- Joined
- Dec 31, 2005
- Messages
- 2,984
I have had this knife a while now, it will be a year in January 2012. I said after doing a brief introductory review when I got it that I would do a more detailed one after giving it some long term use. Well, here we are ... let's start with the knife as it came from Phil ... this is Phil's pic of the blade prior to putting on the grips.
You can see what a great satin finish it had back then ... and here is a pic of the blade in finished form and my taking it out for it's first bit of use ...
Where I live in the UK is up on the Moors and it does get cold and wet ... but the scenary is quite pretty ...
Using the knife for firestarting provided no problems ...
The knife can whittle wood perhaps better than any I have tried ... the thin geometry and superb edge the K294 steel takes enables feather sticks to be prepared in no time ... and whilst the spine is radiused so that it is not a harsh right angle, it does move towards a flat right angle down towards the tip. A little work down there on a flat stone soon had the spine angle sharp enough to throw a good shower of sparks from a fire steel to get a fire going. This leaves the comfort of the "rounding" of the spine by the handle for a choked grip and good delicate work with the knife is easy to do. Really it is the best of both worlds using the spine in this way ...
The knife came with a kydex sheath and tek-lok which is excellent for an outer wear sheath. I made a leather sheath for it which can take a fire steel just to give the knife a bit more versatility ...each good in their own way...
After using the tek-lok for a little while I swaped it out for a spring clip which enables the blade to be carried slightly closer to the body and in a few more varied ways ...
Those of you who know Phil's blades will know they come with a thin cross section geometry ... this radically improves their cutting ... as Ankerson says they just seem to "fall through" whatever you cut with them ... although for some this may be seen as being slightly risky with a knife intended for general outdoor use. My own concerns on this point have been alleviated after using the knife for some time ... if you use the right techniques and don't torque the blade, all manner of tasks can be accomplished. Here are some pic's of getting our equivalent of fat wood from a dead tree stump ... termites had softened the wood considerably and stabbing into it keeping the knife straight a few times weakend the wood enough to enable it to start crumbling and giving some good tinder for the fire ...
You have to work with the strength of the steel and be measured in how you apply your own strength ... but done properly the geometry actually works for you and the depth of a cut and the ease of piercing is very noticeable compared to thicker blades. It takes a little "thinking around a task" such as making a "digging stick" if you want to use tree roots etc for twine ... but after a year using the blade all I can say is that I am very happy using this knife like this and for me it works.
If you want a knife for prying and heavy batonning then maybe a thicker knife would work better ... but as I say used carefully this knife does the job and can tackle reasonable batonning tasks. Just go steady .... and learn to read the "grain" ...
One area it has been used extensively for over this year is food preperation in my kitchen ... and "wow" does it excel here ... this knife is the best I have ever used in these tasks ... and the edge retention is superb. It more or less is "the knife" for the kitchen ... all manner of vegetables have been done as well as preparing meat ... and it is used day in and day out ... the only thing to be careful with is cleaning and drying the blade thoroughly after use. It has now taken a few "patina" marks from such heavy use ... but none of them are "rust" ...
So to conclude ... I have a number of knives from top makers which I use in a similar way ...
and I use this one the most ... :thumbup:
You can see what a great satin finish it had back then ... and here is a pic of the blade in finished form and my taking it out for it's first bit of use ...
Where I live in the UK is up on the Moors and it does get cold and wet ... but the scenary is quite pretty ...
Using the knife for firestarting provided no problems ...
The knife can whittle wood perhaps better than any I have tried ... the thin geometry and superb edge the K294 steel takes enables feather sticks to be prepared in no time ... and whilst the spine is radiused so that it is not a harsh right angle, it does move towards a flat right angle down towards the tip. A little work down there on a flat stone soon had the spine angle sharp enough to throw a good shower of sparks from a fire steel to get a fire going. This leaves the comfort of the "rounding" of the spine by the handle for a choked grip and good delicate work with the knife is easy to do. Really it is the best of both worlds using the spine in this way ...
The knife came with a kydex sheath and tek-lok which is excellent for an outer wear sheath. I made a leather sheath for it which can take a fire steel just to give the knife a bit more versatility ...each good in their own way...
After using the tek-lok for a little while I swaped it out for a spring clip which enables the blade to be carried slightly closer to the body and in a few more varied ways ...
Those of you who know Phil's blades will know they come with a thin cross section geometry ... this radically improves their cutting ... as Ankerson says they just seem to "fall through" whatever you cut with them ... although for some this may be seen as being slightly risky with a knife intended for general outdoor use. My own concerns on this point have been alleviated after using the knife for some time ... if you use the right techniques and don't torque the blade, all manner of tasks can be accomplished. Here are some pic's of getting our equivalent of fat wood from a dead tree stump ... termites had softened the wood considerably and stabbing into it keeping the knife straight a few times weakend the wood enough to enable it to start crumbling and giving some good tinder for the fire ...
You have to work with the strength of the steel and be measured in how you apply your own strength ... but done properly the geometry actually works for you and the depth of a cut and the ease of piercing is very noticeable compared to thicker blades. It takes a little "thinking around a task" such as making a "digging stick" if you want to use tree roots etc for twine ... but after a year using the blade all I can say is that I am very happy using this knife like this and for me it works.
If you want a knife for prying and heavy batonning then maybe a thicker knife would work better ... but as I say used carefully this knife does the job and can tackle reasonable batonning tasks. Just go steady .... and learn to read the "grain" ...
One area it has been used extensively for over this year is food preperation in my kitchen ... and "wow" does it excel here ... this knife is the best I have ever used in these tasks ... and the edge retention is superb. It more or less is "the knife" for the kitchen ... all manner of vegetables have been done as well as preparing meat ... and it is used day in and day out ... the only thing to be careful with is cleaning and drying the blade thoroughly after use. It has now taken a few "patina" marks from such heavy use ... but none of them are "rust" ...
So to conclude ... I have a number of knives from top makers which I use in a similar way ...
and I use this one the most ... :thumbup:
