One of these things is not like the other:
One of these things does THIS:
--//--
I also put both the Esquire and the 24/7 on the useless, hand-drawn measure thingy (I believe it's an antique foot sizer?).
Esquire:
Wouldja look at that swedge, those lines. Ooh, la.
24/7:
And herein we glimpse a question mark regarding the 24/7: the blade tip, or lack thereof.
The mark side seems to be snubbed, and the point isn't sharp. Whether or not the blade was like this from the get-go or had an Incident, were this my knife I would want a pointier, pointed point on the blade, hopefully from the maker,
Tim the Wizard
'd if not.
In other news, notice how blue my BLUE Sylvrfalcen appears in these illustrative images:
A final consideration in this go-round: as in previous Compares, I once again picked up each of the knives in succession to inexpertly smallen a block of basswood, and once again learned a lot, fast, especially when making draw cuts. The knives in my current stable fared well, the newcomers less so.
(Draw cuts make up a statistically small percentage of my regular knife tasks and uses, but when I want to make 'em, I want to make 'em.)
I spent a lot of time trying to determine which attributes factored in to the knives that worked well, and those that did not, and then trying to capture this in pictures.
In addition to a handle's linear geometry-- parabolic knives tend to be problematic, and the Tusk was no exception-- I need a certain degree/type of handle width in order to firmly grasp the knife in my fingers. If a handle is too thin, even (especially?) if tall, I cannot comfortably achieve the fingers-only grip needed.
It all comes down to the openness of 'C' formed by my fingers when grasping a knife's handle.
Esquire:
Sgian Dubh, with a clearer view of what I mean by the 'C' of my fingers:
The SD's girth makes it possible to keep the knife in my fingers, with no extra effort required to prevent it from falling down into my hand.
The Runt stepped up to the plate:
(Again, notice the relative openness of the 'C')
The EDKarda in the left background excels at this grip, but its illustrative picture didn't turn out. Meantime? Get thee an EDKarda; it's a woods monster, at least in Scandi form such as mine. It looks at wood, and wood flays and chips and dwindles. #word
The Tusk revealed itself to be a 100% fist knife, so completely that I ended up more in awe of design intent than frustrated that it wouldn't 'behave' as I wanted it to. In fact, it is more comfortable for me 'backwards' (once fully in hand) than in a regular forward grip.
Fingers only; once my hand closes, my thumb fits into the forward groove.
Hmmmmm.
When attempting to hold it for a draw cut, my fingers had to almost close in order to maintain a firm grasp, with the handle constantly trying to wriggle down into my fist throughout:
[The blade angle and handle geometry of the 24/7 also did not lend itself well to draw cuts; it's manageable, but not the best choice. I didn't take a picture of Why because I want one anyway, so there.]
A return to Array, as I pack up the knives and prepare to move along:
@Comprehensivist,
VANCE
-- THANK YOU again, and thank you to all who have provided pictures and impressions here and elsewhere. Whatever helps,
helps!
~ P.
