- Joined
- Feb 6, 2009
- Messages
- 1,120
just wondering-on the driving part of the camping trip to the ozarks, after a cupla hrs of driving in fairly heavily snow packed roads, stopped at a flea market/antique mall for a break and to looksee whats there. last time i stopped there one dealer had a case full of new knives, some bear cutlery and others at great pricing. this time the guy also had maxpedition and ultimate survival items. picked up a cupla things including the ultimate survival deluxe kit
http://www.ultimatesurvival.com/product_view.cfm?product_ID=427
for $50 which is about as cheap as you can find on the net and no shipping. and it was right there in my hand ya know? so had this little new toy to play with in the snow camping that followed. like the blast match, tho i found the 'lid" part that slides off the striker to be somewhat flimsy. can see the tiny thin plastic bits that hold it to the case breaking off at some point. if it had some way of snapping to the end while open it might last longer...just saying. tho i knew it would be very wet and cold and had other cold/wet firestarting material with, decided to try the wetfire as ive simply never used it before(typically have plenty of parafin soaked dryer lint so never thought it necessary). and it works great, lit easily(and everything was wet) and burned plenty long to get some tinder going good. certainly more costly than making yr own, but works good nonetheless and readily available in most camping/outdoors/hunting type places. the sabercut saw was easy to use. have used wire saws before-never again with this doodad. so easy a cupla the guys just had to cut up a bunch o wood trying it out(gotta love the huck finn concept
)
ok then theres the izula and hest. found both to work very well in the conditions. did some batoning with the hest no problemo(after a cupla my pals watched me split so much wood so quickly i have a feeling they will be rc owners soon). both these knives came to me with very sharp edges and i hadnt done much to either before this trip tho have touched up the izula a cupla times. found the coating on the izula to hold up better than the hest, or maybe it just got harsher use...the izula cepting for the handle wrap still looks new and its seen some use. the hest after one camping trip looks to be a tad worn in by now. both had to be touched up a cupla times this past week. but took an edge quickly. a true attribute in a knife you actually use. found the izula to be the better tool for making shavings and fluf sticks. both had some rust on the edge when we returned home(did i mention how wet it was...) but a bit of fine grit sandpaper got rid of that easily.
all in all im really happy with these two knives. well made, well thought out and designed. rc knives are gonna be a standard in my setup for some time to come i'm sure. the izula immediately became an edc since receiving it. the rack pack with a 5 or 6 is in my immediate future(well as soon as they are available again..)
oh yeah the reason for this post. does the guy who has the booth at that mall in bolivar visit this site?
http://www.ultimatesurvival.com/product_view.cfm?product_ID=427
for $50 which is about as cheap as you can find on the net and no shipping. and it was right there in my hand ya know? so had this little new toy to play with in the snow camping that followed. like the blast match, tho i found the 'lid" part that slides off the striker to be somewhat flimsy. can see the tiny thin plastic bits that hold it to the case breaking off at some point. if it had some way of snapping to the end while open it might last longer...just saying. tho i knew it would be very wet and cold and had other cold/wet firestarting material with, decided to try the wetfire as ive simply never used it before(typically have plenty of parafin soaked dryer lint so never thought it necessary). and it works great, lit easily(and everything was wet) and burned plenty long to get some tinder going good. certainly more costly than making yr own, but works good nonetheless and readily available in most camping/outdoors/hunting type places. the sabercut saw was easy to use. have used wire saws before-never again with this doodad. so easy a cupla the guys just had to cut up a bunch o wood trying it out(gotta love the huck finn concept
)ok then theres the izula and hest. found both to work very well in the conditions. did some batoning with the hest no problemo(after a cupla my pals watched me split so much wood so quickly i have a feeling they will be rc owners soon). both these knives came to me with very sharp edges and i hadnt done much to either before this trip tho have touched up the izula a cupla times. found the coating on the izula to hold up better than the hest, or maybe it just got harsher use...the izula cepting for the handle wrap still looks new and its seen some use. the hest after one camping trip looks to be a tad worn in by now. both had to be touched up a cupla times this past week. but took an edge quickly. a true attribute in a knife you actually use. found the izula to be the better tool for making shavings and fluf sticks. both had some rust on the edge when we returned home(did i mention how wet it was...) but a bit of fine grit sandpaper got rid of that easily.
all in all im really happy with these two knives. well made, well thought out and designed. rc knives are gonna be a standard in my setup for some time to come i'm sure. the izula immediately became an edc since receiving it. the rack pack with a 5 or 6 is in my immediate future(well as soon as they are available again..)
oh yeah the reason for this post. does the guy who has the booth at that mall in bolivar visit this site?
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