mogmz said:
Have you carried these 3/8" and 1/2" thick monsters for 3-7 days hiking out in the wilderness? If you are willing to carry that combined with a pack/tent/water/sleeping bag and maybe a gun, then you are a bigger man then I, or crazier
Im not saying a huge fat FBM wouldnt be cool, Im just hoping for a 1/4" or better yet 3/16" version that I can take instead of a hatchet for long adventures lasting up to a week.
my pants weight 12 pounds. sounds rediculous, but with my wallet and chain, can of wd40, cell phone, surefire g2 flash light with 5 pack of batteries, my 2 led flashlights (one red one white) and bic lighter, my ground down NICK on my right hip with my HOGSJTACLE on my left, my leatherman charge on my right, and my monocular on my left hip, my 15 feet of paracord wrapped in a hojo bundle next to my measuring tape and 6 extra large jumbo sized zipties, my pen, marker and pencil sitting next to my box cutter and chapstick, along with my little notepad next to my keys -
weight doesnt mean the same thing to me that it does to other people. as long as i could put the knife at a point in my body where it rested on my legs rather then on my back, such as straped horizontally across my belt in the front so it went from hip to hip, i dont think i'd really notice the extra weight. the sweat from it resting against my stomach would bug the heck out of me, but thats just a fact of backpacking.
i also regularly wear a carhart sweatshirt that weighs 7 pounds with the crap i have in it (another leatherman, a crkt m1, a pair of black diamond dry ice gloves, a baklava and medical tape, as well as ace shin sleeves for when it gets cold). not the same as back packing with a 75lb pack, but i've done that as well. if i had a front horizontal sheath - i dont think it would have made a difference in how quickly i wore down. now, wether i could actually weild the thing after 3 days of hiking is another matter alltogether.
last time i did a 5 day hike i was a danger to myself with my little leathermans blade. ended up coating 2 walking sticks in blood while i was carving them. had to then cover then in soot to avoid scaring the other campers i was with... but a big part of that was that i thought for some reason that it was a good idea to only bring nuts and berry trailmix, and chocolate to eat. that was probably the worst mistake i could have made. pretty much 0 carbs for 5 days straight. it was a sucky week altogether...
if i was going back packing i would probably carry my basic 9 if i was going to carry a chopping knife at all. i've always found that to be the best of both worlds, light because of its hidden full tang but also quite blade heavy because of the same reason.
personally i'd like to see a 1/8" version... i've always been a fan of carry one extra thick and one extra thin.....
