- Joined
- Jun 22, 2003
- Messages
- 3,049
the knives fromleft to right:
ontario frontiersman (spec plus line)
cksur2 (kabar style)
SWHRT9B (dagger)
busse combat terror monkey battle mistress
cksur6 (bowie)
the smith and wessons held quite a few suprises for me.
some of you were wondering what the tang to ricasso junction looked like, specifically if it was square or rounded - well you cant tell because the gaurd iis welded to the tang
. to my eyes, it appears as though its perfectly square. thats taking into consideration that the part of the tang that inserts into the pommel is perfectly square.on the cksur2 the handle breaks down by pushing out the pommel pin, and just pulling off the pommel and the kraton ( i assume its kraton ) tube. the gaurd is unremovable because its welded to the tang (wich seems like a horrible, horrible idea to me... but to remove it id have to scallop out that area, and thats almost less appealing).
its a sturdy knife, with a good sized handle for the overall size of the knife. it feels comfortable in the hand and the gaurd doesnt feel excessive at all. the balance point is right where the index finger rests on the handle.
one complaint about the kraton handles is that they are already messed up - and i havent even used the knives yet, i've just taken them out of there sheaths a few times. you can cut away the kraton with your fingernails.
the blade grinds are even, and honestly better then that of kabars. the hollow grinding of the saber grind makes it an alright cutter considering how low of a saber grind it is.
i would choose this over kabar if i had the choice (and i did - having owned a standard serrated 7" model from kabar)
the dagger is interesting for a few reasons - specifically the handle and the edge geometry.
the cutting edge has a very distink corner (thats rounded off) instead of being a smooth flowing curve. i dont know why this is, but its interesting. overall the blade feels very sturdy and stiff. the knife is almost feather weight at 7oz, but its heavy enough that you can still feel it in your hand, and the rubberized alluminum handle adds really nice grip.
the handle is interesting in that while its rubber, it has the alluminum backing making it feel much stonger and more durable then the full kraton used in the search and rescue series from s&w. again, for me, the handle size is almost idea.
the balance point is right on the index finger area of the handle.
the bowie... this thing suprised me a lot when i got it.
first was the handle. i normally dont like finger grooves, but on this they are very well placed for my hands. and the length of the handle combined with the finger groove set up makes it very easy to use in a choked down position (for better chopping power).
HOWEVER. the handle rattles. so thats crap (i'm going to replace it with micarta. if i didnt id probably grind off the tube fastener and fill the entire tang area and lanyard hole with epoxy.
its quite blade heavy, the balance point being right where the edge starts. wich i think is partly due to the large gaurd.
the thing thats kind of scary about the knife though is how thin they ground teh edge. is hollow ground, but its HEAVILY hollow ground, the area where the powder coat ends right above the cutting edge feels to be about half the thickness of a penny. because its saber ground, and 3/16 - the entire blade portion feels quite sturdy and durable, but the edge kind of seems like it would be prone to damage.
however, its one hell of a cutter. it sinks into wood better then any of the knives i have (khukuries go farther, but harder, this one kind of floats into the wood without much effort where as the khukuries kind of muscle there way in by force). being blade heavy, and ultra thin edged, it makes for an excellent knife and an excellent chopper, and its thin from tip to ricasso, being that the grind is very evenly done.
the sheaths for the search and rescue knives are basically a plastic box that has a large webbing strap runing along the front and back making a belt loop. inside the plastic box is 2 sets of round plastic, the ones on the spine being wider apart, and the ones near the edge being much closer - so that they both squeeze the blade appropriately without making it hard to draw. by pushing the blade back towards the spine, withdrawal is quite easy. overal a decent durable design, albiet a little big.
the pouch comes with a diamond hone box wich is awesome. i wish every knife sheath came with something like that. it makes a world of difference if you actually using it a lot but have nothing to sharpen it with.
all in all im really impressed with these knives considering that i paid (after shipping) 26$ for the cksur2, and 36$ for the cksur6, i consider it a bargain and an excellent deal. i have no problems with handing them to a non knife person to let them beat the crap out of them on camping trips, yet i would enjoy using them myself.
