Official Pen Knife Review Thread

Back in town today.

Tohatchi - you are free to do what you want. All I ask is if you do something crazy, give a good reason (or at least a good story, or fib, or flat out lie...:D )

Yvsa - there's no expectation, Bro. I would love it if you added a mod, but I certainly understand if you don't.

Most important part = test it out and enjoy it while you have it.




(we're still talking about the box, right...? )

:eek: :eek: :D :D :D :eek: :eek:


:rolleyes:
 
Too bad Tohatchi isn't the last one on the list. He could bring it to me at Blade. No matter, though, I'd still like to me ya.

Hope you made it back from your hike ok...

:p

Dan
 
a_punker...lol. I understand bttt. I was trying to give a gentle nudge to whomever has the pen knife that part of taking part in a passaround is that you pass it around and tell others what you thought of it. ;)
 
oops. . .got carried away with the thought of finally contributing something useul to the himimp forum!! lol duhhhh
 
Ah, yes, what has the Pen-knife been up to???

Dan designed it as a camping knife, so I tried to see how good it would be at gathering firewood. I also compared it against a 15" horn-handled AK by Shankar (I would guess the mass is on the high end of the 15" AK's).

Upon first grasp, the Pen knife has a much smaller than normal handle. The diameter is rather small, and the flare at the butt is less pronounced. This means I can get a really good grip on it. While chopping, I could hold it in just 3 fingers (middle, index, thumb), and gain an extra bit of leverage. This is more suited for whipping cuts, rather than power cuts with your whole body behind it, but the Pen knife doesn't really have the mass for power cuts anyway (compared with other khuks). I did notice that the belly design makes it chop differently than other khuks I've used. Something like a BAS or Baby Ganga Ram, but not quite. It takes a bit of practice to get used to. Not really a bad thing - just the tool telling you how to use it.

Now, for actual testing...

The first time I went out, all I could find was very dry, weathered wood. Both the AK and PK would easily break through 1-2" branches easily. But the wood was snapping more than actually being cut. So no clear winner here, but the PK rode easily on my belt, while the AK stayed in the pack.

For the second test, I had some thicker, less brittle wood. On multiple cuts, the AK would chop better and felt more solid because of the extra mass. The PK would perform about as well on branches where it only took one or two cuts to go through, but didn't bite as deeply in the really thick stuff (3+ inch diameter, hard seasoned elm). This was using a 3 or 4 finger grip and a snap-cut motion. I also used the PK to split some kindling, and it EXCELLED here. When splitting small branches (1-2"), I prefer to use the "contact" method. Hold a stick in one hand, hatchet in the other, put the two in contact, and swing together. Since the wood and blade stay in contact, it's much easier to control where the cuts end up. (did that make any sense???) Anyway, with other khuks I've used - AK, BAS, the angle of the belly makes this difficult, but the Pen Knife did it easily.

My verdict - Pen Knife is an excellent performer at what it was designed for. It's a pocket rocket that's easy to carry and will do a lot of work putting together a fire or shelter on a hike. Didn't get to try it out skinning game (all of the elk I tried to hit on my trip got out of the way before impact :rolleyes: ).

On it's way to Yvsa in the next two days.
 
Thanks for the good review Erik!

Always like to see it "put to the test".




I can't wait to see what Yvsa has to say about it...:eek:
 
Headed to Blade tomorrow. Please good care of her!

Dan
 
Well the Pen Knife finally arrived in Catoosa!!!!:D

I'm very impressed and now almost pretty much wish, oh hell I confess, I wish I had bought one when the knife funds were there.:p ;)

My first impression was, "This is one helluva box!!!!" Still looking good Dan and all in one piece, well actually two pieces.:D I will use fresh wrapping paper on it when it leaves here as I don't think the paper it came wrapped in this time will do another trip, even with carefully cutting the tape, but it mite, but we all know a mite is a bug on a chicken's butt, or perhaps a Quackipuss'es butt.;)

Oh yeah, the knife!!!! hehehehe.
My first impression of the knife is, "Great job of design Dan!!!!"
I would personally liked to have seen some curve to the handle, actually quite a lot of curve, but even if the model's handle had been curved the finished product probably wouldn't have been, lazy dayumed kamis!:rolleyes:
Had the "Little" handle been curved it would've really locked your hand in place!!!!
And is one of the reasons I love the old khuks so very much!!!!
The handle has developed a couple of cracks that I may try to repair while it's here, but we'll see.
My buffer could really slick up the finish on the handle. Speaking of the handle size....... When I grip it up solid the bottom edge of my hand protrudes slightly beyond the buttcap and my thumb and index finger are about half way over the flat part of the bolster.
It feels good when I lay my thumb along the angled part of the bolster.:)
The size is okay for a knife of this size, my fingers touch the base of my palm with just a snug grip, but I prefer a little larger handle for a chopper.

If things go alright I will make an addition along the spine. After getting to see it and hold it in my hands I believe it will look good with my addition although I feared it wouldn't until now.
I will also try to take my split belt, 1 inch wide instead of 2 inches, and see what I can do with the edge.
The edge has a couple of very small nicks I would like to see come out and I believe I can convex the edge without too much of a problem.;)
I don't know about the rest of y'all, but I like the front point of the cho sharp, as it should be. IMO.
That sharp little edge and point can be quite useful for many things after you get used to having it there.
I think some folks round them off for safety purposes, but if the khuk is used properly it doesn't present a problem.:p

All in all I'm looking forward to its time with me and appreciate Dan for letting me keep it a little longer than we were s'possed to so I can do my mods to the little knife.
Wish I could go camping with it as it seems a perfect little camp knife!!!!:D
 
After an incredible journey, the Pen Knife has arrived back home!

And in excellent condition. :D


To all those who participated in the passaround - thanks for your reviews and for putting this one to the test.


No less than 7 months since it went out and what a ride!


:p :p :p
 
Glad it made it home safe and sound. Barb thought you might want the addresses of some places it had been and that's why the brown paper was stuffed into the box.;)
 
Last post in this thread prior to this is 10 years old. I think it is about time to revive it :)

I recently got one and I have a stupid question about the Pen knife. I think I read somewhere it was designed as a camp knife.

What was the initial intended purpose for this great little Kuk?
 
Lotta great guys have posted in this thread. Since it's not really a pass around/new item review, we probably should just start a new one as there are a lot of PKs out there.

I recently got my Bura made PK stolen out of my jeep and I'm pretty much sick about it.

That said, I think a 13" chiruwa handled PK with just a bit of a bend to the handle would be sweet. Think a PK blade married to an M43 grip...lovely!
 
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