When Obsessis was hangin with his bro...... I stopped by his girlfriends house and took some pictures.
I brought out the back ground a little to show the blades off better.
Observations:
I have no experience with the Izula II but my design of the Izula II would've looked like the eskabar (I need more blade, not handle). I'll have to check one out to see how Daddy (that's me) likes it.
1. The handle on the Eskabar is slightly different in dimension than the Izula, but you can modify the Izula scales to fit (slight mod) so the scale advantage of the Izula is negated (in comparison).
2. I prefer the blade design of the Eskabar over the Izula. No recurve before the belly (thinking of my son sharpening the blade on a stone) and the "finish"?. The "epoxy" on the Izula (and others) is pretty...... horrible? I don't mean that it's not a good/nice finish because it's awesomely done... but carving/cutting wood... that's a whole different story. The Eskabar has a coat of paint and it's just the bare minimum to get the job done (protecting the steel). It will get "dinged" up sooner and isn't as pretty as the Izula, but my experience/needs are different than other peoples/climates. I'm in Arizona so no jungles, swamps etc.
3.
fit: The Izula has a very positive lockup in the sheath... it fits perfect or tight. The "fit" on the Eskabar is pretty sloppy, it rattles alot but still has positive retention which is more "important" than the lockup but still annoying.
finish: I really prefer the sheath of the Eskabar between the two. It's slim enough to "neck" and wide enough for tekloks and running a ranger band. Haven't checked to see if the ESEE pouch fit's it yet but I've got rivets to make it fit if need be. I'll probably heat up the Eskabar sheath and re-press it while the knife is in it to take care of some of the slop.
Hope this helps.
