Fixed blades

[Wild Willie]

These are my go-to's when a folder isn't gonna cut it.

 

[Crag the Brewer]

I'm a big fan of the easy going steels. Don't get me wrong, I like PM steel too, but I also enjoy using Arkansas stones, so the simpler stuff usually gets the nod.


Who am I kidding... I like 'em all. Honestly steel type is about the last thing I look at, if I like the knife and I can afford it I'll pick it up and give her a whirl.

I finish off everything by hand
I use a Baryronx Artic Fox, or Artic Blast, idk?
It's his White ish large bench stone.

I really Love it, it's a conglomerate of all kinds of stuff. Knives just sing when you glide them across...
You will know what I mean.
Some steels, just love stones.

Cruwear is one of my favorite to hand sharpen

 

[shinyedges]

I'm a big fan of the easy going steels. Don't get me wrong, I like PM steel too, but I also enjoy using Arkansas stones, so the simpler stuff usually gets the nod.


Who am I kidding... I like 'em all. Honestly steel type is about the last thing I look at, if I like the knife and I can afford it I'll pick it up and give her a whirl.

Damn. Got the 2k snipe

 

[Wild Willie]

I finish off everything by hand
I use a Baryronx Artic Fox, or Artic Blast, idk?
It's his White ish large bench stone.

I really Love it, it's a conglomerate of all kinds of stuff. Knives just sing when you glide them across...
You will know what I mean.
Some steels, just love stones.

Cruwear is one of my favorite to hand sharpen

I have a few arctic fox stones (bench, scythe, and pocket) they're definitely great.

Damn. Got the 2k snipe

Wish I'd have known that... I'd have tried to at least have it be a memorable post. Another missed opportunity in a long list for my life.

 

[coolbreezy37]

View attachment 2347606

See you still have that Magnate.

 

[shinyedges]

See you still have that Magnate.

Yes sir, I quite like it. I blame you lol

 

[coolbreezy37]

Yes sir, I quite like it. I blame you lol

Lol makes sense. I usually blame luethge and ferider as epic enablers. Their collections are what I would wish mine could be. Alone deserves an honorable mention as well.

 

[Crag the Brewer]

Lol makes sense. I usually blame luethge and ferider as epic enablers.

Yeah, they are Awful

 

[coolbreezy37]

My heaviest users. The Ratmandu has done some absolutely silly things, I’m actually surprised it’s in one piece.View attachment 2347776

 

[shinyedges]

My heaviest users. The Ratmandu has done some absolutely silly things, I’m actually surprised it’s in one piece.View attachment 2347776

I am hunting for a tanto dek, also, not surprising the du is in one piece.

 

[Crag the Brewer]

Today's fun..

I'm calling it Done, other than a little cleanup, makers mark & sheath.....

And it's SHARP.




Sales pictures, to come.....

 

[coolbreezy37]

The RMD pried apart two 12’ 2x4’s sandwiched flushed and held together with torx construction screws 2 at 12” spacing. Forgot my impact and torx bit, but it worked and the RMD didn’t flinch. Took forever, though.

 

[Sam Wilson]

Diablochete.

Sam

 

[jfk1110]

Diablochete.

Sam

I luv this Sam........I'm scheming right now how I'm going swing.one!!!
Nice job... Hopefully sooner than later I'll be knocking my friend.....

 

[shinyedges]

^that is a bad mamajama

I need to grab one his HH knives first

 

[duramax]

Diablochete.

Sam

Wow I like this knife a lot !! I’m going o need to watch for it

 

[The Grendels]

I got loaned a woodchipper for a while, so work began in earnest today to prepare wood in the brush pile for chipping. I decided to take the opportunity to test some of the bigger "choppers" I have (that aren't machetes). I could have put another dozen or so fixed blades through their paces, but there was also work that needed doing, so I had to balance mucking around with the more pressing need to actually accomplish stuff. I didn't choose any Scandi grinds and only one hollow grind was used. I wore my nice pig skin leather gloves, which give me a bit more control than most cheaper work gloves would.

Not surprisingly, the Cudeman 125MC Kit Survival Knife (far right) performed the worst of the bunch. Everything about the way this blade was designed screams for you to go chop something and then the hollow grind kindly asks that you restrict yourself to very tiny branches. A chisel edge instead of a plain edge would probably work better.

The Cold Steel SRK Search Rescue is a big knife, but not in this company. It's game for smaller branches in the delimbing process, but lacks the heft that the other knives have for chopping off larger branches without a lot more effort.

The Woox Rock62 (far left) is a beast, but the Micarta handle is just too smooth. I would start my chopping at the front of the handle and by the third chop my hand would slide to the end of the handle. There is a variant of this knife with more grippy handle scales and a lanyard would go a long ways towards fixing this issue. This knife is an American design, with the Sleipner blade made in Italy, and then the parts shipped back to the US for assembly.

The convex grind of the Joker Nomad (second in from the left) didn't disappoint. The Micarta handle is smooth, but not so smooth that the knife decides to wander away from your hand while you chop with it. I don't have the newer Nomad Joker 6.5, but I think that extra 1.5" would make this already beefy blade outstanding for this task. The newer Nomad also has a sheath with a plastic liner to protect the leather from the knife blade, which is a problem with the one I bought.

The KA-BAR Becker Companion BK2 (third in from the left) is a big fun knife. You could almost call it a fat grind instead of a flat grind because of how thick the blade is. I removed the ultra-smooth, Ultramid handle scales and replaced them with 3rd party Micarta scales that feel a lot better in the hand. The way the handle projections on the blade side of the scales frame the hand, keep your hand firmly in place while chopping hard. There's a hole for adding a lanyard but other than using the lanyard to hold the knife by the end of the handle for chopping, it's not required.

The Lion Steel M5 (third in from the right) has a slightly thinner Sleipner blade steel than the Woox Rock62 and is also made in Italy, but the Micarta handle is much grippier. It did a good job and was by a hair my favourite knife of the lot for this task.

What worked best? That would be the Prandi German Style Hatchet Classic. This is the right tool for the right job and it also makes a satisfying "ting" sound when it cuts off branches. Once I settled into trying to be a productive worker and the process was less about playing with my knives, I used the Nomad to take off smaller branches, the hatchet for the medium sized ones, and the Fiskars Powergear Lopper for the largest cuts and to cut out curves so the branches will go through the chipper better.

Honorable mention: the human hand is ideally suited for tasks like snapping off smaller branches from tree limbs and can do so in a timely fashion better than a lot of knives can.

 

[shinyedges]

I got loaned a woodchipper for a while, so work began in earnest today to prepare wood in the brush pile for chipping. I decided to take the opportunity to test some of the bigger "choppers" I have (that aren't machetes). I could have put another dozen or so fixed blades through their paces, but there was also work that needed doing, so I had to balance mucking around with the more pressing need to actually accomplish stuff. I didn't choose any Scandi grinds and only one hollow grind was used. I wore my nice pig skin leather gloves, which give me a bit more control than most cheaper work gloves would.

Not surprisingly, the Cudeman 125MC Kit Survival Knife (far right) performed the worst of the bunch. Everything about the way this blade was designed screams for you to go chop something and then the hollow grind kindly asks that you restrict yourself to very tiny branches. A chisel edge instead of a plain edge would probably work better.

The Cold Steel SRK Search Rescue is a big knife, but not in this company. It's game for smaller branches in the delimbing process, but lacks the heft that the other knives have for chopping off larger branches without a lot more effort.

The Woox Rock62 (far left) is a beast, but the Micarta handle is just too smooth. I would start my chopping at the front of the handle and by the third chop my hand would slide to the end of the handle. There is a variant of this knife with more grippy handle scales and a lanyard would go a long ways towards fixing this issue. This knife is an American design, with the Sleipner blade made in Italy, and then the parts shipped back to the US for assembly.

The convex grind of the Joker Nomad (second in from the left) didn't disappoint. The Micarta handle is smooth, but not so smooth that the knife decides to wander away from your hand while you chop with it. I don't have the newer Nomad Joker 6.5, but I think that extra 1.5" would make this already beefy blade outstanding for this task. The newer Nomad also has a sheath with a plastic liner to protect the leather from the knife blade, which is a problem with the one I bought.

The KA-BAR Becker Companion BK2 (third in from the left) is a big fun knife. You could almost call it a fat grind instead of a flat grind because of how thick the blade is. I removed the ultra-smooth, Ultramid handle scales and replaced them with 3rd party Micarta scales that feel a lot better in the hand. The way the handle projections on the blade side of the scales frame the hand, keep your hand firmly in place while chopping hard. There's a hole for adding a lanyard but other than using the lanyard to hold the knife by the end of the handle for chopping, it's not required.

The Lion Steel M5 (third in from the right) has a slightly thinner Sleipner blade steel than the Woox Rock62 and is also made in Italy, but the Micarta handle is much grippier. It did a good job and was by a hair my favourite knife of the lot for this task.

What worked best? That would be the Prandi German Style Hatchet Classic. This is the right tool for the right job and it also makes a satisfying "ting" sound when it cuts off branches. Once I settled into trying to be a productive worker and the process was less about playing with my knives, I used the Nomad to take off smaller branches, the hatchet for the medium sized ones, and the Fiskars Powergear Lopper for the largest cuts and to cut out curves so the branches will go through the chipper better.

Honorable mention: the human hand is ideally suited for tasks like snapping off smaller branches from tree limbs and can do so in a timely fashion better than a lot of knives can.

Nice write up, what knives do you have in the chopper size?

 

[Crag the Brewer]

Nice write up, what knives do you have in the chopper size?

Needs a Chopper or two....

 

[Ruukuu]

I was looking for something, and came across this Fallknive f1 that i'd forgotten i had.

Guess how happy i was