I am a believer!

K

Krav Dragon

Joined
Sep 7, 2004
Messages
64
I have just returned from an outing in the woods, and I have now definitely robbed my new NO-E of its virginity. I used it for various camp chores, like limbing, splitting seasoned, knotty pine (this stuff was really hard and tough, not like pine in general), chopping firewood, carving figure four traps, and whittling a spoon. All in all, it saw about 1,5-2 hours of very hard use, mostly chopping. After reading a lot about INFI, I really felt that I needed to know what my knife could do, so I put it through is paces: I hammered away at it, using full force blows with a big stick in order to baton it trough the dry pine, I used the tip for full-force prying, and the back for breaking sticks. The knife suffered no damage at all, and what is even more amazing, the edge was completely undamaged after all this rough treatment. It still felt sharp, though it could no longer shave. There was no visible chipping and no light reflecting in the edge, so rolling was minimal. After looking at it with a magnifying glass, I would say that the loss of sharpness was due to micro-impaction (micro rolling). I restored the edge to a super-shaving sharp in literally five minutes, by touching it a few times with a ceramic whetstone and then stropping.

The knife performed very well for what I was using it for. It chops and limbs great, but is a little too long and wide for fine carving, even with a choked-up grip. The D-guard I added makes the knife feel very secure in the hand while chopping. The back of the handle felt a little abrasive when doing full-force chopping, so I am thinking of sanding it down a bit. The coating held up surprisingly well, it just smoothened in a few places. Amazing stuff. I love this knife!

As a side-note, the dangler kydex/leather sheath I made for the NO-E held up fine and worked just as intended. Sorry, no pictures this time – I didn’t bring my camera.
 
200603-04026.jpg


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...some old pics...
 
:thumbup: Very cool.

Thanks for the scoop man.

Amazing what the Outlaw can do. It is one versitile blade, fo sho...
 
Krav Dragon said:
I have just returned from an outing in the woods, and I have now definitely robbed my new NO-E of its virginity. I used it for various camp chores, like limbing, splitting seasoned, knotty pine (this stuff was really hard and tough, not like pine in general), chopping firewood, carving figure four traps, and whittling a spoon. All in all, it saw about 1,5-2 hours of very hard use, mostly chopping. After reading a lot about INFI, I really felt that I needed to know what my knife could do, so I put it through is paces: I hammered away at it, using full force blows with a big stick in order to baton it trough the dry pine, I used the tip for full-force prying, and the back for breaking sticks. The knife suffered no damage at all, and what is even more amazing, the edge was completely undamaged after all this rough treatment. It still felt sharp, though it could no longer shave. There was no visible chipping and no light reflecting in the edge, so rolling was minimal. After looking at it with a magnifying glass, I would say that the loss of sharpness was due to micro-impaction (micro rolling). I restored the edge to a super-shaving sharp in literally five minutes, by touching it a few times with a ceramic whetstone and then stropping.

The knife performed very well for what I was using it for. It chops and limbs great, but is a little too long and wide for fine carving, even with a choked-up grip. The D-guard I added makes the knife feel very secure in the hand while chopping. The back of the handle felt a little abrasive when doing full-force chopping, so I am thinking of sanding it down a bit. The coating held up surprisingly well, it just smoothened in a few places. Amazing stuff. I love this knife!
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Good quick review. The E-series are very secure, but when chopping barehanded (which is the only way I chop unless the temps get below 30 degrees.) it is very abrassive compared to the old smoother handles.
 
Sanding the top and bottom of the tang (if it is coated), will make a world of difference.

Knocking the hump in the middle on the top down some makes it downright amazing.

Doing this by hand is slow going, but that is ok since it's really hard to add material if you take off too much.

Just work with it till it fits YOUR hand to a T. Then, you have pretty much a perfect 'till you die' knife.

Hard to beat a NO-E.

Rob
 
Bravado said:
My heart was pounding out of my chest as I read this story!:o
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Breath deeply, Bravadoink..!

In through the nose. . . .

Out through the mouth. . . .

In through the nose.........

:D
 
Bravado and all other OINKers: Hell yeah, it kinda makes you proud to know that you own a knife that can take this abuse!

valleytinworks: Yup, you guessed it, I have been training for a few years now. Krav is about Krav Maga, and Dragon is actually about my service in the Swedish army (I was in the “cavalry” = dragoon). The original handle I had chosen when registering was already taken, so I came up with this. Kind of corny, no? What do I think about hagannah? Well, I am not that much into philosophy… :foot: ;) :D Seriously, I think everybody should have the right to defend him/herself.

wetdog1911, I think you are absolutely right about sanding the back of the “hump” down (just above the third brass fastener). This is really my problem area; it is too wide and too abrasive to fit comfortably in my hand. But I have two concerns before bringing out the wet/dry paper: First, would such a mod void the guarantee? Second: this would expose the tang from under the coating, would that be a major discomfort in cold climates? I have no prior experience with full-tang knives in extreme cold. Do you have any pictures of your modified NO-E?
 
Jette bra test Krav:)

I was also very inpresed with the edge on my Busse after chopping pine. INFI is very good steel.;)

Regarding the handle on the knife. How about a thin pair of leather gloves. I am going to test my knife with a pair next time I have a chop off.

Cheers,

André
 
Don't tell anyone but during a home experiment I was using a buffer on a Steel Heart F and caught an edge:eek: , proving once again that you must not do that and that there is no need for a 3600 rpm buffer (insert smilie for cold sweats). Fortunately the F... was thrown into the stand (apparently edge first) and rattled around in there before coming to a stop.:barf:

The knife was unmarked except for a divot about 1/16" across and deep on the edge. It looked like the INFI was gone but it was just smushed in. Believe it or not, a steel restored it to flush with the edge and shaving sharp without any burr.

Don't try this at home. :(
 
tlmzdac said:
Don't tell anyone but during a home experiment I was using a buffer on a Steel Heart F and caught an edge:eek: , proving once again that you must not do that and that there is no need for a 3600 rpm buffer (insert smilie for cold sweats). Fortunately the F... was thrown into the stand (apparently edge first) and rattled around in there before coming to a stop.:barf:

The knife was unmarked except for a divot about 1/16" across and deep on the edge. It looked like the INFI was gone but it was just smushed in. Believe it or not, a steel restored it to flush with the edge and shaving sharp without any burr.

Don't try this at home. :(
Click to expand...

Thats impressive. Good to hear the infi isnt damaged
 
Krav Dragon said:
Bravado and all other OINKers: Hell yeah, it kinda makes you proud to know that you own a knife that can take this abuse!

valleytinworks: Yup, you guessed it, I have been training for a few years now. Krav is about Krav Maga, and Dragon is actually about my service in the Swedish army (I was in the “cavalry” = dragoon). The original handle I had chosen when registering was already taken, so I came up with this. Kind of corny, no? What do I think about hagannah? Well, I am not that much into philosophy… :foot: ;) :D Seriously, I think everybody should have the right to defend him/herself.
Click to expand...
krav.....hagannah..... is a fighting system similar to krav.... i took krav for 10 years... no i do hagannah..... go to www.fight2survive.com
 
Krav Dragon said:
But I have two concerns before bringing out the wet/dry paper: First, would such a mod void the guarantee? Second: this would expose the tang from under the coating, would that be a major discomfort in cold climates?
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Don't worry about the warranty, it is permanent unless you break something on purpose. People modify their stuff all the time.

The coating doesn't significantly affect heat transfer to begin with, so removing it will have a negligeable effect. I've had a few E-handles trimmed down, and I've always been very happy with the results.
 
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