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Esee knife recommendation
- Thread starter voodoo120
- Start date
AntDog
Basic Member
- Joined
- Apr 3, 2001
- Messages
- 27,572
I have no problems with it's heft either man! I have problems with its cutting ability. It would be absolutely badass to me either full flat ground, or made with thinner stock. (With the same grind)
IMO it's just one of those jack of all trades, master of none knives. Same as the venerable BK2. (I'm putting on my asbestos suit now....)
If you like the 5, that's great! It's just not for me. Diff'rent strokes for diff'rent folks, ya know.
- Joined
- Nov 10, 2006
- Messages
- 1,408
Being in the AF and knowing a lot of the survival guys they all have a "sharpened prybar" mentality with knives. So the 5 is perfect for them. A friend of mine was the supply officer for the SERE troops a few years back, he ended up buying TOPS Knives for everyone, since their expensive Benchmades kept snapping. They abuse the crap out of their knives, completely different mentality.
But back to the topic, I'd go with a 4. Bit more versitility then the 3 or 6.
- Joined
- Nov 25, 2006
- Messages
- 7,039
I only have the 4 and 6. The 6 is surprisingly light for its size, and the four is compact. I have a hard time choosing one over the other, but I suppose it's the 4. I have XL hands and the 6 feels great to me. Some guys with larger hands have an issue with the length of the grip\handle of the 4. It has never bothered me but I have a weird small finger that curls in a tad. The 4's grip length is borderline for me but not an issue in use. The 6 is and feels big. The 4 is and feels smaller\more compact.
The only ESEE I own now is the izula 2, but I agree with cosmonaut, the LS is much better balanced for 3/16" blade out of all their other models in that range. The 4 at 3/16th is too gaudy for my taste. The 3 is 1/8th, which the elk you're skinning will thank you for.
- Joined
- Mar 27, 2013
- Messages
- 764
I carried 6 for a short while but decided I wanted a stockier blade so I bought a 5. Its just that-Stocky. I agree that the 5 might be overkill but something like the 3 might be "under-kill"
The ESEE-5 is like a 8lb sledgehammer. Its big heavy and can do really big stuff. That said at times the job may call for a 8oz ball peen hammer but with a little finesse the sledge will do the job.
The ESEE-6 is like a titanium framing hammer, to light to do really big stuff but too long to do really fine stuff. Even still its a great "Middle-of-the-road" knife
The ESEE-3 is that ball peen hammer, built for small jobs and odd jobs but with a lot of work it can do some larger jobs too
These metaphors might not make any sense to a person who isn't really familiar wit hammers but its the best metaphor I could think up.
Also, I love the ESEE-5, people will tell you that its too thick to do anything but last weekend I was sitting around the campfire making little 4-figure type things for my little cousins to play with, they loved them and I didn't think it was too hard. Even with that thick blade.
On the same trip I did a massive amount of batoning which the 5 shrugged off as if I was splitting pencils.
Hope my sleep deprived ADD-style writing made a little sense and good luck deciding. My 2 cents is to go with the 6, I personally prefer the 5 but it's certainly not for everyone. The 6 however is a very easy-going kind of knife, hard to go wrong.
P.S. Don't let people tell you the 6 iss too long for anything. It's a long blade but its thin and really handle heavy.
The ESEE-5 is like a 8lb sledgehammer. Its big heavy and can do really big stuff. That said at times the job may call for a 8oz ball peen hammer but with a little finesse the sledge will do the job.
The ESEE-6 is like a titanium framing hammer, to light to do really big stuff but too long to do really fine stuff. Even still its a great "Middle-of-the-road" knife
The ESEE-3 is that ball peen hammer, built for small jobs and odd jobs but with a lot of work it can do some larger jobs too
These metaphors might not make any sense to a person who isn't really familiar wit hammers but its the best metaphor I could think up.
Also, I love the ESEE-5, people will tell you that its too thick to do anything but last weekend I was sitting around the campfire making little 4-figure type things for my little cousins to play with, they loved them and I didn't think it was too hard. Even with that thick blade.
On the same trip I did a massive amount of batoning which the 5 shrugged off as if I was splitting pencils.
Hope my sleep deprived ADD-style writing made a little sense and good luck deciding. My 2 cents is to go with the 6, I personally prefer the 5 but it's certainly not for everyone. The 6 however is a very easy-going kind of knife, hard to go wrong.
P.S. Don't let people tell you the 6 iss too long for anything. It's a long blade but its thin and really handle heavy.