From experience here are a few differences that might crop up with these different blades :
Food prep - the satin finish on the SAR 8 scores much higher for me as the satin enables you to know that resin or sap deposits are properly cleaned from the knife if used for chopping. A coated finish is much harder to tell. This much I know ... if you get the "trots" out in the field the extra cash needed for a satin finish will seem money you wished you had spent. All my food prep is done with a satin blade. I know from having a SAR 8 that little things ... such as the ability to dig the blade into "jars" of peanut butter or jam etc ... make the SAR blade very user friendly in the kitchen or in the Campsite role. People say they like folders for food prep etc ... one of the biggest time consuming PIA's was when I dropped a multi blade SAK into a jar of jam ... cleaning out the blades and recesses for the blades needed Q tips and wet wipes that seemed to take for ever. Since then I always prefer a fixed blade for food work.
- Ferro Rod use where you can use the "jimping" as a strike surface gives a great shower of sparks from the SAR. The knife is ideal for this. From experience with coated blades you are left either with the main edge as a strike surface or you create a sanded area for this. Or you don't use the knife. The SAR lives up to it's name well in being a great knife for fire prepertion with this feature.
- Twine and cord preperation whereby you can use the jimping as a scraper to remove nettle "pith" so you are left with the fiborous strands ( anchor the knife in a log and just draw the stems over the jimping ) or using it with pine roots for thicker "cord" or using it with the leg bones of deer to get really strong and fine thread ... all of these bushcraft techniques are possible where you will struggle to use the spine of the R9 with a coated finish. You would need to polish the spine by sandng it and make sure you get a good right angle edge to act as a scraper. Then with SR101 the spine will need some anti-rust care and attention.
- Heliograph use - the polished satin finish on the blade of a SAR8 enables you to use the talon hole in the pommel at the top of the handle to work the side of the blade as a mirror reflector for signalling any plane in the event of a rescue emergency for them to locate your position. One of the hardest things to do when planes are searching the bush for you is to be able to attract them from the ground. Heliograph techniques work far better than "fire" or "smoke" during the day time. Here is a simple pic to enable you to get the idea of how they work -
Make a small hole with your left forefinger crooked towards your thumb for the distance hole on the lolipop as seen in the pic ... and the knife used like the mirror using the talon hole ... line up the knife to the sun and angle it until you can see the mirror glint on your left hand/fist and then move them in tandem so you bracket the plane in line with both holes and you will have the satin finish acting like a mirror to the pilot of the plane. Works really well and again makes the Search and Rescue aspect of the SAR design a significant advantage over a coated blade. Particularly handy when in the sea. I have used my SAR 8 doing SCUBA work and used it to signal the gemini to pick us up when we surfaced away from the boat. Works really well.
You basically get out of the SAR 8 a whole lot more "bushcraft" and "survival" functions than from a coated blade. Coated blades are really meant for a military applcation where "shine" is something you want to avoid and the trade off then makes sense. For civilian or even military amphibious use ... give me a satin blade all the time.
You could ofcourse strip the R9 and tweak it to work in the tasks given above ... but a ghetto satin is'nt as easy to achieve as some may think which will work like a polished SAR 8 blade.
I use mine in conjunction with my Basic 9 which is coated. The Basic 9 is on my military kit. The SAR 8 is often in my backpack for hiking. If I take the B9 I always have a satin smaller blade to cover off the above tasks only satin can do. If I carry just the one blade ... the SAR 8 is the top choice.
I also believe that a zero ground fully convex SAR8 is likely to out chop a coated R9. The blade shape and edge design works in it's favour. You will be suprised how a painted finish can seem to take some of the depth out of a chopping stroke. Plain steel does bite deeper.
The SAR 8 can handle campsite "fire prep" chores really well ... the type of handle it has enables a really good rearward grip for chopping. Makes the blade feel like your using a 10.5 inch knife if you were holding this length in a normal grip. The knife therefore chops way above it's " blade length" category/weight would suggest.
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