R.J. Martin/RCC Vanguard Pathfinder - AWESOME!

[blademan 13]

I just received this one courtesy of Les yesterday. What can I say, it is simply the most awesome knife I have ever held. While I was quite ready to be impressed with the sheer power of this blade, I was more than a little overwhelmed by how truly nice it was. The grinds were simply perfect as was the Micarta work. Make no mistake though, this is not simply a beautifully built shelf sitter. It is made for some serious work. The blade is a double edged monster measuring 10 1/4" long and is made from 1/4" CPM-3V stock. While definitely on the blade heavy side, it is still pretty well balanced for a blade of this size. It's primary purpose is definitely chopping, but it would serve well in about any task you care to handle IMO outside of very fine detail work or for push cutting, OUCH! The double edge blade is not practical for batoning through wood when splitting, but if you need to baton this blade you should probably be using a splitting maul instead. I fully expect it to pack some serious power. I have seen pictures where this blade readily outchopped a full size hatchet! The slightly oversized handle is very comfy and secure with the dual finger grooves and the unpolished canvas Micarta. The handle also features a welcome drop to aid in chopping power. It of course was delivered with R.J.'s famed (and deserved) edge work. This is the first blade I have ever bought that was ready to go right out of the box. No touch up, not even a light stropping necessary. Just razor sharp as a blade should be. This blade just absolutely begs to be used. I am really looking forward to trying this blade out on some heavy chopping next week. R.J. is waiting to update his website with a nice review and pictures of this blade in action and it is most impressive from what I have seen. Free hanging grape vines (looking to be 3" or 4" in diameter) were severed with a cut or two With this blade in hand you really feel like you could handle about anything. I would personally like to thank both R.J. and Les for bringing this blade to life.

Here it is, pic courtesy of Les' site;

 

[DBH]

Jaime, that blade looks awesome. I have heard nothing but positive things about Mr. Martin's work. Glad to see that les hooked you up with a real chopper. Let us know how will it performs.

 

[Danbo]

"I just received this one courtesy of Les yesterday"


Damn, Les is giving these suckers away? Let me give him a call!

At the Blade show, I was going to go for one of those myself. I ended up getting the double edged fighter called the Mayhem instead. I couldnt get both. Someday, one of those will be mine.

 

[FrankDL]

Wow! Congrats on getting such a magnificent piece!
Should be called "Pathmaker" thouhg, cuz it don't need to find any path, it'll just make it's own!
R.J. just does it all, and does it all "Right"!
I have his Wasabi and the new Mayhem, and it's just hard to put them down!

Thanks for sharing!

Frank

 

[Boink]

I would not be allowed to have that knife, as there wouldn't be any trees left in my backyard!

 

[blademan 13]

Originally posted by Danbo
"I just received this one courtesy of Les yesterday"


Damn, Les is giving these suckers away? Let me give him a call!

Oh yeah, heck of a deal Danbo. The knife was free but the shipping was a real bitch

I was really torn between actually using this knife or just letting it set around. The knife just doesn't seem to be the lazy type and I really don't think that R.J. intended her to be either. So, to the woods it goes. Hopefully my Battle Rat will be here this week and give me something to run it against side by side.

 

[blademan 13]

I headed to the backyard this afternoon in search of my pile of well seasoned Cherry. It was to be my first time giving a >$300 knife a workout. I whacked away and chopped through a couple of the smaller ones (6" x 6"'s). Man, that stuff is certainly HARD! The Pathfinder was capable of delivering an awesome blow. Good sized chips were cut out with each swing. There was zero binding and sticking as is expected when chopping dry hardwood. I did manage to knock a little of the edge off, it dropped down to hair scraping sharp Still cut like hell though, no rolling or impaction evident to the naked eye. The wood was pretty dirty on the outside and I suspect that this had more to do with the slight loss of edge than the wood itself. The knife was very comfortable and the blows were taken with very little shock being transmitted to my hand. Cleaned her up with some Metal-Glo afterwards and rubbed it down with a Tuff-Cloth. Never even know it had been used.

My Battle Rat has not yet arrived so a direct comparison will have to wait.

Man, I love this knife