- Joined
- Mar 27, 2009
- Messages
- 336
As you can all imagine, I was very excited to receive this pass around knife in the mail a week ago. Upon opening the package, I found a knife that would excel at cutting all woods I would touch the edge to. I am thrilled to have had the opportunity to test this knife against 14 other Doziers. I asked my hunting partners who are all Dozier nuts as well to help test the knife.
Upon first glance at this knife, the craftsmanship was as great as would be expected from Bob Dozier and Dan Crotts. The fit and finish of the knife were impeccable. The natural Canvas scales were married to the tang perfectly. The 3 /78" blade and a 4 1/2" handle makes this a great size knife for a wide variety of chores.
Once I began handling the knife, the main issue I had was the thin scales, I seemed to have issues with comfort on holding the knife in a basic carving hold, and I never felt as though I had complete control as I do with the rest of my Dozier knives. I would consider making a few changes to the handle. The knife had what seemed to be ¼ scales where I would like 3/8 stock instead to give a little more beef to hold. When my hunting partners all handled the knife, they all made comment to the scales being a bit too thin as well, which seems to be the general consensus of the previous two testers.
Food Prep- The knife did a good job as a sous chef in the kitchen. I put the knife to the test in the kitchen by making a roasted vegetable soup with roasted rib bones. I cut all of the meat off the baby back ribs with the knife, no problem there, then took all of my vegetables and cut them up to roast before going into the bone both. This grind is not the most perfectly suited for slicing tomatoes evenly, but I was able to overcome that by controlling the blade as it sliced. The soup turned out great by the way
Cutting- There is no question this knife was made to cut. I carved on Juniper, Fir, Oak, Brazilian Cherry, Ash and Pine, this knife made deep and even slices into all of the woods. Brazilian Cherry is an incredibly hard wood, I was interested to see how it would handle it, but the blade didnt want to slow down on its way through the wood. Notching was another great benefit with this grind, as I was able to make very controlled and precise cuts into any one of the woods tested. I took a piece of Fir about ¾ thick and made a cut through in one slice at a very steep angle, with little hesitation of the blade.
Fire starting- Along the same lines as cutting, this knife made short work of fuzz sticks. The knife has an incredibly sharp 90 degree edge on the top of the spine, and getting a spark on a metal match was no issue. I actually took the top of the spine to a piece of fir and was able to make enough fuzz without ever using the blades sharpened edge, to start a fire with a metal match.
Batonning- I was able to baton through wood fairly well, though, the blade is approximately .125 thickness at the top of the spine. There is an obvious tradeoff with going thicker, you can split a little better without the blade wedging too much, but you can take away some of the knifes ability to slice as well as it does. I would maybe consider going up to .135, but I am not sure I would want to or not.
Due to the scandi grind of this knife, it cuts wood better than any of my hollow ground Doziers. Though, it does have its obvious draw backs that the hollow ground edge will excel at, game processing. I did not have the chance to test this knife in that category, but we all know, scandi is not as great for gutting, skinning or boning out a deer. As far as Batonning goes, I do prefer my Pro Guide Knife, or Wilderness, or my Reverse Tanto, but those knives are also much thicker blades which helps in this task. I really like this knife for fire starting, the grid lends itself for making fuzz stick extremely well, and the tremendously sharp spine really allows this knife to throw some seriously hot sparks.
I have placed an order for one of these beautiful knives, the one I ordered will have the Dozier Loveless Style Drop Point Hunter style handle with Desert Ironwood Scales like the one below, minus the hilt.
I apologize for the low res photos, last night, I took some pictures with my phone, because my camera had dead batteries
Jeff
Upon first glance at this knife, the craftsmanship was as great as would be expected from Bob Dozier and Dan Crotts. The fit and finish of the knife were impeccable. The natural Canvas scales were married to the tang perfectly. The 3 /78" blade and a 4 1/2" handle makes this a great size knife for a wide variety of chores.
Once I began handling the knife, the main issue I had was the thin scales, I seemed to have issues with comfort on holding the knife in a basic carving hold, and I never felt as though I had complete control as I do with the rest of my Dozier knives. I would consider making a few changes to the handle. The knife had what seemed to be ¼ scales where I would like 3/8 stock instead to give a little more beef to hold. When my hunting partners all handled the knife, they all made comment to the scales being a bit too thin as well, which seems to be the general consensus of the previous two testers.
Food Prep- The knife did a good job as a sous chef in the kitchen. I put the knife to the test in the kitchen by making a roasted vegetable soup with roasted rib bones. I cut all of the meat off the baby back ribs with the knife, no problem there, then took all of my vegetables and cut them up to roast before going into the bone both. This grind is not the most perfectly suited for slicing tomatoes evenly, but I was able to overcome that by controlling the blade as it sliced. The soup turned out great by the way
Cutting- There is no question this knife was made to cut. I carved on Juniper, Fir, Oak, Brazilian Cherry, Ash and Pine, this knife made deep and even slices into all of the woods. Brazilian Cherry is an incredibly hard wood, I was interested to see how it would handle it, but the blade didnt want to slow down on its way through the wood. Notching was another great benefit with this grind, as I was able to make very controlled and precise cuts into any one of the woods tested. I took a piece of Fir about ¾ thick and made a cut through in one slice at a very steep angle, with little hesitation of the blade.
Fire starting- Along the same lines as cutting, this knife made short work of fuzz sticks. The knife has an incredibly sharp 90 degree edge on the top of the spine, and getting a spark on a metal match was no issue. I actually took the top of the spine to a piece of fir and was able to make enough fuzz without ever using the blades sharpened edge, to start a fire with a metal match.
Batonning- I was able to baton through wood fairly well, though, the blade is approximately .125 thickness at the top of the spine. There is an obvious tradeoff with going thicker, you can split a little better without the blade wedging too much, but you can take away some of the knifes ability to slice as well as it does. I would maybe consider going up to .135, but I am not sure I would want to or not.
Due to the scandi grind of this knife, it cuts wood better than any of my hollow ground Doziers. Though, it does have its obvious draw backs that the hollow ground edge will excel at, game processing. I did not have the chance to test this knife in that category, but we all know, scandi is not as great for gutting, skinning or boning out a deer. As far as Batonning goes, I do prefer my Pro Guide Knife, or Wilderness, or my Reverse Tanto, but those knives are also much thicker blades which helps in this task. I really like this knife for fire starting, the grid lends itself for making fuzz stick extremely well, and the tremendously sharp spine really allows this knife to throw some seriously hot sparks.
I have placed an order for one of these beautiful knives, the one I ordered will have the Dozier Loveless Style Drop Point Hunter style handle with Desert Ironwood Scales like the one below, minus the hilt.
I apologize for the low res photos, last night, I took some pictures with my phone, because my camera had dead batteries
Jeff
i have yet to own a Dozier...
