Fällkniven A2 opinions/experiences. Better than CS-Trailmaster?

I didn't know that Fallkniven made in Japan....
Ohhhh well... i guess it doesnt matter... It's an awsome blade no matter where they make it:)
 
Finally, I got my A2.

Don't have time to test on trees, so I devised a quick cutting test. Took another knife, a vietnam bowie style made of 52100, hollow ground, and started to open some coconuts with them.
The bowie couldn't wash the A2's floor. The Fallkniven's cuts were much more clean and drag free.
Then I went to the next part. Picked up empty coconuts and prepared to cut them with one strike.
Just before I began, I asked my wife to give me a cutting board. But she asked me if I thought it was a good idea to try this on the granite sink. "That's perfectly safe!" I said (Can't imagine why she asked me something like that!), but in order to avoid any problem, I took a wooden seat and placed the cutting board on it, with the coconut on top, of course.
With the first strike, the coconut was cut in two, and so was the cutting board. And the wooden seat got an ugly scar. Now I am sold.
The only thing I don't like (aside from the fact that blade scratches show too well for my taste) is the rubber grip. Too abrasive and not very comfortable. The knife's design is not new at all. Why Fallkniven didn't improve this grip some time ago is a mistery to me.
Kind Regards
 
I'm a Fallkniven A2 user too.
It's my main outdoor knife at this moment. I have to say good things and bad things about it too.

First of all I like its design and I consider it very adequate for an "all-in-one" knife. It's not optimised for one specific task, but you can do very well a lot of different things with pleasure: chopping, cuting, batonning, digging throwing and some other things. I was impressed with its pretty good balance for chopping which I was not expecting to achieve so high from such a stright designed knife. Its cutting ability is also very high and the edge retention as well. The fact it has no deviations and no waves on the eadge design makes it very easy to resharpen and its steel responds well to a diamond stone (the respond to a diamonded sharpening stone is a little bit over medium). I could restore the full convex eadge (almost the same as it was while coming out of the factory) with a Fallkniven DC3 stone in about 4 hours after the knife eadge had been seriously chipped on half of the blade. Yes, it's not dificult to sharpen a convex edge with a flat stone, because when you keep the stone in your hand you can't keep it perfectly at a fixed angle against the blade and its angle varies a little bit (unintentionally) when moving it on the edge; so, the resutl is a convex edge.

What I'm disapointed of is the kraton handle which is very sensible in regards to mecanical shocks (such as encountered when using it for throwing). I feel that the A2 handle is consumming during the normal use of hard chopping and/or normal throwing. Another bad thing about the A2 is the eadge is chipping too easy when accidentally touching hard materials (like stones). My only ensurance is that the VG-10 center is relatively thin compared with the lateral layers of 420J2 (which is very resistant) and it chiped only 1-2 milimeters on the thin eadge. Normally I should never strike intentionally a stone directly with the eadge, but I did this unintentionally as you can see in the field test at the last branch cutting (the last link below). Anyway, I wasn't expected it to chip so easily.
And, of course, I have also a third bad thing to say about the A2 - the fact it is too big for confortably use it in fine cutting (but this is anyway relatively normal for such a big and heavy knife).

As a conclusion, I like it and it is my favorite outdoor knife at this moment (and may remain for a long time) since it has a good size and design for most things and can accomplish any task that I give to it. Even it's not confortable at all the things, it can still accomplish those things (with more efort than a smaller knife would).

Below you can see some tests that I done with my A2 knife:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4attevdtmo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2X4ZG5utIVI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPiEvmK-ZYI

Best Regards!
 
highanddry said:
The only thing I don't like (aside from the fact that blade scratches show too well for my taste) is the rubber grip. Too abrasive and not very comfortable.
Click to expand...

Yes, of course, I almost forgot... I've noticed the 420J2 is scratching too easy. Lots of scratches on it after chopping and more after digging into the ground.
As regards the kraton grip it's too abrasive only for the use with no gloves. When you work in extreme conditions and have gloves on your hands you feel that grip very good because it does not slide into the hand. What I'm concerned of is the durability of that kraton (sinthetic rubber) because on my knife it already looks tired.
 
highanddry said:
The only thing I don't like (aside from the fact that blade scratches show too well for my taste) is the rubber grip. Too abrasive and not very comfortable. The knife's design is not new at all. Why Fallkniven didn't improve this grip some time ago is a mistery to me.
Kind Regards
Click to expand...

A great option is to have Greg Haugh from LoneRiderGrips replace the rubber with his outstanding Micarta grips.

He did a Fallkniven F1 for me (the one in the center):

BushcraftVariety.jpg


I Liked it so much, he now has my S1 to rehandle as well. That would be my recommendation if you wanted a much better handle. A few others on the forums may offer to do it as well...

ROCK6
 
riddleofsteel said:
The rubber handle stunk IMHO. In the end I sold it because I felt the A1 was just as good a big knife and not as clumsy to carry. YMMV
Click to expand...

Did you get one of the A1 bare blades and put better grips on it ? It's too bad they don't make an A2 bare blade. I prefer the full tang vs the hidden tang grip designs.

I'm curious how long it will be before we see an A2 bare blade and maybe changes addressing the edge chipping.
 
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shunsui said:
I'm curious how long it will be before we see an A2 bare blade and maybe changes addressing the edge chipping.
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It's rather likely there won't be a bare A2 blade at all. It's certain that there won't be any changes "addressing the edge chipping" - these things aren't built for cutting into rocks, and VG-10 will chip if you do that. Fällkniven are not going to change to tougher carbon steels, that's rather obvious, so you're going to have to find a different knife for all the rock cutting and throwing. ;)
 
Probably because low production numbers. The A2 is not as popular as the F1, S1, A1, Wm1 etc.
 
shunsui said:
Why isn't there one already ? I don't get it. What am I missing ? Is it illegal in Europe or something ?
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No, it's not illegal in any way. But you'll note Fällkniven doesn't make bare blades out of all their models. It even says on their web site that they make bare blades out of their most sought-after models. And A2 isn't on that list, because it's not that popular due to the cumbersome size and relatively high price.
 
Elen said:
because it's not that popular due to the cumbersome size and relatively high price.
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I think popularity and agility would improve with a better grip. Giving people a good bare blade that they can customize the way they want is how that starts. I'm always amused by companies who just don't want to be bothered with selling what the customers' want. Hey, who am I to complain ?

PS it wouldn't hurt to make the handle on the bare blade just an itty bit longer. ;)
 
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My opinion on the A2 after all:

You can do all this tasks with it:
- cutting
- chopping
- batonning
- use it as a gab or chisel (including to hit the tang on back of the handle)
- use it as a pry bar
- use it as a hammer (hit with the back of the blade to break things)
- throwing

It performs very well and is very good optimized for all the above mentioned tasks and is stainless! Furthermore, it achieves and retains an edge very well!
You should never have problems with this knife during the normal use, unless you hit dull materials.
But if you hit (intentionally or accidentally) dull materials (such as rocks, concrete, or even hard metals) with the edge, the edge WILL CHIP VERY EASY up to 1 millimeter deep from the edge! You can even notice some fine/small chips even when just cut dull materials (not hit them).
 
Considering your needs, you can choose between the A1 and A2 taking in consideration the only variable between them is the length. Despite all specifications from the Fallkniven website (which does not specify the kind of lamination for A1), both A1 and A2 are made in VG-10 laminated with 420J2 on the sides. The only difference is in length, which A2 is 4 centimeters longer. My advice is to print them out on the paper at the real size (or paint them) and chip them out in paper or cardboard to see exactly how you feel each of them and then decide which one is better for you. I would say in most cases the A1 should be the better choice, as it is more compact and echilibrated between the design, the width, thick and length, while A2 is a bit too long for its width and has the blade a bit too long for its handle. And, of course, if you want some survival knife, the A1 is more easy to carry in the wilderness.

I bought my A2 from Romania (from the local distributor listed on Fallkniven website). The price difference between the A1 and A2 in my case was huge (almost double). I choosed the A2 instead of A1 mainly because of the steel (I couldn't find anything about the sides lamination of the A1 on the forums and on the Fallkniven website it says only "laminated VG-10", so I thought it's laminated with some weaker and cheaper inox). If I have to choose again now, I would choose the A1.
 
Hi,

my two choppers are a Fallkniven A2 and CS Trailmaster with an experimental grip made by a friend of mine who is a woodturner.
I really like my Trailmaster. Very very solid and ready to be abused.
Hitting stones or metal with the trailmaster is not a big deal and I was able to resharp to razor each time. I like the full flat grind, their Carbon V (some kind of 1095-85-75 I guess?) and the way they heat treated it.
Now My favorite is the A2, but I will try to avoid to hit its blade on stone or metal.
Laminated VG-10 is much more brittle than plain Carbon Steel.

And Buffalohump, sorry but my Trailmaster is full flat ground and so is very easily stuck in dry wood. (using to much force during chopping?)
The saber convex grind on the A2 avoids that problem. So chopping is easier with the A2 and chips of wood are flying everywhere even at full force!
Also the A2 stays sharp longer, cause VG-10 is IMHExperience a fabulous steel.
One day I will have some micarta on the handle but for the moment the Rubber Handle is great condition even after some real abuse....

When you trust a fixed blade, use it for years and after some abused, the knife is still in perfect condition... 'much said about the quality/design of that tool.

Oh, and Out5ider your three great videos describe exactly my uses of the A2 ! :-)


Cheers
Nemo
 
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Buffalohump said:
FYI the Trailmaster also has a convex grind... ;)
Click to expand...

Here is a picture of the blade of my A2 on the blade of my Trailmaster...
Obvisously: there is Saber Convex Grind (A2) on a Full flat Ground (CS) !

FYI ;)

Cheers
Nemo

2983753131_52eaee8ddf.jpg
 
Id say go wih the A2...it has better steel, is extreamly easy to sharpen (due to its convex grind), and is very durable. Well worth the money. :D
 
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