Newbie, starting from scratch, finally bought Fallkniven A1

Rat 1 or Rat 2 folder and a Real Steel Sea Eagle

Esee 4 for the EDC fixed blade

Ontario Rat fixed blade, Esee 6, or Swamp Rat Ratmandu. One of those for the survival/woods knife.


Those would be an amazing start to a collection. IMHO
 
ATJ999 said:
Rat 1 or Rat 2 folder and a Real Steel Sea Eagle

Esee 4 for the EDC fixed blade

Ontario Rat fixed blade, Esee 6, or Swamp Rat Ratmandu. One of those for the survival/woods knife.


Those would be an amazing start to a collection. IMHO
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Funny thing is the ESEE 6 was the first knife on my radar and I keep wondering if I will just say the heck with it and buy one. I don't care for the ESEE handles though, especially in the 3 and 4. In fact I have held the 4 and 5 and I hate the 4. Just a horribly small handle for someone with L to XL hands like me. Way too short and way too thin but that's my personal preference, not knocking the knife at all. The 5 was better but still too thin for the size knife IMHO. The 6 might be ok, I dunno.

Getting my hands on knives is the problem. I have never seen a Blackbird in the wild, just on the computer screen, same for the ESEE 6. The HM models from ESEE have me intrigued but again, none around and very little real in depth reviews online. The ESEE 6hm hasn't even been released yet. I went to Cabelas and they just had the regular ESEE 4 and 5, no Ontarios and a bunch of Gerbers, Bucks and a lot of folders.

I guess this is how knife collections start. You buy one and meh, not perfect, buy another and so on. I didn't want to go there, can't justify or afford that. That's why I'm being so ridiculous with the research and questions here.

BTW, this forum is awesome and you guys are great! I truly appreciate all of the advice and I may not comment on all of it but I sincerely take it all to heart.
 
I've read too much about fit/finish and heat treat not being good on Ontario to pick one over an Esee, even for less cost. Plus, I really dislike the inexpensive nylon sheaths and the warranty isn't near as good. If the 5 handles were too thin then the 6 will be too thin as they are the same scales but on a thinner blade stock.
 
craytab said:
I've read too much about fit/finish and heat treat not being good on Ontario to pick one over an Esee, even for less cost. Plus, I really dislike the inexpensive nylon sheaths and the warranty isn't near as good. If the 5 handles were too thin then the 6 will be too thin as they are the same scales but on a thinner blade stock.
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I want to save money where I can but if I want an ESEE I'll get that, not the Ontario version, the price difference isn't that big.

The 5 handles weren't bad, much better than the 4, just with that blade being so big/heavy they still seemed a tad thin. I didn't play with it much since it wasn't a knife I was interested in and the counter was crowded. If I go back soon maybe I'll take another look just to see if I think those handles would feel ok on a 6.
 
I am considering breaking my budget a bit and waiting on the edc and axe/tomahawk to get either a Fallkniven A1 or S1. I have large hands so leaning towards the A1 just for the bigger handle. Thoughts?
 
Well, I did it. I bought a Fallkniven A1. I found one that was listed as "Used - Like new. open box, packaging may be damaged or item may be repackaged". It came today and it is brand new with one or two minor handling marks on the handle but very minor, cosmetic only and the blade is flawless. I will certainly be putting more "handling marks" on it anyway.

It came in the original box that was a little banged up and taped. So it was probably a return or something they got that they couldn't sell as new because of the box. It was $25 cheaper than anywhere else I could find it, free shipping, no tax. Since I was considering paying around $190 for it I decided to take a flier on this one and I am glad I did.

The sheath sucks a little but that's normal for the A1, I knew that. It isn't broken or worn, it's new, just kinda cheap looking plastic but it holds the knife fine and is very slim and light. Functional but minimalist to say the least. The upside is it's care free, just like the knife. The knife came very sharp but I will have to learn how to sharpen a convex edge (and get tools to do it).

I will use my Mora Robust for smaller tasks and eventually I will get an axe or tomahawk for chopping but this A1 can do some small chopping tasks for now. Heck, I have a cheap hatchet I use for making kindling by the wood stove. That would do for now.

I have been looking at the sellers here but as great as their stuff is and probably priced well for what they offer I found everything to be out of my price range. This was a stretch as it is.
 
Hey I'm from CT, and I always buy a fishing license, that way you can carry WHATEVER SIZED BLADE you want! I really dont see in the law where it states must be coming from or going fishing. Just keep an old rod and reel in your car, or even a budweiser can wound up with string and a hook! As long as you pay the $28 a year, it may be worth it to you to carry whatever you want whenever and wherever in your car. The CT laws on knives are some of the best and most relaxed in the U.S.! Concealed or not concealed also makes no difference. You want 1 burly do it all knife that easily batons any log the point sticks through, down to skinning native brook trout, get the Swamp Rat Ratmandu!! Prob find like new on exchange for same as your F1. Just my opinion, we all have em here!
 
Yeah I always buy a fishing/hunting license too (that reminds me, I gotta do that this year soon). I analyze everything to death but honestly I'm not too worried about the blade length laws since I don't intend to use the blade for anything otherwise illegal and I won't be wearing this A1 to Walmart.

The Ratmandu looks like a really nice knife but I decided I wanted to try something in stainless steel but not cheap garden variety 420 or 440, although with the right heat treat I have read that those can be fine steels too. In fact the laminations on the outside of the A1 are some form of 420jc I think. The core is VG10 though which is supposed to take a wicked edge and hold it well. It can be a little brittle I hear if you are running just a VG10 blade but the softer steel sides of the laminated blade mitigate the brittleness issue while still allowing the VG10 core to give a great edge.

I know myself, I will forget to clean and oil the blade at least once before putting it away for weeks or months. If I do that with a carbon steel blade I'll be dealing with a lot of rust and pitting. Besides, stainless means I don't have to deal with coatings either.

BTW, I also ordered a Condor Bushlore for $35 shipped so I can try my hand at a thick carbon steel blade without crying over a $170 pile of rust with micarta scales. Maybe if that goes well, I'll get a higher end carbon blade if someday. I do have the Mora Robust which is carbon steel too so I will see how that fares.
 
You know what, dont worry too much about the whole rust thing. Last summer, I made a dumb impulse buy on an esse 6 at a knife dealer store in Maine on vacation, anyways, paid WAY WAAAY too much, love the knife though, great chopper. That night, my son "put it away" in a 5 gallon bucket with no lid and it totally poured rain. The next morn it was point down in the package with everything soaked. Rust formed on the word Rowen and the very edge. I put motor oil off the dipstick on it, got some off, the words are still red, edge sharpened right off. This was submerged in about 8" water overnight in a marine environ. Still paper slicing sharp.
 
caseknife64 said:
You know what, dont worry too much about the whole rust thing. Last summer, I made a dumb impulse buy on an esse 6 at a knife dealer store in Maine on vacation, anyways, paid WAY WAAAY too much, love the knife though, great chopper. That night, my son "put it away" in a 5 gallon bucket with no lid and it totally poured rain. The next morn it was point down in the package with everything soaked. Rust formed on the word Rowen and the very edge. I put motor oil off the dipstick on it, got some off, the words are still red, edge sharpened right off. This was submerged in about 8" water overnight in a marine environ. Still paper slicing sharp.
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Good to know but you got to it the next day. I can see myself forgetting about it all damp for weeks. I think I'd have rust issues in that scenario. Like I said, I really wanted stainless this time but the next one will probably be high carbon, if there is a next one. I do like the looks of that Ratmandu as long as the handle isn't too thin.
 
Check you tube vids for size in had. I got mine off the exchange here for like less than $140 I Believe, lucky too I guess!
 
For comfort in the hand, especially for longer use sessions - it's hard to beat the full sized Becker knife handles.

Many good field knives have been mentioned here. I am a Beckerhead and have gotten good utility, value and service form their knives - all with an impecible warranty backed by KaBar and Uncle Ethan himself.
 
SALTY said:
For comfort in the hand, especially for longer use sessions - it's hard to beat the full sized Becker knife handles.

Many good field knives have been mentioned here. I am a Beckerhead and have gotten good utility, value and service form their knives - all with an impecible warranty backed by KaBar and Uncle Ethan himself.
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My buddy just got a BK2 from his brother who bought a second one just cuz. Maybe next time I see him I'll check it out. I'm all set for now but I do like what I see and hear about the Beckers.

BTW, the Condor Bushlore came yesterday. I am very impressed for $35 shipped. The sheath is gorgeous yet simple, traditional bushcraft style thick leather pocket sheath. The knife came very sharp and in beautiful shape with nice dark walnut handle scales. The grind may not be 100% perfect but it's damn close, 99%. No QC problems with this knife.

It is 1075 steel so I already had to sharpen it a little after doing some feather sticks. It wasn't dull but just wasn't quite as sharp. I had an old fine diamond stone and ceramic rods. I need new ones but they did get the edge back to where it was. Very fun knife for very short money. I'll see how it holds up in the woods one of these days.
 
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