Thanks! First thoughts: This is a BIG knife!!!! It'll be big enough for whatever I throw at it! I'm .mil and a survival instructor, and this seems huge! It'll be big enough to whack whatever I need and the choil will let me do small stuff with it. It's heavy. But not too heavy. Any more and it wouldn't ever be taken with me. I AM going to get a NMFBM, but just to use as an axe! The handle might be too thin for my mitts, we'll see. It's blade heavy when held regularly, good for whacking. When my finger is in the choil it's balanced evenly for small work. So in short, it's damn near ideal! I'll take it to a beach in 2 days and beat on it and see how bad I can get it to look!! Frozen and sand filled logs should be OK for this bad boy!!