My Cara Cara's 1st Camping Trip

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beckerhead

Joined
Feb 11, 2005
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Well, my Cara Cara got baptized this weekend. We spent a couple of nights in the Ouachita National Forest and I decided to put my new Byrd through its paces. I used it for all my regular tasks, plus some extra use just for kicks. I cut jute, 550 paracord, and some rather dirty nylon twine found by the camp. I chopped about 10 limbs ½” in diameter from a seasoned blown down hickory using a loose 2 finger grip on the end of the handle. It took about 3 good smacks per limb due to the light blade, and very hard dry wood. I whittled with my son until my hand just quit on me. We whittled pine, cedar, oak, and hickory, probably a couple of hundred slices all weekend. All the wood was dead and dry. No green cutting allowed there, and wouldn’t anyway unless necessary.
I also cut up a couple of cardboard drink boxes, snack cracker boxes, etc. The final analysis is that the knife would still roughly shave with a good bit of pressure, and would slice, but not push cut newsprint. There was no chipping, or rolled areas visible along the edge. After about 10-15 strokes per side on a strop it was shaving cleanly, and most sections of the blade will now push cut again. The blade did take some scratches, but my mirror polish shows every tiny scratch so its probably not as bad as it seems. The handle was a bit rough for extended heavy whittling. The FRN will definitely grip, but is also quite abrasive. The ridges on the top of the handle along side the lock really dug into my hand. The clip is very tight, and even with the very thin fabric on my fishing pants it held snug. There was no loosening of the blade, or handle after the chopping. The blade length was nice when slicing sausage for the grill, and spreading mayo & mustard for burgers. All in all I am very pleased with the Cara Cara. Now I am looking forward to the “Catbyrd”.
 
Nice report, have you done similar work with VG-10, ATS-34 or that class of steel. I'd be interested in your perspective on the Byrd steel vs more common cutlery steels. Was the strop loaded with a polishing compound?

-Cliff
 
I haven’t done any similar work with either of those. I have, however, done virtually identical work just in smaller quantities with 2 AUS-8 blades. A Camillus Blaze, and my wife’s Kabar Warthog Folder. In regards to whittling, the Blaze held up a lot better than the Warthog, which I feel was mainly due to a much thinner edge on my Blaze vs. the Warthog. Neither held a candle to the Byrd. On hardwood chops the Blaze would slightly roll it was barely visible, but could be felt. The ‘Hog did not show visible rolling, but was very blunted, I believe it must have turned the edge, but I couldn’t see it. After the chopping the Warthog wouldn’t slice plain paper, grab my nail, or even slightly shave. The Blaze would roughly slice newsprint, but not push cut at all, and very slightly scrape arm hair but not what could be called shaving. Bear in mind while the Byrd is by no means a heavy chopper, its handle and blade length and weight allow it to chop quite a bit harder than either the Blaze or ‘Hog, and it showed no rolling, and was notably sharper after more use. I am not a steel guru, but I think while The Byrd steel is commonly compared to AUS-8 based on its content, its 61 Rc is what sets it apart from most AUS-8 blades. I do have a VG-10 Caly I am sharpening and polishing for my nephew. I may take a few liberties with it just for the sake of science. Regarding the strop, it is 12” X 1 ½” loaded with Mibro #6 green compound on a 5 gal. paint mixing stick.
 
beckerhead said:
... while The Byrd steel is commonly compared to AUS-8 based on its content, its 61 Rc is what sets it apart from most AUS-8 blades.
Click to expand...

Yes, that is pretty much it. It is a very similar steel in regards to carbide content, but has a slightly higher maximum hardness and Spyderco seems to be also utilizing it more in that respect. Your observations would be exactly what you would predict for those steels.

I do have a VG-10 Caly I am sharpening and polishing for my nephew. I may take a few liberties with it just for the sake of science.
Click to expand...

That would be interesting because it is also harder than the AUS-8A blades but has a much higher amount of carbide than 8C13CrMoV. Thanks for the details on the strop.

-Cliff
 
Beckerhhead: I do have a VG-10 Caly I am sharpening and polishing for my nephew. I may take a few liberties with it just for the sake of science.

Cliff: That would be interesting because it is also harder than the AUS-8A blades but has a much higher amount of carbide than 8C13CrMoV. Thanks for the details on the strop.

What are older Spyderco VG10's spec'd at? The Camillus Aus8 are advertised as cryo'ed. From my experience sharpening one a few times it was very crisp.
 
Okay, thanks. In that case I won't say anything more. I do not imagining Camillus pushing to 60 with Aus8 and keeping quiet about it.
 
I spoke with the Camillus service dept. shortly after my purchase regarding Rc. They said it was 57-59.
 
Thanks Beckerhead for the information. I interjected because I do not have a happy time sharpening my VG10 Caly Jr. Cliff noted that it isn't hard enough for the carbide content to be easy sharpening [with respect to fine sharpening (blur removal)]. It is a good platform though for some nice edge geometries.
 
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