Ok, so this morning I headed out to the hunting camp to do some planting, hang a tree stand, and put up some new camo netting on one of my existing stands. I took only the Farmer so that I could really see what it can do. Normally I would never head out with just a Victorinox, in the city all the time, off the beaten path I like to have a small fixed blade as well. One unforeseen task was about a dozen phillips head dry wall screws holding up the tattered existing netting. I had forgotten about those when I decided to head out with just my Farmer. At first I was regretting not bringing along my Leatherman with a dedicated philips driver, or at least my Tinker which also has a decent philips driver. I used the small driver on the can opener to turn the philips screws and despite a few slips they all came fairly quickly and the slip outs did not ding up the driver either.
I had to clear a few 1" or so thick branches away from the stand to keep my shooting line clear as well. I wouldn't have guessed it, but the saw on the Farmer cut quicker than the saw on my Leatherman Wave.
The blade on the Farmer cut through a couple dozen feet of the camo burlap with no issues.
The one problem I did have was due to the lack of one hand opening. I was using the blade to trim the zip ties I was using to hang the netting while also using the awl to punch a hole through the burlap to run the zip ties through. Keep in mine I was in a tree 18ft up in the air, holding onto the netting with one hand and using the knife in the other. I knicked myself pretty good several times as I was using the knife with the awl and the blade open at the same time. One cut on my thumb actually bled pretty good. I have never really needed a one hand opening knife, but in this instance it would have come in handy.
All in all the little Farmer performed well and I was very impressed. No pictures of it action as I left my phone in my truck and didn't climb back down to get it. Had a lot of tractor work to do and was in a hurry I guess.
At the end of the day just for fun I noticed a few pieces of wood on the ground that looked as if they would make a decent hand drill set. I used the awl and the blade to get the set ready and was really impressed at how neatly and effortlessly the awl drilled through wood. I got some smoke but no coal with the hand drill. Might have been able to had I stuck with it, but the wood did not appear to be weathered right for it and I was hungry so I headed out without getting a coal.
On another note while I was out the Bantam alox that I ordered at the same time as the Farmer arrived while I was out. I guess I expected more from it than was reasonable, but my initial impression was a little underwhelming. Don't get me wrong, it is a handsome little knife and I think it will carry great when I am wearing dress pants, but I think any serious cutting will leave my hands aching quickly.More on that later after I get a chance to really try it out. It was probably the least sharp out of the box of any Victorinox I have owned. It will definitely need a touch up before I use it.
