- Joined
- Jan 26, 2011
- Messages
- 185
I did a semiformal test on feathersticking with the Ontario RD7, BK7, BK2, KaBar Bowie, and the Esee 3.
I used willow and another type of wood that I don't know the name of. I stripped the bark off two sticks for a couple of weeks and two sticks got stripped and tested immediately.
All knives were able to cut hair off my arms so sharpness was not a factor.
With each stick, each knife got a dozen or so swipes to shave feathers, so I got a feel on how each knife would do on the same pieces of wood. This cut out a variable on a bias of different knives on different pieces of wood.
The best performer was the BK7. With a combination of just-enough-weight plus a slick finish, the control was superb, and slicing was easy. I felt like I wasn't fighting with the knife for control. Second place went to the KaBar bowie, for similar reasons, weight of knife plus a slick finish, but the Bowie finish is not quite the same slickyness as the Beckers. Third-Esee. With the reduced weight, the thin sharp blade really did great. I just felt like you needed more muscle to push the lighter knife. Fourth-BK2. Despite the same finish as the BK7, the wider blade forced you to cant the angle of the knife to bite into a shallow part of the wood, and the weight of the knife doing finer work became a slight liability. Fifth, the Ontario RD7. I had great hopes for this one with it being heavy like the BK2 and having a FFG. However, the finish on the Ontarios seemed to drag and create traction that was detrimental to fine feathersticking work.
Ok keep in mind that I love all of these knives and they all shine in a particular arena, and many overlap into other areas that make them all outstanding. I have no plans to get rid of any of these knives and am glad I have them. Just as there are some who feel that the measure of any knife is its ability to baton thru a big log, there is other tests that examine a knife's usefulness and I tried to illustrate that with the featherstick test.
If any of you have similar testing done, post it. Hey, and no making fun of my lame feathersticks!
use the second url for the pics. sorry, im still learning how to do this.
https://picasaweb.google.com/109590257235461942608/FeatherSticks?authkey=Gv1sRgCMqm-NivlOndBA#"]https://picasaweb.google.com/109590257235461942608/FeatherSticks?authkey=Gv1sRgCMqm-NivlOndBA#[/URL]
I used willow and another type of wood that I don't know the name of. I stripped the bark off two sticks for a couple of weeks and two sticks got stripped and tested immediately.
All knives were able to cut hair off my arms so sharpness was not a factor.
With each stick, each knife got a dozen or so swipes to shave feathers, so I got a feel on how each knife would do on the same pieces of wood. This cut out a variable on a bias of different knives on different pieces of wood.
The best performer was the BK7. With a combination of just-enough-weight plus a slick finish, the control was superb, and slicing was easy. I felt like I wasn't fighting with the knife for control. Second place went to the KaBar bowie, for similar reasons, weight of knife plus a slick finish, but the Bowie finish is not quite the same slickyness as the Beckers. Third-Esee. With the reduced weight, the thin sharp blade really did great. I just felt like you needed more muscle to push the lighter knife. Fourth-BK2. Despite the same finish as the BK7, the wider blade forced you to cant the angle of the knife to bite into a shallow part of the wood, and the weight of the knife doing finer work became a slight liability. Fifth, the Ontario RD7. I had great hopes for this one with it being heavy like the BK2 and having a FFG. However, the finish on the Ontarios seemed to drag and create traction that was detrimental to fine feathersticking work.
Ok keep in mind that I love all of these knives and they all shine in a particular arena, and many overlap into other areas that make them all outstanding. I have no plans to get rid of any of these knives and am glad I have them. Just as there are some who feel that the measure of any knife is its ability to baton thru a big log, there is other tests that examine a knife's usefulness and I tried to illustrate that with the featherstick test.
If any of you have similar testing done, post it. Hey, and no making fun of my lame feathersticks!
use the second url for the pics. sorry, im still learning how to do this.
https://picasaweb.google.com/109590257235461942608/FeatherSticks?authkey=Gv1sRgCMqm-NivlOndBA#"]https://picasaweb.google.com/109590257235461942608/FeatherSticks?authkey=Gv1sRgCMqm-NivlOndBA#[/URL]
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