- Joined
- Oct 26, 2001
- Messages
- 1,438
Hello all,
First off a simple caveat. I strongly dislike Man vs Wild, as I've seen Bear do to many things I don't thinks folks trapped in a survival situation should do. As a result, I've been very hesitant to touch any product with his name on it, simply due to my desire not to contribute to his "legend" or revenue stream. With that said, however, I do feel that this is a decent overall knife.
The knife itself is basically the LMF II with a slight reworked handle and sheath. I have an original run LMF II ASEK model and compared the two kniVes side by side. The blades are exactly the same. The handle on the BG knife is slightly less wide and has a deep finger groove where the handle meets the handguard which is lacking on the LMF. The handle on the BG also tapers to a flat pommel, with a chequred appearance, similar in form to that of a meat tenderizer. Though not advertised as such I believe this could be a secondary function of this pommel. It's supposed to work well as a hammer, but I'm getting ahead of myself. The handguard is blaze orange as is a small stripe of the handle near the pommel and an inset of Bear's initials in the middle of the pommel. Laced through the lanyard hole in the pommel is a length of 550 cord attached to a black and orange pealess whistle.
The sheath is plastic with a nylon backing and leg strap and firesteel inset into the exterior of the handle. Stitched to the back is an orange panel with air to ground rescue symbols printed on it and a diamond coated, steel sharpener with a preset bevel. So much for form. On to function.
As with the LMF II the blade is 4.65 inches long (well, really 4.75 but .10 of that is not sharpened) and half of that is taken up by serrations which were the first thing I tested. They worked well against nylon rope and thin branches, which I guess is about all one can expect. Also, they cut free hanging paper.
The plain portion of the blade will shave hair out of the package, but a few swipes on a Sharpmaker or other type of sharpener will make it scary sharp. I first used it to cut and peel an apple, which the tool handled with no problem. I then used it to carve tinder shavings off of a bass wood carving block. The first shave was touch, since the exterior of the block was smooth, but all the rest of the shavings came off cleanly, once the exterior had been roughened. I then used the knife to carve a well done (read:charred) steak. This task was a little tougher for the knife, but it was successfully achieved. Finally, regarding the knife itself I tried hammering a nail with the pommel. This can be done, but personally I don't think it's a great idea. The knife lacks the weight of a hammer and it's waaaay too easy to get a finger between it and the nail (OWWWWWWWWWW, see note above about meat tenderizing).
Okay, on to the gimmicks. Believe it or not the firesteel actually works as designed. There is a small rough patch on the top of the blade, and if one holds the steel in one hand and runs the knife down the steel it throws some very good sparks. I had trouble getting my tinder bundle to ignite, but I chalk that up to operator error, not technological malfunction. The pealess whistle is loud, and according to my neighbor upstairs somewhat annoying. ( Since I have to listen to him and his wife go at it about 4 nights a week I could care less what annoys him). It is a little tricky to get it to work properly as you need to keep your lips well pursed and the pitch is quite high. Lastly, the sharpener. This is the only thing I haven't tested but so far I think it's something of a gimmick.
Overall I'd say 3.5 out of 5 stars for this one. It's got a decently designed blade and handle with a slightly dysfunctional pommel. It does handle most cutting, carving, and fire starting chores well. Somewhat light for chopping and hammering. Blaze orange is nice and visible, fire starter is handy, but I think would snag on brush and get lost easily if carried externally. Sheath made in China.....you make up your own mind on that. Personally, I'd prefer American made. That being said, I got my knife for $60 at Dick's sporting goods so for that price point some corners obviously had to be cut. Overall, a decent product (I hate admitting that about anything with the initials BG on it). Not the highest end knife, but one could do a lot worse.
Sorry for the long post.
Lagarto
First off a simple caveat. I strongly dislike Man vs Wild, as I've seen Bear do to many things I don't thinks folks trapped in a survival situation should do. As a result, I've been very hesitant to touch any product with his name on it, simply due to my desire not to contribute to his "legend" or revenue stream. With that said, however, I do feel that this is a decent overall knife.
The knife itself is basically the LMF II with a slight reworked handle and sheath. I have an original run LMF II ASEK model and compared the two kniVes side by side. The blades are exactly the same. The handle on the BG knife is slightly less wide and has a deep finger groove where the handle meets the handguard which is lacking on the LMF. The handle on the BG also tapers to a flat pommel, with a chequred appearance, similar in form to that of a meat tenderizer. Though not advertised as such I believe this could be a secondary function of this pommel. It's supposed to work well as a hammer, but I'm getting ahead of myself. The handguard is blaze orange as is a small stripe of the handle near the pommel and an inset of Bear's initials in the middle of the pommel. Laced through the lanyard hole in the pommel is a length of 550 cord attached to a black and orange pealess whistle.
The sheath is plastic with a nylon backing and leg strap and firesteel inset into the exterior of the handle. Stitched to the back is an orange panel with air to ground rescue symbols printed on it and a diamond coated, steel sharpener with a preset bevel. So much for form. On to function.
As with the LMF II the blade is 4.65 inches long (well, really 4.75 but .10 of that is not sharpened) and half of that is taken up by serrations which were the first thing I tested. They worked well against nylon rope and thin branches, which I guess is about all one can expect. Also, they cut free hanging paper.
The plain portion of the blade will shave hair out of the package, but a few swipes on a Sharpmaker or other type of sharpener will make it scary sharp. I first used it to cut and peel an apple, which the tool handled with no problem. I then used it to carve tinder shavings off of a bass wood carving block. The first shave was touch, since the exterior of the block was smooth, but all the rest of the shavings came off cleanly, once the exterior had been roughened. I then used the knife to carve a well done (read:charred) steak. This task was a little tougher for the knife, but it was successfully achieved. Finally, regarding the knife itself I tried hammering a nail with the pommel. This can be done, but personally I don't think it's a great idea. The knife lacks the weight of a hammer and it's waaaay too easy to get a finger between it and the nail (OWWWWWWWWWW, see note above about meat tenderizing).
Okay, on to the gimmicks. Believe it or not the firesteel actually works as designed. There is a small rough patch on the top of the blade, and if one holds the steel in one hand and runs the knife down the steel it throws some very good sparks. I had trouble getting my tinder bundle to ignite, but I chalk that up to operator error, not technological malfunction. The pealess whistle is loud, and according to my neighbor upstairs somewhat annoying. ( Since I have to listen to him and his wife go at it about 4 nights a week I could care less what annoys him). It is a little tricky to get it to work properly as you need to keep your lips well pursed and the pitch is quite high. Lastly, the sharpener. This is the only thing I haven't tested but so far I think it's something of a gimmick.
Overall I'd say 3.5 out of 5 stars for this one. It's got a decently designed blade and handle with a slightly dysfunctional pommel. It does handle most cutting, carving, and fire starting chores well. Somewhat light for chopping and hammering. Blaze orange is nice and visible, fire starter is handy, but I think would snag on brush and get lost easily if carried externally. Sheath made in China.....you make up your own mind on that. Personally, I'd prefer American made. That being said, I got my knife for $60 at Dick's sporting goods so for that price point some corners obviously had to be cut. Overall, a decent product (I hate admitting that about anything with the initials BG on it). Not the highest end knife, but one could do a lot worse.
Sorry for the long post.
Lagarto
