- Joined
- Dec 16, 2007
- Messages
- 152
Merry Christmas to Everyone. Just bought a bushcraft knives from Marcus Lin and thought why not write a review with all my other bushcraft knives.
I travel a lot and many parts of the world I managed to use my knives in extreme weather. Very cold and very low humidity, very hot and very dry, and very hot and humid that you have to shower three times a day. So, all these places different knives with different steel and handle material reacts differently. That's what makes it interesting. I have used custom Fallkniven F1, Bark River Bravo 1 extensively. Only my Bravo 1 has three different types of sheath as I built it based on where I use it. I've both versions CPM154 and A2. they both performed well.
After getting familiar with Ray Mears bushcrafting, I decided to get something like hin that he uses for everyday use in the field. So was looking for a Scandi Grind style knife similar to what he uses. Advantages of Scandi grind is that it remains extremely sharp at high RC and it's just a cutting machine. But not for heavy chopping heavy work like the Bravo 1 does. That's why Scandi grind carrier's keeps a small forest axe with them. The reason for it is that if you make the scandi grind stronger with heavy blade, it'll lose it's very high efficiency when it comes to cutting. And anyway there is no greater tool like an axe when it comes to chopping.
Marcus made this is out of A2 Tool Steel with a RC more than 61. That's very high as did some little testing and saw that this guy won't take any polishing or buffing with my regular sharpening compound. It lightly responded to DMT Diamond paste on leather strop at 8000 grit. The blade has 3.5" cutting edge which is quite enough but a 0.5" more would help a little better when doing some wood work. But, if making the blade a little longer would mean raising the thickness to keep the same stability. Right now the blade is 3.2mm. 1mm more do the job. Blade really nicely designed, a perfect spear point and the grind is flawless. I think Marcus has mastered the grinding process for this kind of Scandi grind (while cleaning the blade I cut through the towel twice which never happened to me before using other blades in Convex or flat or hollow grind no matter how sharp they were).
The handle design has some WOW factors. Handle has a very grippy design and big too. I've large square handle and I feel very comfortable with this. The bottom part looks like Marcus is following Loveless inspired design. The middle part looks like Bravo 1 a bit. But top part looks new concept. The bottom part I would make a little grippier as when making feather sticks, you put huge amount of pressure on the blade handle and a push has to come from bottom part of the handle. The knife is 8.25" overall. An excellent craftsmanship and the price is very affordable for being a custom knife. His sheath is also very innovative as this is also my first kydex in this configuration.
By the way, Marcus is recognized here at BF as "FLATGRINDER". His a great guy to deal with and very responsive to his customers plus the fastest shipper I've ever encountered.
I still have not tested in the field as i just got it two days back. Will update it's performance in the field.
Marcus's own pictures above
I travel a lot and many parts of the world I managed to use my knives in extreme weather. Very cold and very low humidity, very hot and very dry, and very hot and humid that you have to shower three times a day. So, all these places different knives with different steel and handle material reacts differently. That's what makes it interesting. I have used custom Fallkniven F1, Bark River Bravo 1 extensively. Only my Bravo 1 has three different types of sheath as I built it based on where I use it. I've both versions CPM154 and A2. they both performed well.
After getting familiar with Ray Mears bushcrafting, I decided to get something like hin that he uses for everyday use in the field. So was looking for a Scandi Grind style knife similar to what he uses. Advantages of Scandi grind is that it remains extremely sharp at high RC and it's just a cutting machine. But not for heavy chopping heavy work like the Bravo 1 does. That's why Scandi grind carrier's keeps a small forest axe with them. The reason for it is that if you make the scandi grind stronger with heavy blade, it'll lose it's very high efficiency when it comes to cutting. And anyway there is no greater tool like an axe when it comes to chopping.
Marcus made this is out of A2 Tool Steel with a RC more than 61. That's very high as did some little testing and saw that this guy won't take any polishing or buffing with my regular sharpening compound. It lightly responded to DMT Diamond paste on leather strop at 8000 grit. The blade has 3.5" cutting edge which is quite enough but a 0.5" more would help a little better when doing some wood work. But, if making the blade a little longer would mean raising the thickness to keep the same stability. Right now the blade is 3.2mm. 1mm more do the job. Blade really nicely designed, a perfect spear point and the grind is flawless. I think Marcus has mastered the grinding process for this kind of Scandi grind (while cleaning the blade I cut through the towel twice which never happened to me before using other blades in Convex or flat or hollow grind no matter how sharp they were).
The handle design has some WOW factors. Handle has a very grippy design and big too. I've large square handle and I feel very comfortable with this. The bottom part looks like Marcus is following Loveless inspired design. The middle part looks like Bravo 1 a bit. But top part looks new concept. The bottom part I would make a little grippier as when making feather sticks, you put huge amount of pressure on the blade handle and a push has to come from bottom part of the handle. The knife is 8.25" overall. An excellent craftsmanship and the price is very affordable for being a custom knife. His sheath is also very innovative as this is also my first kydex in this configuration.
By the way, Marcus is recognized here at BF as "FLATGRINDER". His a great guy to deal with and very responsive to his customers plus the fastest shipper I've ever encountered.
I still have not tested in the field as i just got it two days back. Will update it's performance in the field.
Marcus's own pictures above
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