The pathfinder and kat knife came in today.
First thing I have to say is these knives are light. Jeff H really means it when he says the Pathfinder feels like a smaller 4" knife compared to its 5" length. In part this has to do with its .125" thickness and I also suspect the G10 slabs are lighter then other handle materials. The pathfinder is certainly much less heavy than the RC-4 even though it is longer in both the blade and handle. I'm really digging the 5" handle - lots of room to move around and that palm swell - well it is like having a featherbed for the pinky
The kat knife was actually a bigger surprise for me (I had big expectations for the pathfinder). This knife is a bit smaller then I thought it would be and the effect is something that I'm really happy with. In the hand, it sort of looks like a thicker paring knife, but it is much stiffer and stronger than your average kitchen variety. Bryan put on thinner slabs and the effect is again a really tough, but light weight knife in a thin profile. I think this would be such a great little cutter piggy backed to a big chopper knife. It would also be an awesome little neck knife if paired up with some kydex. This knife is definitely a winner and will be a great EDC. Unfortunately, my wife keeps reminding me that this is her knife so I think I will have to get my own.
Here is the line up of usual suspects. From top to bottom: Opinel #8, Breeden Kat, Rat RC-4 (I'm diggin its patina), Breeden Pathfinder. The Diotte wouldn't fit on the paper
The profiles. The Diotte is in this shot, it is .25", RC-4 = 0.187", Pathfinder = 0.125"; Kat knife = 0.109" and opinel is very thin....
The pathfinder can be flexed a bit in .125", however, this is putting a lot of force on the tip the small amount of flex isn't very noticable. Actually this knife is a lot stiffer then I thought it was going to be and really like the feel. I said it before, but this guy is really light in the hand and I'm not quite over this yet.
The pathfinder and kat were not quite shaving sharp out of the bos, although I could scrape some hairs off from one side of each blade. This could have been influenced by their travels. It didn't take too long to get them shaving though. I went through the full sharpening routine on the sharpmaker, 20 strokes corner/flat of medium rods then the same with the fines. After using the majic marker trick, both knives were bevelled at 20 degrees. The bevel angles were very consistent on both sides of each knife.
Thanks to Bryan, I'm going to look like a dork with my mohawk sporting arms in Trindad next week!
I like carving up fuzz sticks to, a