Ontario SP50 Bustin some #$&% up.

cody1

cody1

Joined
Jan 8, 2008
Messages
707
A not so little box arrived with this blade inside. First impressions were all good. The grinds on the blade are perfectly even, the blade is dead on straight, .25" thick 5160, full flat grind with a 20degree secondary bevel. The handle is made from a very hard Kraton. Feels almost like plastic, but a bit grippier. Shown with my BK9 for comparison. The blade weighed in at a svelt 16.4oz. It is a touch lighter than the BK9.
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The spine is noticably thicker, but the full height grind, makes it a pretty decent slicer.
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First swing and she easily bit deep into some willow deadfall.
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It is a very comparable chopper to my BK9. I convexed the edge on the BK, so I feel that gave it the noticable advantage, not geometry. The geometries are similar if you do the Trig. The coating is thick and durable. I think it is the same coating that is used on the Ontario RAT knives. It is a touch sticky when battoning, but smooths out pretty well. It is thick, so it will last a bit.
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The really fun stuff next.
 
Let's see what she will really do. A seaoned 6x6 support log.
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Right down the middle!
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I put a lot of pressure on the blade and really beat it hard to drive it through the beam. I'm impressed!
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With a loud pop, she popped in half.
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Sheared through several knots!
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More coming.
 
There was no edge damage to the knife.
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Battoned into pieces!
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The coating saw pieces of wood embedded into it. There was some black streaks on the wood that was split, but the coating held up pretty well. The edge is still 90+% what it was, out of the box.
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I was far harder on this knife than I would ever be in the field. Gotta know what she will take. I would say that Ontario is really stepping up their game. Fit and finish is as good as I have seen on this class of knife. I think the 5160 is a great choice for a larger chopper. The RC is set at 57-58 and seems dead on. I think anyone who snags one of these for the meger $79 delivered, is going to be very happy.. It's a great hard use camp blade!!
 
great review--seems like 5160 is resurging. rightfully so as it's always been in the mainstream with custom makers.thanks
dennis
 
Looks like Ontario has their 5160s heat reat down real well.Their Ranger series is made from it and gets high praise also.Good write up,looks like you have a keeper.
 
I've been eying their new Gen II series myself lately, thanks for the review. I really like the overall blade shape and design, though they could eliminate the choil IMO, I'd prefer the edge went right to the handle. A minor issue.

The SP50 is fairly large, I think I'd like to try out the smaller SP46 camp knife.
 
Thanks for the review. Looks like a good knife.
 
Blue Sky said:
I've been eying their new Gen II series myself lately, thanks for the review. I really like the overall blade shape and design, though they could eliminate the choil IMO, I'd prefer the edge went right to the handle. A minor issue.

The SP50 is fairly large, I think I'd like to try out the smaller SP46 camp knife.
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I'm with you on the choil thing. I don't like them either and prefer the extra blade to the cut out, anyday. On this knife it does not extend into the balance point, so you can still notch and carve pretty well. I like the blade shape on this one and the full flat grind, so I gave her a shot. She will be a great, hard use, loner, camp knife.
 
Thanks for the review. I've been taking a hard look at camp knives in this price range, and it seems to be neck and neck between this one and the BK9. I'm glad to see the SP50 can take the abuse. I'll be picking one up in the spring, I think.
 
Excellent review! I just bought one of these and a Gen II SP 49. These are great knives for the price. FYI the 50 is 1/4 thick and the 49 is 3/16 thick. The SP49 is heavier though because of the different grind.
 
OOOOOOOOOOOOH MY! Been customizing my Spec Gen 59 to the same shape (previously bowie shaped). I guess I need to put away the grinder and use that bad boy!
 
It seems to handle that log very nice.
But I would rather use wedges than knife to split it.
And I just don't trust FFG chopping blades, cuz they don't handle battoning strees as weel as sabre grinds. But it is just my belief :D
 
What the pics don't show is my wedge at the top of the log when the knife was half way down. The wedge reduced the friction on the blade, but the knife did the splitting. If I wasn't reviewing the durability of the blade, I would have split the log with my log splitter, or axe. I think the FFG is a huge benefit to this blade. It chops and slices much better, because of the grind. A saber grind would wedge and bind in the wood much more, and have a much thicker and steeper geometry to the cutting edge. At 1/4" thick the blade is more than strong enough, but if it's what ya want they offer a saber ground version. To each his own. :D
 
Here are a few more pics, as the testing will continue through the winter.
I backed off from this shot so it would be obvious that I did not chop a live tree.
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The knife chops very well, and the factory edge is still going strong.
Time to make some kindling.
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And it continues!!
 
I got myself a SP-49 a couple of months ago and it's a great knife, well made and very durable....
 
cody1 said:
What the pics don't show is my wedge at the top of the log when the knife was half way down. The wedge reduced the friction on the blade, but the knife did the splitting.
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Smart move. If more people did that, there would be a lot less baton-broken knives.

BTW, after all the pounding you've given that thing so far, how's the handle? Comfort, tightness, etc.
 
cody1 said:
What the pics don't show is my wedge at the top of the log when the knife was half way down. The wedge reduced the friction on the blade, but the knife did the splitting. If I wasn't reviewing the durability of the blade, I would have split the log with my log splitter, or axe. I think the FFG is a huge benefit to this blade. It chops and slices much better, because of the grind. A saber grind would wedge and bind in the wood much more, and have a much thicker and steeper geometry to the cutting edge. At 1/4" thick the blade is more than strong enough, but if it's what ya want they offer a saber ground version. To each his own. :D
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Oh, ok, with the wedge working on this log looks much more reasonable.
Because main reason of large broken blades is working and battoning trough too large objects.

I just wonder how transition between blade and tang looks. It is a weak spot in some hidden tang knives.

But the shape of the blade - great. And 5160 should offer LOTS of toughness.
 
Blue Sky said:
Smart move. If more people did that, there would be a lot less baton-broken knives.

BTW, after all the pounding you've given that thing so far, how's the handle? Comfort, tightness, etc.
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The Kraton they are using now is very hard. Slightly tacky, but feels pretty good with gloves. Handle is still perfect. I love how the kraton absorbs shock. I hear that the tang is very similar to the tang in the Kabar heavy bowie. I have one with the handle cut off. I'll get a pic of it for you. It's over .5" wide and doesn't have any sharp corners. They are also tempering the tangs at 52-54RC. It shouldn't break, unless that is what you want.
 
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