- Joined
- Aug 13, 2010
- Messages
- 2,548
Continued from Part I
Execution:
The design and build of this knife are quite nice. It sports a stonewashed finish overall; the spine and underside of the handle are radiused, all corners and edges are rounded, and the slabs are evenly matched and mate to the frame perfectly. The handle has a nice amount of palm swell and sweeps up just before the ricasso (as such), forming a kind of natural hilt. As a result, the positioning and attitude of the upswept spear point blade is such that the blade edge sits lower in relation to your hand, providing a mechanical advantage. Additionally, the spine of the blade has a sort of swayback section, which provides a handy thumb rest; there is some interesting jimping in this area, effected by machining small indentations down either side of the top edge of the spine pretty cool looking. The Kydex sheath provides solid retention and is well made. Overall, the design is very ergonomic and clearly well thought out, and the build quality is top-notch.
Performance:
My knife came razor sharp, so I decided to take it to task a bit. First I did a little more bark removal on a Gum walking stick Im working on the little Companion peeled that mid-layer skin like butter, and it was able to make very thin scrolls. Much more controlled than the draw knife I had been using
Next I decided to test its nimbleness and tip control, so I took it to a ball-and-cage carving I have going due to its blade length, it wasnt able to get into the tightest spots, but what it could get to showed great tip sharpness and again, excellent control this is where I discovered that the cool jimping isnt just decorative it provided excellent purchase for my thumb/forefinger as I worked the rounding out stage of the ball not a purpose-built carving knife, but not bad at all
OK, so back in the house, I decided to try and make some blue handle liners, in the hopes of tinting the Ghost Jade a little. So I grabbed a vinyl notebook cover, and the Companions sturdy tip had no problem applying the needed force to cut through the vinyl and rough out the liners I did use an Xacto knife to do the small curved stuff, as the tip on it was much more able to make the turns
Then I took a break and headed out to do some yard work, and when I used the last of my lawn bags, the empty box made a great next subject this was that rigid tight cardboard, not the soft open-cell moving box kind this stuff was stiff and pretty dense and the little beast went through it like butter! It was so much fun that I probably overdid it a bit. I was amazed at how easily this little thing zipped through it no hot spots, no fatigue it was literally like butter. It took a little more force where the cardboard was doubled, but the edge just sliced right on through. I am fairly certain the high hollow grind enabled it to be so efficient here, as the friction due to the stiffness of the material would likely have bound up on it otherwise which is what I expected but take a look
At this point I checked the edge, and I could not detect any loss of sharpness, it still sliced through pulp paper fairly well a hiccup here and there, but there was certainly no need to touch it up so I didnt
CONTINUED in Part III http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1334434-Review-EK-amp-T-Companion-Part-III
...
Execution:
The design and build of this knife are quite nice. It sports a stonewashed finish overall; the spine and underside of the handle are radiused, all corners and edges are rounded, and the slabs are evenly matched and mate to the frame perfectly. The handle has a nice amount of palm swell and sweeps up just before the ricasso (as such), forming a kind of natural hilt. As a result, the positioning and attitude of the upswept spear point blade is such that the blade edge sits lower in relation to your hand, providing a mechanical advantage. Additionally, the spine of the blade has a sort of swayback section, which provides a handy thumb rest; there is some interesting jimping in this area, effected by machining small indentations down either side of the top edge of the spine pretty cool looking. The Kydex sheath provides solid retention and is well made. Overall, the design is very ergonomic and clearly well thought out, and the build quality is top-notch.
Performance:
My knife came razor sharp, so I decided to take it to task a bit. First I did a little more bark removal on a Gum walking stick Im working on the little Companion peeled that mid-layer skin like butter, and it was able to make very thin scrolls. Much more controlled than the draw knife I had been using
Next I decided to test its nimbleness and tip control, so I took it to a ball-and-cage carving I have going due to its blade length, it wasnt able to get into the tightest spots, but what it could get to showed great tip sharpness and again, excellent control this is where I discovered that the cool jimping isnt just decorative it provided excellent purchase for my thumb/forefinger as I worked the rounding out stage of the ball not a purpose-built carving knife, but not bad at all
OK, so back in the house, I decided to try and make some blue handle liners, in the hopes of tinting the Ghost Jade a little. So I grabbed a vinyl notebook cover, and the Companions sturdy tip had no problem applying the needed force to cut through the vinyl and rough out the liners I did use an Xacto knife to do the small curved stuff, as the tip on it was much more able to make the turns
Then I took a break and headed out to do some yard work, and when I used the last of my lawn bags, the empty box made a great next subject this was that rigid tight cardboard, not the soft open-cell moving box kind this stuff was stiff and pretty dense and the little beast went through it like butter! It was so much fun that I probably overdid it a bit. I was amazed at how easily this little thing zipped through it no hot spots, no fatigue it was literally like butter. It took a little more force where the cardboard was doubled, but the edge just sliced right on through. I am fairly certain the high hollow grind enabled it to be so efficient here, as the friction due to the stiffness of the material would likely have bound up on it otherwise which is what I expected but take a look
At this point I checked the edge, and I could not detect any loss of sharpness, it still sliced through pulp paper fairly well a hiccup here and there, but there was certainly no need to touch it up so I didnt
CONTINUED in Part III http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1334434-Review-EK-amp-T-Companion-Part-III
...
Last edited:
