- Joined
- Jul 27, 2005
- Messages
- 8,169
This is a review, but due to the type of work I did with the knife I figured the guys in W&S would find it relavent. If this is in the wrong spot please move it.
So I picked up this Rapid River drop point at the Harrisburg show (got alot of knives there) as it was a deal TOO good to pass up. They were offering these at 60 dollars a piece (usually 100) so my g/f and I both picked one up. I noticed that they looked alot like a marbles blade that I had, the gentleman behind the counter (whose name I dont remember) said he was one of the head designers for Marble and started this company with others. We spoke for a while and after pointing out how big the gaurd's were and other comments I decided to try one out. Between the A2 steel, good F&F and nice leather sheath I thought I was making out pretty good. The knife came rediculously sharp as in hair whitteling sharp, not many knives come this way.
Specs: from the site
Blade: 3.5"
Handle: Variable (Avg 4.25")
Steel: A-2 Carbon
Thickness: .219"
Hardness: 58-60 RC
I found these specs to be about right on.
The knife is secure in the sheath, I like the strap design and the thing isnt going anywhere.
The flat piece of leather for the belt loop is supposed to double as a strop. I used this after some work I did, it faired ok. It takes some getting used too as the gaurd has to be in the right place to strop properly, its not the most convenient setup but it did work alright.
In the hand the knife feels pretty good, fills the hand nicely and you can really get a grip on this thing. The flat infront of the gaurd isnt very large and its not really big enough to get my finger there, but as I used it I realized I didnt need to do that anyway.
I made some small kindeling using a baton, the thick blade did this easily. I was not doing it on very big pieces of wood, just looking to see who well it would do.
shows a pic of my thumb next to the blade which is pretty substantial for this size knife.
next I made some fuzz sticks, the first one turned out horrible as I was not used to the knife yet, but as I worked with it fuzz sticks came nicely.
Next I did some drilling, this was the only pic I took of it but the blade style did very well at this. The gaurd was nice doing this as it really allowed me to dig into the wood.
I did some more splitting, shaving and general cutting chores.
As I worked with the knife I found I really liked the gaurd, I didnt expect too at first due to the size and on a knife this small I usually dont like one or much of one. When I was doing heavy cutting my finger went under the guard comfortably and allowed me to apply ALOT of pressure for deep cuts. As I used it I really liked the large gaurd and realized that for me, it worked. It didnt hinder making notches or get in the way much. It did get in the way some when doing some cutting on the table and realized I had to go to the edge of the table while doing food prep etc (no pics).
The blade while a bit thick cut really well and when I got my head passed the thickness sliced nicely and aided while battoning and the thicker tip made drilling nice. The A2 held an great edge the whole time and it was still shaving sharp when done, a few passes on the strop and it felt almost like it did when I recieved it.
The handle felt good and barehanded after about an hour of work there were no hotspots or fatigue...I wouldnt expect alot of either as I am not really chopping but the whole time the knife felt comfortable.
The edges on the blade are crisp....not so crisp they are sharp but definatley sharp enough to hit up a firesteel and throw sparks, which I will test out next.
The sheath rode well and was comfortable while walking....sitting etc, its not a large knife so the weight was almos non existant. I edc'd this around the farm and didnt find it in the way at any time.
Overall the knife was a pleasant suprise and I really like it. I think they could have gone with some thinner stock but then it might not have battoned as nicely. The materials were good and solid and performance for me were good. I plan on giving this a go at a hunter/skinner in the future as it feels like it would do well at that type of work. I dont know if I would choose this over a Barkie but these are well put together tough little knives that are worth giving a look.
On a side note, the g/f liked her's as well. she doesnt have much experience with knives but she mentioned she enjoyed using hers for the little cutting and whitteling she did do. Her fingers were slim enough to place infront of the gaurd but she didnt do this much either, which leads me to think maybe they could have brough the edge down a bit farther toward the gaurd. Just something I thought about.
So I picked up this Rapid River drop point at the Harrisburg show (got alot of knives there) as it was a deal TOO good to pass up. They were offering these at 60 dollars a piece (usually 100) so my g/f and I both picked one up. I noticed that they looked alot like a marbles blade that I had, the gentleman behind the counter (whose name I dont remember) said he was one of the head designers for Marble and started this company with others. We spoke for a while and after pointing out how big the gaurd's were and other comments I decided to try one out. Between the A2 steel, good F&F and nice leather sheath I thought I was making out pretty good. The knife came rediculously sharp as in hair whitteling sharp, not many knives come this way.
Specs: from the site
Blade: 3.5"
Handle: Variable (Avg 4.25")
Steel: A-2 Carbon
Thickness: .219"
Hardness: 58-60 RC
I found these specs to be about right on.
The knife is secure in the sheath, I like the strap design and the thing isnt going anywhere.
The flat piece of leather for the belt loop is supposed to double as a strop. I used this after some work I did, it faired ok. It takes some getting used too as the gaurd has to be in the right place to strop properly, its not the most convenient setup but it did work alright.
In the hand the knife feels pretty good, fills the hand nicely and you can really get a grip on this thing. The flat infront of the gaurd isnt very large and its not really big enough to get my finger there, but as I used it I realized I didnt need to do that anyway.
I made some small kindeling using a baton, the thick blade did this easily. I was not doing it on very big pieces of wood, just looking to see who well it would do.
shows a pic of my thumb next to the blade which is pretty substantial for this size knife.
next I made some fuzz sticks, the first one turned out horrible as I was not used to the knife yet, but as I worked with it fuzz sticks came nicely.
Next I did some drilling, this was the only pic I took of it but the blade style did very well at this. The gaurd was nice doing this as it really allowed me to dig into the wood.
I did some more splitting, shaving and general cutting chores.
As I worked with the knife I found I really liked the gaurd, I didnt expect too at first due to the size and on a knife this small I usually dont like one or much of one. When I was doing heavy cutting my finger went under the guard comfortably and allowed me to apply ALOT of pressure for deep cuts. As I used it I really liked the large gaurd and realized that for me, it worked. It didnt hinder making notches or get in the way much. It did get in the way some when doing some cutting on the table and realized I had to go to the edge of the table while doing food prep etc (no pics).
The blade while a bit thick cut really well and when I got my head passed the thickness sliced nicely and aided while battoning and the thicker tip made drilling nice. The A2 held an great edge the whole time and it was still shaving sharp when done, a few passes on the strop and it felt almost like it did when I recieved it.
The handle felt good and barehanded after about an hour of work there were no hotspots or fatigue...I wouldnt expect alot of either as I am not really chopping but the whole time the knife felt comfortable.
The edges on the blade are crisp....not so crisp they are sharp but definatley sharp enough to hit up a firesteel and throw sparks, which I will test out next.
The sheath rode well and was comfortable while walking....sitting etc, its not a large knife so the weight was almos non existant. I edc'd this around the farm and didnt find it in the way at any time.
Overall the knife was a pleasant suprise and I really like it. I think they could have gone with some thinner stock but then it might not have battoned as nicely. The materials were good and solid and performance for me were good. I plan on giving this a go at a hunter/skinner in the future as it feels like it would do well at that type of work. I dont know if I would choose this over a Barkie but these are well put together tough little knives that are worth giving a look.
On a side note, the g/f liked her's as well. she doesnt have much experience with knives but she mentioned she enjoyed using hers for the little cutting and whitteling she did do. Her fingers were slim enough to place infront of the gaurd but she didnt do this much either, which leads me to think maybe they could have brough the edge down a bit farther toward the gaurd. Just something I thought about.
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