Kodiak PA
Gold Member
- Joined
- Dec 3, 1998
- Messages
- 2,447
One of the best acquisitions I made this last year was a handmade Lynn Griffith SOS Bowie to complement my already beloved Sniper. Lynn is a maker from Glenpool Oklahoma. He has been making knives for 12 years, the last two full time. I found out about Lynn from my good friend, Chris Christman from Top of Texas Knives. Usually when Chris calls me and tells my I have to check out a knifemakers knives, I do and I usually just ask him where to send the check since Chris has never steered me wrong. He didnt steer me wrong this time either. Getting the SOS Bowie has really added some function to my knife collection
The Big Picture: This bowie is just a great knife, period. There is so much attention to detail that I envision Lynn spending many hours at night staring at his ceiling tiles thinking about the construction of this knife not to mention the many hours spent testing out the cryogenically treated ATS34 steel in his well known destruction experiments to see just how far he can push his steel.
First of all the knife is just beautiful. It screams function, it is extremely comfortable to hold. I find myself constantly taking it out of the kydex sheath and handling it as much as possible. It fits perfectly into the sheath and Lynn has designed a cross drawer method that is truly innovational. The grind lines are nearly perfect, it is extremely sharp and the edge geometry flows like a good bottle of champagne. In short this knife reads like a good book.
HANDLE: The black micarta handle is without a doubt the most comfortable knife I have ever held. The micarta pattern is beautiful; it is very smooth and is not slippery even when wet. The knife has a full tang construction and there are no rough edges where the micarta and the tang meet. The pins (just two of them) are grinded perfectly onto the knife. The knife handle sports a lanyard hold and there is a single forward finger groove for safety and comfort. The little things are there too, things that only a very critical knife enthusiast would pick up such as the small even indentions near the thumb ramp, the accentuation of the finger groove, the slight palm swell of the rear of the handle to prevent slippage when removing the knife from its sheath or target. Also appreciated is the true symmetrical way the scales lie on the tang. It is a mirror image of itself. Only an experience knife maker can make a handle sing a tune like this. This knife is a joy to hold
BLADE: First of all the knifes geometry looks to me like the way a Bowie knife ought to look. There are no irritating fullers or blood grooves or serrations or excessively sharp edges around its spine. The blade is made from cryogenically treated ATS34 stainless steel. This treatment process takes a full three days to do. The overall length of the Bowie is 12 inches and the blade is 7 inches long. It is 3/16 thick and bevel is a flat ground design. The cutting edge is even and very sharp. Though Lynn now uses other premium stainless steels, ATS34 is his specialty. The knife is bead blasted for a non-glare finish; The knife is simply but elegantly stamped Griffith ATS34. No excessive blade etchings or stamps (which I dislike). This knife looks like a knife that Lynn Griffith would make. There is a small choil to aid in aligning the knife to a sharpening system, the thumb rest on this particular model has no serrations though they are available on his standard models. The ricasso has a single vertical grind line that accentuates the handle/tang area. The spine of the blade is squared but not sharp, thus it is very comfortable to use over a long period of time.
SHEATH: Ill be honest. I am not a kydex fan. In fact, I usually toss my kydex sheaths in the trash when I get them and have a leathermaker make me a new sheath. I didnt toss this sheath and I will tell you why. Lynn has developed a drawing method that is very unique. I asked Lynn to make me a cross-draw sheath since I am right handed and want to carry the knife on my left side since I usually carry a handgun when I am in the backwoods of Kodiak Alaska, my home. Kodiak is bear country, home of the largest bears on the planet and it is prudent to carry a weapon just in case. Since a right sided knife carry was out of the question, Lynn made this into a cross draw but the belt loops are anything but traditional. He used a two-loop method, one kydex and the other nylon. The kydex loop is the inflexible loop and rests against my pant belt loop to lock the sheath into place. The nylon loop is the flexible one so I can position the sheath against my belt, lock it up and quick draw the knife in milliseconds with minimal sheath movement. I have never seen this design before and I was impressed. I have stood in front of my wifes full dress mirror drawing the knife over and over again and this method works so well that I wont even consider a leather sheath for this model. The sheath comes with adjustable Chicago screws and the kydex has standard attachment openings that would fit GI web belts. The knife locks safely into place within the kydex sheath and I have full confidence that the knife would never fall out even if one was hanging upside down. I love the slight snap I hear when it locks up and there is a slight thumb curvature at the sheaths opening to help facilitate removing the knife.
CUTTING TEST: Isnt this what it is all about? This knife cuts well. You will be able to count on this tool in the field. The standard cutting tests I performed were chopping, stabbing, slicing and shaving and of course rope cuts. First of all I wanted to test the point. I know that Lynn individually heat treats his own knives and that they all get a bunch of TLC and testing the tip on any knife is a good place to start. I made repeated stabs into a 2X4 with absolutely no damage or blunting of the tip. I made so many stabs that I finally had to stop since my hand started to ache from holding onto the piece of wood with my free hand. The bevel held up just as well with the chopping test and when I was done chopping the 2X4 there was no chipping or edge deformation at all. I even used a magnifying glass to see if there were any microchips. There were none. With the rope, I made push cuts, chopping cuts, slicing cuts and the knifes performance was wonderful. The shaving and whittling test went well also. Though the knife does not take deep bites when shaving wood it takes consistent bites and the edge retention is far superior than most of my other knives. This is due to the bevel being grinded a bit on the thick side so the knifes edge can take all of the punishment I wanted to dish out. Its a good trade off since a bowie knife in my opinion needs to be highly functional and a tough tool---one you can count on in an emergency. It has to withstand more abuse than the average knife user can give it and this knife is up for the task. I feel I realistically tested this knife. I know in my heart that if I was going into the woods or better yet battle; I would want this knife with me. Though Lynn doesnt advocate abusing his knives, if I was in an emergency situation I wouldnt think twice of using this knife to dig, chop and even pry a bit if I had to. I think this knife will withstand some very tough field uses. When I was done with the test the knife still shaved hair. I touched it up on my Spyderco 204 Sharpmaker, wiped the edge down with some Tuf-Cloth and the knife is good to go for my next adventure.
In conclusion, I highly recommend this extremely well made Bowie knife from Lynn Griffith. WARNING: Do not put this knife in your display case or the bottom of your safe or you will sorely miss using this beautiful but highly functional tool. This is a using knife and it begs to be carried. This is the perfect knife to use whenever you need a high performance and extremely functional field knife.
To visit Lynn's web site Click Here
You can email Lynn at:
GriffithKN@aol.com
------------------
~Greg Mete~
Kodiak Alaska
[This message has been edited by Kodiak PA (edited 02-01-2000).]
The Big Picture: This bowie is just a great knife, period. There is so much attention to detail that I envision Lynn spending many hours at night staring at his ceiling tiles thinking about the construction of this knife not to mention the many hours spent testing out the cryogenically treated ATS34 steel in his well known destruction experiments to see just how far he can push his steel.
First of all the knife is just beautiful. It screams function, it is extremely comfortable to hold. I find myself constantly taking it out of the kydex sheath and handling it as much as possible. It fits perfectly into the sheath and Lynn has designed a cross drawer method that is truly innovational. The grind lines are nearly perfect, it is extremely sharp and the edge geometry flows like a good bottle of champagne. In short this knife reads like a good book.
HANDLE: The black micarta handle is without a doubt the most comfortable knife I have ever held. The micarta pattern is beautiful; it is very smooth and is not slippery even when wet. The knife has a full tang construction and there are no rough edges where the micarta and the tang meet. The pins (just two of them) are grinded perfectly onto the knife. The knife handle sports a lanyard hold and there is a single forward finger groove for safety and comfort. The little things are there too, things that only a very critical knife enthusiast would pick up such as the small even indentions near the thumb ramp, the accentuation of the finger groove, the slight palm swell of the rear of the handle to prevent slippage when removing the knife from its sheath or target. Also appreciated is the true symmetrical way the scales lie on the tang. It is a mirror image of itself. Only an experience knife maker can make a handle sing a tune like this. This knife is a joy to hold
BLADE: First of all the knifes geometry looks to me like the way a Bowie knife ought to look. There are no irritating fullers or blood grooves or serrations or excessively sharp edges around its spine. The blade is made from cryogenically treated ATS34 stainless steel. This treatment process takes a full three days to do. The overall length of the Bowie is 12 inches and the blade is 7 inches long. It is 3/16 thick and bevel is a flat ground design. The cutting edge is even and very sharp. Though Lynn now uses other premium stainless steels, ATS34 is his specialty. The knife is bead blasted for a non-glare finish; The knife is simply but elegantly stamped Griffith ATS34. No excessive blade etchings or stamps (which I dislike). This knife looks like a knife that Lynn Griffith would make. There is a small choil to aid in aligning the knife to a sharpening system, the thumb rest on this particular model has no serrations though they are available on his standard models. The ricasso has a single vertical grind line that accentuates the handle/tang area. The spine of the blade is squared but not sharp, thus it is very comfortable to use over a long period of time.
SHEATH: Ill be honest. I am not a kydex fan. In fact, I usually toss my kydex sheaths in the trash when I get them and have a leathermaker make me a new sheath. I didnt toss this sheath and I will tell you why. Lynn has developed a drawing method that is very unique. I asked Lynn to make me a cross-draw sheath since I am right handed and want to carry the knife on my left side since I usually carry a handgun when I am in the backwoods of Kodiak Alaska, my home. Kodiak is bear country, home of the largest bears on the planet and it is prudent to carry a weapon just in case. Since a right sided knife carry was out of the question, Lynn made this into a cross draw but the belt loops are anything but traditional. He used a two-loop method, one kydex and the other nylon. The kydex loop is the inflexible loop and rests against my pant belt loop to lock the sheath into place. The nylon loop is the flexible one so I can position the sheath against my belt, lock it up and quick draw the knife in milliseconds with minimal sheath movement. I have never seen this design before and I was impressed. I have stood in front of my wifes full dress mirror drawing the knife over and over again and this method works so well that I wont even consider a leather sheath for this model. The sheath comes with adjustable Chicago screws and the kydex has standard attachment openings that would fit GI web belts. The knife locks safely into place within the kydex sheath and I have full confidence that the knife would never fall out even if one was hanging upside down. I love the slight snap I hear when it locks up and there is a slight thumb curvature at the sheaths opening to help facilitate removing the knife.
CUTTING TEST: Isnt this what it is all about? This knife cuts well. You will be able to count on this tool in the field. The standard cutting tests I performed were chopping, stabbing, slicing and shaving and of course rope cuts. First of all I wanted to test the point. I know that Lynn individually heat treats his own knives and that they all get a bunch of TLC and testing the tip on any knife is a good place to start. I made repeated stabs into a 2X4 with absolutely no damage or blunting of the tip. I made so many stabs that I finally had to stop since my hand started to ache from holding onto the piece of wood with my free hand. The bevel held up just as well with the chopping test and when I was done chopping the 2X4 there was no chipping or edge deformation at all. I even used a magnifying glass to see if there were any microchips. There were none. With the rope, I made push cuts, chopping cuts, slicing cuts and the knifes performance was wonderful. The shaving and whittling test went well also. Though the knife does not take deep bites when shaving wood it takes consistent bites and the edge retention is far superior than most of my other knives. This is due to the bevel being grinded a bit on the thick side so the knifes edge can take all of the punishment I wanted to dish out. Its a good trade off since a bowie knife in my opinion needs to be highly functional and a tough tool---one you can count on in an emergency. It has to withstand more abuse than the average knife user can give it and this knife is up for the task. I feel I realistically tested this knife. I know in my heart that if I was going into the woods or better yet battle; I would want this knife with me. Though Lynn doesnt advocate abusing his knives, if I was in an emergency situation I wouldnt think twice of using this knife to dig, chop and even pry a bit if I had to. I think this knife will withstand some very tough field uses. When I was done with the test the knife still shaved hair. I touched it up on my Spyderco 204 Sharpmaker, wiped the edge down with some Tuf-Cloth and the knife is good to go for my next adventure.
In conclusion, I highly recommend this extremely well made Bowie knife from Lynn Griffith. WARNING: Do not put this knife in your display case or the bottom of your safe or you will sorely miss using this beautiful but highly functional tool. This is a using knife and it begs to be carried. This is the perfect knife to use whenever you need a high performance and extremely functional field knife.
To visit Lynn's web site Click Here
You can email Lynn at:
GriffithKN@aol.com
------------------
~Greg Mete~
Kodiak Alaska
[This message has been edited by Kodiak PA (edited 02-01-2000).]
