Kershaw Outcast

S

siguy

Joined
Aug 26, 2006
Messages
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the Kershaw Outcast is mentioned around here every once in a while...

towards the end of the summer of 2008, there was a thread that featured the Outcast, and one fellow mentioned that he had one and wasn't really able to sharpen it, and it was a bit dull.

i offered to sharpen it for him, and he sent it to me asking me to treat it as my own, and play around with it.

well, i did an initial review of it a while back, found here and started grinding.

i spent about a total of 2 hours probably grinding the Outcast before i was really satisfied with it...but i think it was entirely worth it.

yesterday was nice out, so took a few blades into the woods to play with. i took the Outcast, a Crowell/Barker competition knife, a Fiskars 14" hatchet, and my heavy machete.

IMG_1822.jpg


i was pleasantly surprised by the results.

i only did one trial of each officially, but i did a bunch of chopping with all four yesterday. i used the Fiskars as my baseline, since i consider it roughly optimal efficiency for chopping.

Fiskars-22
Outcast-23
Heavy Machete-25
Crowell/Barker-28

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IMG_1827.jpg


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i would say that the Outcast matched the Fiskars on almost everything. i was chopping maple up to about 5-6" diameter, and it worked pretty well. it didn't have quite as much hitting power as the hatchet, which means that it didn't rank as well on the larger wood, but it did work really well.

when i originally recieved the Outcast, the edge was about 3/32 or 1/8" thick, with about a 40-45 degree inclusive bevel...very thick!

i layed the bevel way back and convexed it, so now its a real chopping machine! i also squared part of the spine so that it can scrape tinder and a firesteel.

also, i wanted to mention that i was very pleased with the edge retention. it stayed hair popping sharp after a pile of chopping hard woods. since i ground the Fiskars back, the edge retention has been much better, but the Outcast still far outclassed it.
 
very cool Simon..:thumbup: that outkast came out great... i convexed my father in laws for a him a while back... they're not bad blades at all for the $$$...
 
I have one of those Browning Crowell/Barkers too. It's a very good, well-made knife, but frankly I wasn't quite as impressed with it's chopping ability as I thought I would be. If I understand your findings, it seems you would agree.

Don't get me wrong though, it is a darn good cutter. I'd give it an A, just not an A+. The handle is a bit blocky for me but I haven't made up my mind to re-shape it yet... plenty other irons in the fire... sorry for the drift!

How'd the Outcast and the comp cutter compare in terms of edge-holding? I'm very pleased with the HT on my Browning, and that "low-tech" 1085 steel takes an excellent edge for rough work... a little toothy but still very very sharp.
 
The Outcast is the one of the best values around for a big chopper. I sold mine but will soon get another. They do need to be reworked a bit to get them to perform at their best but when you finish that, you really have something. Great review siguy and great work on the Tram that I just got back from you..:thumbup:
 
How much would a re-working like this run? I've got an outcast that I'm not all that happy with and would love to have the edge improved a bit. The squared off spine is a great idea too.
 
thanks for the comments guys!

james, i agree on the competition knife...its a decent blade, but i think it doesn't have enough of a blade-heavy balance, if you know what i mean. the handle is a bit blocky, but this one isn't mine so i'm not going to round it out any... i would say that the comp. knife holds a pretty good edge. i might say its a little better than my Fiskars (keep in mind that grinding on the Fiskars has got back to harder steel, and edge retention is much better than with the stock axe)

Jim, glad you are happy!

cmdionne, since this blade was so difficult, i would say probably about $20. this mostly is because it ate so much belt!
 
siguy said:
cmdionne, since this blade was so difficult, i would say probably about $20. this mostly is because it ate so much belt!
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Thanks, I'll keep it in mind, have a few other things I need/want to pay for/buy, but I will keep it in mind. Great job.
 
Simon,

Very cool... I almost bought an Outcast, but got scared away by the D2. The only knife I have in D2 is a Cuda folder and its a bitch to sharpen. Some other members have said positive things about the Outcast too, maybe time to reconsider...
 
Awesome Simon, I love what you did with it :thumbup: I was thinking about getting an Outcast a while ago but ended up getting some other blades first. When/if I do get one, I'm definitely sending it your way :)
 
I convexed my Outcast about a far as you did that one, and it's a serious chopper. It beat the Battle Mistress I paid ALOT more for...I still have the Outcast.
 
Great post, Siguy. I'll bet he is happy about how well it does now, huh?

I am going to be getting an Outcast soon, but I am going to try and find someone to re-do the edge for me. I don't have the necessary tools to do it in a reasonable amount of time.
 
Simon - thanks for the pics and the review. That's a cool lookin' knife and the handle looks very comfortable for extended use.
 
siguy said:
james, i agree on the competition knife...its a decent blade, but i think it doesn't have enough of a blade-heavy balance, if you know what i mean...
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Yessir, we're definitely on the same page. I agree with each of the points you made. I also think the belly should be more pronounced and more towards the tip... it seems the sweet spot where it chops/cuts the best, is a couple inches behind the tip... I feel like this is costing me, in terms of balance and the fact that the fastest-moving part of the blade, the tip, isn't in play in the actual cutting. I'm also not sure why the ricasso and handle are so damn long. I can literally wrap one fist and two fingers from the other hand on this handle, comfortably. I wear an XL glove snugly, and usually complain about handles being too small.

Again, having said all that, this thing is built like a tank and I have been plenty happy to carry it in the woods. It definitely stands up to hard use.
 
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I love my outcast, but my regrind does not look anything like yours (grinding on one leg and crutches means stumbling leaves large grinder marks down the center of the blade. Maybe now that I can stand better I'll have to work on it some more. I picked up the Browning knife this winter and my initial basement assessment was similar to what is written here.

Was the Browning edge factory, and if it was, do you think that a reprofile would help much?
 
Was the Browning edge factory, and if it was, do you think that a reprofile would help much?
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the edge on the one shown was thinned out some. i wasn't really happy with the way it was cutting, so i thinned it out and it started cutting much better.
 
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