- Joined
- Jan 8, 2017
- Messages
- 503
I've had this knife a couple of weeks now and actually received a specific request from another member to review it. So let's go. First let's introduce the knife and it's accompanying sheath.
I can tell you right off the bat this is one of my favorite leather sheaths I have ever seen. It is formed to the knife in a way similar to a lot of Kydex sheaths and even with the clip open, the knife does not fall out when held upside down and shaken.
The handle I chose was the Cocobolo. As many of you might know Cocobolo is one of the most dense woods in the world. The handle itself has a very comfortable contour to it and also has small grooves running throughout that are just high enough to add some grip, but not so high you notice they are there and create hot spots. The spine is rounded similar to a CRK, but on the blade it still comes to a sharp 90 degree transition so you could still utilize a firesteel with this knife. Now when I say sharp, I don't mean run your fingers over it and it feels like an unfinished corner. It probably has a micro convexing to the transition point, but in no way would it prevent you from using a firesteel.
No matter how I grip this knife I can not find an uncomfortable position. The ergos simply make it one of the most comfortable fixed blade I have ever held. The weight doesn't even give pause at a little over 5 and a half ounces and the balance is top notch. The blade simply feels, and as we'll get into performs bigger then it is.
Ok so it's pretty and comfortable, you guys get it. This is supposed to be a bushcraft knife though, can it bushcraft?
As many of you are aware most knives people use for bushcraft are pretty big. This knife's total OAL is right around 8.5" with about a 4" blade, surely it can't baton wood, start a fire, create kindling, process game, baton and do a host of other things a larger knife can do.
So where should we start, Kindling? Sure heck even a SAK can kindle. Lets try some well love and very dry oak.
Ok so it kindles well. How about whittling? Let's go with some dry maple.
Child's play you say? I can tell you the smaller size makes these tasks effortless. Let's move into big boy territory, how about some batoning. Dry pecan anybody?
Hmmm. Didn't really seem to phase it. So why should one buy this knife? A lot of knives can do this kind of work.
For starters I picked mine up for under $130 brand new.
Secondly M390. I'm in the camp that currently believes M390 is the best steel available on the market today and this knife is a fine example of why. You can sharpen this thing up, take it out for a few days and return it to it's sharp factory edge with a few quick passes on any strop or hone. All of the work I did, was purposely done with the factory edge to see how it performed. Good news is, it still cut paper quite easily afterwards. You don't have to worry about the knife rusting because it's M390. It doesn't need oiling and all that other jazz. Get it bloody, rinse it off in a puddle, it doesn't care. The combination of toughness, edge retention and corrosion resistance make it top notch and I believe Lionsteel does a fantastic job with their heat treat of this steel.
Next for me would be the size. It's a 4 inch blade which would probably turn a lot of folks off for a survival/bushcraft knife, but it well outperforms it's size. It's large enough that you can baton, but still small enough that processing game would not be a pain. Most anybody who has processed game before knows that beyond a certain point more knife is not a good thing. It's small enough for your fine work and large enough for the tougher parts like hacking through bone...etc.
Finally, I believe this little knife was built with the weekend warrior or backpacker in mind. It's lightweight, has great ergos for all day use, hold's it's edge forever, is easy to bring back to hair popping, removable handle slabs for cleaning with good deep screws, you can toss it where ever and not worry about it rusting. It's simply made to reduce weight but at the same time perform similar to a larger knife.
On a scale of 1-10 I'd give this knife a 9, as I personally prefer some minor gimping on the top of the handle. Even without it though, the grip is solid. So if you're looking for a bushcraft knife and it's in your price range at $130, I would say it's pretty hard to beat.
I can tell you right off the bat this is one of my favorite leather sheaths I have ever seen. It is formed to the knife in a way similar to a lot of Kydex sheaths and even with the clip open, the knife does not fall out when held upside down and shaken.
The handle I chose was the Cocobolo. As many of you might know Cocobolo is one of the most dense woods in the world. The handle itself has a very comfortable contour to it and also has small grooves running throughout that are just high enough to add some grip, but not so high you notice they are there and create hot spots. The spine is rounded similar to a CRK, but on the blade it still comes to a sharp 90 degree transition so you could still utilize a firesteel with this knife. Now when I say sharp, I don't mean run your fingers over it and it feels like an unfinished corner. It probably has a micro convexing to the transition point, but in no way would it prevent you from using a firesteel.
No matter how I grip this knife I can not find an uncomfortable position. The ergos simply make it one of the most comfortable fixed blade I have ever held. The weight doesn't even give pause at a little over 5 and a half ounces and the balance is top notch. The blade simply feels, and as we'll get into performs bigger then it is.
Ok so it's pretty and comfortable, you guys get it. This is supposed to be a bushcraft knife though, can it bushcraft?
As many of you are aware most knives people use for bushcraft are pretty big. This knife's total OAL is right around 8.5" with about a 4" blade, surely it can't baton wood, start a fire, create kindling, process game, baton and do a host of other things a larger knife can do.
So where should we start, Kindling? Sure heck even a SAK can kindle. Lets try some well love and very dry oak.
Ok so it kindles well. How about whittling? Let's go with some dry maple.
Child's play you say? I can tell you the smaller size makes these tasks effortless. Let's move into big boy territory, how about some batoning. Dry pecan anybody?
Hmmm. Didn't really seem to phase it. So why should one buy this knife? A lot of knives can do this kind of work.
For starters I picked mine up for under $130 brand new.
Secondly M390. I'm in the camp that currently believes M390 is the best steel available on the market today and this knife is a fine example of why. You can sharpen this thing up, take it out for a few days and return it to it's sharp factory edge with a few quick passes on any strop or hone. All of the work I did, was purposely done with the factory edge to see how it performed. Good news is, it still cut paper quite easily afterwards. You don't have to worry about the knife rusting because it's M390. It doesn't need oiling and all that other jazz. Get it bloody, rinse it off in a puddle, it doesn't care. The combination of toughness, edge retention and corrosion resistance make it top notch and I believe Lionsteel does a fantastic job with their heat treat of this steel.
Next for me would be the size. It's a 4 inch blade which would probably turn a lot of folks off for a survival/bushcraft knife, but it well outperforms it's size. It's large enough that you can baton, but still small enough that processing game would not be a pain. Most anybody who has processed game before knows that beyond a certain point more knife is not a good thing. It's small enough for your fine work and large enough for the tougher parts like hacking through bone...etc.
Finally, I believe this little knife was built with the weekend warrior or backpacker in mind. It's lightweight, has great ergos for all day use, hold's it's edge forever, is easy to bring back to hair popping, removable handle slabs for cleaning with good deep screws, you can toss it where ever and not worry about it rusting. It's simply made to reduce weight but at the same time perform similar to a larger knife.
On a scale of 1-10 I'd give this knife a 9, as I personally prefer some minor gimping on the top of the handle. Even without it though, the grip is solid. So if you're looking for a bushcraft knife and it's in your price range at $130, I would say it's pretty hard to beat.
). If I wasn't already done with more fixed blades than I really use, I'd probably have bought one already 
