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. . . And it there's one thing Ray Ennis knows how to do, it's heat treat 440C correctly! Although it wouldn't be my first choice, I would have no reservations relying on an Entrek knife in a survival situation.
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Of these two knives which would you choose?
- Thread starter TropicHeat
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Sulaco
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As I understand it, Rowen does the heat treat for both TOPS and ESEE. So the 1095 from them is going to be the same other than ergonomics and geometry. I mention this because some people recommended ESEE instead? Doesn't make much sense to me.
Anyway, Ray Ennis does know his stuff when it comes to working with 440C. His Entrek line isn't real well-known in the "I buy knives and stare at them" category one often finds here and on other forums.
All good stuff, just get what you like, you won't go wrong with either one in my opinion.
Anyway, Ray Ennis does know his stuff when it comes to working with 440C. His Entrek line isn't real well-known in the "I buy knives and stare at them" category one often finds here and on other forums.
All good stuff, just get what you like, you won't go wrong with either one in my opinion.
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Don't think Tops and Rowen work together any longer. Think it was a couple years ago that they split.
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I would have no qualms doing it, unfortunately not many monsoons here in Cali. it's in the seventies and warm. all you'll get is some surface rust and maybe light pitting, neither of which will affect the use of the knife, besides some very slight edge degradation which can be fixed with a quick sharpening session.
and that's just worst case scenario, if you are actually using this knife day to day to survive it will never get that bad. even a days worth of edge rust would still leave you with an edge that could cut.
I'll take a high carbon, slicey Mora that's been left outside for a few weeks over either of the monstrous crow bars in the original post in brand new condition when it comes time to needing a knife.
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I know I've already said I wouldn't want either knife as my only TEOTWAWKI choice, I realize that probably wasn't much help, so in my mind I decided to reframe your question to this: "I really like both of these knives, and have the opportunity to purchase the one of my choice at an extremely good price, if you had the chance to make the same choice, which would you pick for a TEOTWAWKI scenario, and why?"
I'd still say that a blade with a 1/4" spine wouldn't be my ideal choice, but given these two knives I'd definitely pick the Entrek over the Tops. My reasoning is the grind of the blade, the Entrek has the advantage of being thinner at the tip than the Tops, this helps to overcome the general disadvantage of the thick 1/4" spine, it's sort of a compromise, but at least the tip is ground thinner, so it's like having the first 5 inches of a 1/4" blade, and the last 2 inches of a thinner blade. The clip point and swedge of the Tops knife still leaves the tip of the knife very thick, which is good if you're stabbing oil drums, but not so great it you need to do some detailed cutting.
I'd definitely pick the Entrek, and I wouldn't be bothered by the 440C vs 1095 steel choice, I like them both. I will say that Ray Ennis made me a custom knife out of 440C over 25 years ago, when he was making knives out of his gunsmithing shop in Grand Forks, ND, that knife has been to over a dozen Elk camps, and has been a near constant companion whenever I've had the chance to go hunting. I've got hunting knives made of fancier steels, I judge them all by whether or not they can hold their edge working through an elk as well as the knife Ray made for me.
Enjoy which ever one you choose...
Erik
I'd still say that a blade with a 1/4" spine wouldn't be my ideal choice, but given these two knives I'd definitely pick the Entrek over the Tops. My reasoning is the grind of the blade, the Entrek has the advantage of being thinner at the tip than the Tops, this helps to overcome the general disadvantage of the thick 1/4" spine, it's sort of a compromise, but at least the tip is ground thinner, so it's like having the first 5 inches of a 1/4" blade, and the last 2 inches of a thinner blade. The clip point and swedge of the Tops knife still leaves the tip of the knife very thick, which is good if you're stabbing oil drums, but not so great it you need to do some detailed cutting.
I'd definitely pick the Entrek, and I wouldn't be bothered by the 440C vs 1095 steel choice, I like them both. I will say that Ray Ennis made me a custom knife out of 440C over 25 years ago, when he was making knives out of his gunsmithing shop in Grand Forks, ND, that knife has been to over a dozen Elk camps, and has been a near constant companion whenever I've had the chance to go hunting. I've got hunting knives made of fancier steels, I judge them all by whether or not they can hold their edge working through an elk as well as the knife Ray made for me.
Enjoy which ever one you choose...
Erik