- Joined
- May 28, 1999
- Messages
- 2,606
Review of Camillus Talon:
I'd say oh.... say.. umm... well it was a long time ago lets just leave it at that. Will Fennel sent me a Talon under the conditions that I put it to good use and review it. Well as lazy as I am I managed to do this with great pleasure. The knife was used to slice green bamboo, cut all sorts of meat ranging from beef to chicken to fish.
When I first received the knife, it needed a minor touching up. No, this is NOT because Camillus doesn't sharpen well, it is because I havent been the first to test out this handy little fixed blade. The user prior to me hadn't sharpened it at all, throughout all his use, and I received the Talon in the same condition it was shipped back to Will. Sharpening the talon was an easy task, and was even easier than posts to that effect led me to believe. A few strokes on a medium ceramic Spyderco benchstone was all it took to bring it back to a like new edge.
I used this knife side by side for two weeks with my favorite fixed blade, a Black Jack Stalker in 1095. In order to evaluate edge holding I didnt go through the usual process of cutting through one thing using one consistent method, that aint real life folks. Instead, I used them to cut through a variety of things from bamboo to fish and darned near everything in between. I did all this a long time ago, so I wont be quoting exact figures or anything like that, I DID try my best to cut through the different materials equally with both knives, using the talon a bit more than the Black Jack. After all was said and done, the blackjack now has a beautiful patina, and is quite dull. It will still cut through raw meat fairly well, but just glides over denim and bamboo. The talon on the other hand while feeling quite dull to the touch, can cut through denim, cotton cloth, and most other materials just fine, with the exception of the bamboo, which it did bite into, but was a chore to slice through a 1 inch thick piece.
Corrosion resistance of the talon is as good as advertised. Cobalt is stainless folks, zero corrosion whatsoever. I didn't take any care to keep the blade clean unless I thought there was enough gunk to clog the inside of the sheath, which I didnt feel like cleaning out. The Talon was put away with animal fat, dried saltwater, and the plant juices of a banana tree, which oxidize purple when they come in contact with carbon steel. Cutting through very very sour orange/lemon hybrids there was no oxidation of the Talon; the juice merely cleaned any other contaminants off the blade.
Another one of talonite's claimed advantages is its inherent "slickness". During my usage I found this to be generally true but for a couple cases. Cutting through fatty meats and cloth, the talonite blade didnt seem to "grab" the material the same way the flats of a steel blade do. My banana trees are another story. Cutting through these with the talon quickly caused a very fibrous and sticky material about 1/8 of an inch thick to form on the blade and edge, Ive never seen this happen to a steel blade of any sort, so I dont know what happened there.
If I had the free cash right now Id buy myself a talon for my 1972 cutlass. This car is in an eternal state of restoration, and a good knife is always a nice thing to have. The corrosion resistance is good for this too, because my passengers side floods after a big rainstorm... thereby drenching any knife in it. I had a Blackjack AWAC there before, and even that 440A blade rusted to some degree. (Yes, I left the talon on the seat of my car through a few rainstorms too, no it didnt rust...) As I live in Florida right next to the beach a truly corrosion proof knife would be a big benefit. Thanks to Camillus and Tom Waltz of Carbide Processors for letting me play with this fine piece for a few months.
I'd say oh.... say.. umm... well it was a long time ago lets just leave it at that. Will Fennel sent me a Talon under the conditions that I put it to good use and review it. Well as lazy as I am I managed to do this with great pleasure. The knife was used to slice green bamboo, cut all sorts of meat ranging from beef to chicken to fish.
When I first received the knife, it needed a minor touching up. No, this is NOT because Camillus doesn't sharpen well, it is because I havent been the first to test out this handy little fixed blade. The user prior to me hadn't sharpened it at all, throughout all his use, and I received the Talon in the same condition it was shipped back to Will. Sharpening the talon was an easy task, and was even easier than posts to that effect led me to believe. A few strokes on a medium ceramic Spyderco benchstone was all it took to bring it back to a like new edge.
I used this knife side by side for two weeks with my favorite fixed blade, a Black Jack Stalker in 1095. In order to evaluate edge holding I didnt go through the usual process of cutting through one thing using one consistent method, that aint real life folks. Instead, I used them to cut through a variety of things from bamboo to fish and darned near everything in between. I did all this a long time ago, so I wont be quoting exact figures or anything like that, I DID try my best to cut through the different materials equally with both knives, using the talon a bit more than the Black Jack. After all was said and done, the blackjack now has a beautiful patina, and is quite dull. It will still cut through raw meat fairly well, but just glides over denim and bamboo. The talon on the other hand while feeling quite dull to the touch, can cut through denim, cotton cloth, and most other materials just fine, with the exception of the bamboo, which it did bite into, but was a chore to slice through a 1 inch thick piece.
Corrosion resistance of the talon is as good as advertised. Cobalt is stainless folks, zero corrosion whatsoever. I didn't take any care to keep the blade clean unless I thought there was enough gunk to clog the inside of the sheath, which I didnt feel like cleaning out. The Talon was put away with animal fat, dried saltwater, and the plant juices of a banana tree, which oxidize purple when they come in contact with carbon steel. Cutting through very very sour orange/lemon hybrids there was no oxidation of the Talon; the juice merely cleaned any other contaminants off the blade.
Another one of talonite's claimed advantages is its inherent "slickness". During my usage I found this to be generally true but for a couple cases. Cutting through fatty meats and cloth, the talonite blade didnt seem to "grab" the material the same way the flats of a steel blade do. My banana trees are another story. Cutting through these with the talon quickly caused a very fibrous and sticky material about 1/8 of an inch thick to form on the blade and edge, Ive never seen this happen to a steel blade of any sort, so I dont know what happened there.
If I had the free cash right now Id buy myself a talon for my 1972 cutlass. This car is in an eternal state of restoration, and a good knife is always a nice thing to have. The corrosion resistance is good for this too, because my passengers side floods after a big rainstorm... thereby drenching any knife in it. I had a Blackjack AWAC there before, and even that 440A blade rusted to some degree. (Yes, I left the talon on the seat of my car through a few rainstorms too, no it didnt rust...) As I live in Florida right next to the beach a truly corrosion proof knife would be a big benefit. Thanks to Camillus and Tom Waltz of Carbide Processors for letting me play with this fine piece for a few months.
