that I should look at?

The douk-douk looks interesting, it's just too ugly... The Mercator looks pretty nice. I have an Opinel and something that may be an Okapi ripoff...

Opinions?

Sam
 
They all compare very similarly--the main difference is the way they close! All make use of decent blade steel (in the medium range for hardness) with nice thin grinds. The Mercator has the thinnest grind of the bunch and features a back lock. The Douk Douk has a stiff backspring with a half-stop. The Svord has the tang of the blade to keep it open and has the most robust blade in terms of thickness and grind. Where there any specific uses or circumstances you intend it for?
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
They all compare very similarly--the main difference is the way they close! All make use of decent blade steel (in the medium range for hardness) with nice thin grinds. The Mercator has the thinnest grind of the bunch and features a back lock. The Douk Douk has a stiff backspring with a half-stop. The Svord has the tang of the blade to keep it open and has the most robust blade in terms of thickness and grind. Where there any specific uses or circumstances you intend it for?
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Nothing specific at the moment. Whatever I go with may end up in my bugout bag. At the moment, I'm just fascinated with these low tech knives. I have a few opinels, and I find the super thin knives to be interesting and certainly easy to stow in a bugout bag.

Sam
 
FortyTwoBlades also sells a Douk Douk variant called L'Ecureuil (the Squirrel) which has an unmarked spearpoint blade, sturdier than the original Douk blade.
 
I have wanted to know the opinion of a few old school knives myself, not all the ones you stated but the Douk Douk, Svord peasant and opinel.

I have both an opinel and a svord peasant (just got the svord) but can't speak of the Douk Douk nor mercator.

To begn with I have said before that my opinel sharpens easier and likely gets sharper than any other knife I have...but the svord may get as sharp (maybe sharper), but its a little more work because of how poor the blade was ground. The blade of my Opinel is perfect, and with very little effort its like a super razor...the svords uneven grind makes the sharpening a longer process, and is far from perfect, but it shaves with great ease.

Using the svord in the kitchen however it falls short of the opinel, even with it shaving hair with equal ease it just didnt cut various foods as well.

The svord is also a lot thinner than I thought, it very very close to my Opi #8 in thickness.

The svord is really more garden tool like than pocket knife like...where my opinel has class my svord (w/plastic handle) is more a tool thats treated like a rake or shovel. I am sure this feeling of mine is because I don't have a wooden handle, and it would have some class to it if it did, but I don't think it would lose that garden tool feel.

The ease of opening and closing the svord lend its self to work more so than the opinel, but I don't think the svord will replace my opinel for weekend/leisure carry and use.

I like the look of the Douk Douk very much, and it will be my next knife buy.

I will continue to carry and use my Opinel #8 (I do feel its a little on the small size) on my weekends as it has class and a wonderful blade. The svord will be tested more and hopefully I'll clean up the grind and perhaps make a better handle? it should make a good pack knife at least, something stuck in a bag and forgotten about untill its needed. Something that can be beat without mercy (if it proves worth beating). Point being its crude as is, I don't look at it in the same light as the Opinel.
 
The Svords are definitely meant to be "ridden hard and put away wet" so to speak. The Mercator is in many ways a slimmer back-lock version of an Opinel in terms of how it performs. The slim blade is of similar geometry and so performs about the same. The Douk Douks are a little more robust than the Mercators and have a similar degree of comfort with regard to the handle. One thing of note is that they come with the spine left as-stamped and the tips are a bit rounded. This could be easily remedied by squaring the spine of the tip with a half-round or chainsaw file. Very pocket friendly, like the Mercator, due to its slim design. The "Squirrel" version has a nail nick in addition to the spearpoint blade, so may be easier for some to open.
 
RDog said:
I have wanted to know the opinion of a few old school knives myself, not all the ones you stated but the Douk Douk, Svord peasant and opinel.

I have both an opinel and a svord peasant (just got the svord) but can't speak of the Douk Douk nor mercator.

To begn with I have said before that my opinel sharpens easier and likely gets sharper than any other knife I have...but the svord may get as sharp (maybe sharper), but its a little more work because of how poor the blade was ground. The blade of my Opinel is perfect, and with very little effort its like a super razor...the svords uneven grind makes the sharpening a longer process, and is far from perfect, but it shaves with great ease.

Using the svord in the kitchen however it falls short of the opinel, even with it shaving hair with equal ease it just didnt cut various foods as well.

The svord is also a lot thinner than I thought, it very very close to my Opi #8 in thickness.

The svord is really more garden tool like than pocket knife like...where my opinel has class my svord (w/plastic handle) is more a tool thats treated like a rake or shovel. I am sure this feeling of mine is because I don't have a wooden handle, and it would have some class to it if it did, but I don't think it would lose that garden tool feel.

The ease of opening and closing the svord lend its self to work more so than the opinel, but I don't think the svord will replace my opinel for weekend/leisure carry and use.

I like the look of the Douk Douk very much, and it will be my next knife buy.

I will continue to carry and use my Opinel #8 (I do feel its a little on the small size) on my weekends as it has class and a wonderful blade. The svord will be tested more and hopefully I'll clean up the grind and perhaps make a better handle? it should make a good pack knife at least, something stuck in a bag and forgotten about untill its needed. Something that can be beat without mercy (if it proves worth beating). Point being its crude as is, I don't look at it in the same light as the Opinel.
Click to expand...

Thank you so much for this review. :)
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
The Svords are definitely meant to be "ridden hard and put away wet" so to speak. The Mercator is in many ways a slimmer back-lock version of an Opinel in terms of how it performs. The slim blade is of similar geometry and so performs about the same. The Douk Douks are a little more robust than the Mercators and have a similar degree of comfort with regard to the handle. One thing of note is that they come with the spine left as-stamped and the tips are a bit rounded. This could be easily remedied by squaring the spine of the tip with a half-round or chainsaw file. Very pocket friendly, like the Mercator, due to its slim design. The "Squirrel" version has a nail nick in addition to the spearpoint blade, so may be easier for some to open.
Click to expand...

Douk-douk is more robust in what way? The blade? The handle? Both? I prefer the spear point over other weird douk-douk shape. I hadn't realized how thin the blades were on the mercator. The douk-douk has a thicker blade?

Apparently my Okapi is not a ripoff... It says Okapi and Made in South Africa on the tang. It's a long, skinny slipjoint with a very colorful handle. I can't seem to find a pic of one like it online.

Sam
 
I really really really like the Douk Douk, easiest knife to pocket I own, cuts great and I have grown to love that weird Douk Douk look, and the weird look you get from people when you pull it out. I have challenged myself to carry a sub 25 dollar knife for a year and since I got my Douk Douk I don't think this will be any trouble at all. It is a fantastic all around knife.
 
I have Opinels in different sizes, the #8 and #12 in carbon, and a #8 and #6 in stainless. The #12 has a 4.75" blade and 6.75" handle. The #6 has a walnut handle, a nice gentleman's knife. I also have a deeply curved harvesting Opinel, but it's so gunked up with plant sap and rust, it has been retired. :)

A Mercator was my knife in high school, along with a 4-blade scout knife. I have a couple of Douk Douks but don't carry them since I got L'ecureuil, which rides in my left front pocket, hidden under my wallet.
 
hunter s thompson said:
I really really really like the Douk Douk, easiest knife to pocket I own, cuts great and I have grown to love that weird Douk Douk look, and the weird look you get from people when you pull it out. I have challenged myself to carry a sub 25 dollar knife for a year and since I got my Douk Douk I don't think this will be any trouble at all. It is a fantastic all around knife.
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Welcome to the club! I've been EDC'ing an Opinel No.8 Carbon and a CS Pocket Bushman for almost 2 years now, and I have no regrets. :D

Esav Benyamin said:
I have Opinels in different sizes, the #8 and #12 in carbon, and a #8 and #6 in stainless. The #12 has a 4.75" blade and 6.75" handle. The #6 has a walnut handle, a nice gentleman's knife. I also have a deeply curved harvesting Opinel, but it's so gunked up with plant sap and rust, it has been retired. :)

A Mercator was my knife in high school, along with a 4-blade scout knife. I have a couple of Douk Douks but don't carry them since I got L'ecureuil, which rides in my left front pocket, hidden under my wallet.
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I love the Opinel pruning and harvesting knives. I love properly done pruning blades for utility work and consider them a distinct sub-class of hawkbill due to their relatively straight forte. Much more useful to me than ones that immediately start curving (like the Spyderco hawkbills.) L'ecureuil is getting more and more tempting all the time and I know I'll be taking one out of inventory for myself at some point very soon, though that's something I try to minimize doing. :p
 
I really love my Svord Peasant. For 15 bucks or whatever it cost, I have no problem absolutely beating the hell out of it in the woods, at the river, fishing, hunting, camping, cooking, etc. It's a heck of a piece equipment for the price. The design is also pretty cool. Something fun about friction folders.
 
sja2249 said:
Douk-douk is more robust in what way? The blade? The handle? Both? I prefer the spear point over other weird douk-douk shape. I hadn't realized how thin the blades were on the mercator. The douk-douk has a thicker blade?
Click to expand...

FortyTwoBlades said:
Yes--the Douk Douk has a thicker spine. :)
Click to expand...

I've not carried the douk douk, so I don't know it's thickness. The mercator cat that I have has a distal taper and goes from about 1/8" to a fine point. It may be slim, but it's a surprisingly sturdy blade.
 
The Douk Douk is only a hair thicker than the Mercator at the base of the blade, but has a less drastic distal taper. It still ends fairly thin, but not nearly so thin as the Mercator, which ends up scalpel-like at the tip.
 
Update: I just got my Douk Douk! let me say this is a cool knife...it straddles the line between artsy and beast. The blade is thicker than my Rat 1 folder! This is at the spine but gets thinner at the tip. The handle is the same length as my Opinel #8 and the blade is longer over all, but if you measured along the edge the Opi wins by 1/8"

I have some history with the opinel and know its a very good knife and even better if you consider what an Opinel costs. I want very much a larger Opi, 9 or 10...ok both and they will always be in my top list of folding knives.

This new Douk Douk is very cool, but I have never used it and thus can't give a real opinion just yet. The art factor alone wins points, the blade thickness is a massive surprise, and just forget about it in the pocket, can't even see let alone feel it through my pants. The only thing I don't like about the Douk douk is how you have to really grab hold of the blade to open it, and thus leave big finger prints on such a beauty. Something that will not be an issue as a patina forms I'd guess.

The svord, I'm trying to like it...no I'm trying to love it but its not going to happen. Its a garden tool. Its a knife for dirt and muck. There is a place for this kind of knife. Its a bit like a Mora in that regard (my most useful fixed blades) but for a pocket knife I like a bit of class as well as usefulness.

when I get my camera back next week I'll post a new thread.
 
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