Schrade SCHF1 Hollow Handled Awesomeness?

[Omega Leather Works]

Someone mentioned this knife the other day and as soon as I heard some of the stats I knew I had to try it. I ordered one right away.

Like most knives most of the stats for this knife are already out there easy to find. I'll try not to go over too much of that, I will say that it's big, it's one big solid chunk of 1070 high carbon steel and it's made in Taiwan.

For those who don't know (it bears repeating) the knife is a copy of the Chris Reeve Project. My understanding is that Taylor got (bought?) the rights (and tooling) to make the knife. It's a very close copy although the Project was done in L6 steel.

So I've taken a number of pics that hopefully show some things that can help you decide if you like the knife or not. I haven't even used it yet and I can tell you that I love it for $60 shipped!

First up are a simple front and back shot. Unfortunately Schrade (Taylor) has not made the big knife (there are multiple versions, clip point, plain edge short blade/handle etc...) in a plain edge version yet as far as I know. The serrations aren't horrible though as they are flat ground. Not that big a deal to me anyway.

Inside the handle resides a nice screwdriver kit. It's held in by a magnet which is pretty strong. My guess would be a rare earth.

It can be pulled out, which most will want to do. Who needs a screwdriver in a survival situation?

One thing that isn't described by the company and may not be known by every owner is that the kit comes with a bit that fits a set screw in the aluminum cap. Put the included rod through the lanyard hole, tighten the screw and you can get power behind the driver.

Cont. in next post.

 

[Omega Leather Works]

So that describes the knife. What about the sheath? Well, I don't own many fixed blades and don't have a lot of experience so I'll let you judge. To me it seems usable if not luxurious. Many of the features are foreign to me so I just took pics of the straps and whatnot.

Beltloop

Handle strap. Not sure why its adjustable?

Backside options. Molle maybe?

The front pouch I actually like a lot. It has the regular elastic to cinch down whatever you put in there, and the buckle strap is adjustable. That's a full size SOG Powerlock in there.

There's also a length of cord at the bottom, I assume to strap to your leg or something?

Speaking of the included cord... it's crap. So I used it to check the edge.

Yup. It's sharp. I replaced it with 550.

So I think that about sums it up for initial impressions. I'll add as I use the knife.

If you have any questions feel free to ask.

Thanks for looking!

 

[bowie69]

Thanks for the review. Nice to see the inside of the handle and the components it comes with. :thumbup:

 

[Omega Leather Works]

Couple of small notes.

One, that pouch on the front of the sheath is removable. No biggie.

Two, I hate the finish on this knife. After a little backyard beat down it became very clear that the finish is akin to cheap paint or primer.

I got down with some sandpaper. I thought when I went to buy it that I'd probably remove the finish on the blade itself, but I didn't expect it to be this easy!

One other thing... I'm use to carbon steel, but I've never seen stuff start to develop rust so fast. I wet sanded it and it started spotting almost right away.

 

[dax0007]

Awesome review! Its far from a original Chris Reeve, but for the price u get instant coolness.. I own 5 Chris Reeve fixed blades and 1 of these.

 

[Omega Leather Works]

Awesome review! Its far from a original Chris Reeve, but for the price u get instant coolness.. I own 5 Chris Reeve fixed blades and 1 of these.

That's cool! Do you own the Project? Any chance of a side by side photo shoot? If you have the knife that this was modeled after can you confirm that the milling is the same? My understanding is that Taylor got the tooling, which should mean that they are identical in terms of dimensions.

Also, what do you like more about the CRK's? I really wanted a Project back in the day, but with this available I just can't wrap my head around the price. Am I missing something that truly makes it worth the price difference in your opinion? Honestly now...

 

[dax0007]

Well Strigamort!! I am a huge Chris Reeve hollowhandle admirer, however it would not be my first choice if i was in a serious life death situation.. I am sure it can do what most knives do!! Just like the Sharade..

For value as much as i hate to say this -- YES the Schrade is worth every dam penny! Especially if they did it legally!

The Chris Reeves in my opinion are way still a better knife.. The fit and feel are different, BUT not HUGE... The blade is thicker, then edge is better the Schrade edge feels brittle compare to the CR, but thats my opinion... I am not a STEEL techie or knife guru.. Just a city slicker..

Here are the pics i took with my crappy phone.. I do not have a pROJECT..

 

[dax0007]

 

[Omega Leather Works]

Well Strigamort!! I am a huge Chris Reeve hollowhandle admirer, however it would not be my first choice if i was in a serious life death situation.. I am sure it can do what most knives do!! Just like the Sharade..

For value as much as i hate to say this -- YES the Schrade is worth every dam penny! Especially if they did it legally!

The Chris Reeves in my opinion are way still a better knife.. The fit and feel are different, BUT not HUGE... The blade is thicker, then edge is better the Schrade edge feels brittle compare to the CR, but thats my opinion... I am not a STEEL techie or knife guru.. Just a city slicker..

Here are the pics i took with my crappy phone.. I do not have a pROJECT..

First of all, thank you for the pics! Very cool of you to do that.

I need to track down the dimensions for the Project. I'm wondering if the Schrade is thinner stock. If it is I wonder if that's an indicator that Taylor is not using the same tooling. Not sure why it matters so much to me. I guess I'm just curious.

Yeah I wouldn't use this one as my only knife in a life or death situation, but on the other hand I can't see breaking it. It certainly looks and feels tough. I'm sure you've seen the destruction knife "test" videos. Looks like the Schrade faired a little better than the CR Knife, but I hardly see those as scientific evidence.

One thing that really surprised me about this knife is how incredibly obtuse (obese?) the edge is. Something over 60° (inclusive) is just silly, even for an axe. I doubt I'll reprofile it myself as it would be too much work given the tools I have. I mean, I have files and stuff, but I hate a nasty edge. I'll probably send it to someone. Richardj maybe, if he's willing to touch it.

 

[Mistwalker]

Those knives are pretty tough. I beat the crap out of one about five years ago and didn't manage to kill it even after a lot of abuse. They actually do a good job with the heat treat on their SAE 1070.

 

[dax0007]

I saw the videos comparing the schrade to the CR.. Yeah the Schrade came out pretty good!! For the price is awesome! I mean CR knives for 300-400 i dont mind paying but froma collectable standpoint they get crazy like 600-1500 if u are trying to get the Daggers..
CR stopped making the hollow handles i think in 2010 and i wonder if maybe Schrade has something to do with it???

On CR website it was because one of his partners stop helping..

 

[dax0007]

I saw the videos comparing the schrade to the CR.. Yeah the Schrade came out pretty good!! For the price is awesome! I mean CR knives for 300-400 i dont mind paying but froma collectable standpoint they get crazy like 600-1500 if u are trying to get the Daggers..
CR stopped making the hollow handles i think in 2010 and i wonder if maybe Schrade has something to do with it???

On CR website it was because one of his partners stop helping..

 

[Omega Leather Works]

Those knives are pretty tough. I beat the crap out of one about five years ago and didn't manage to kill it even after a lot of abuse. They actually do a good job with the heat treat on their SAE 1070.

Thanks brother. I just saw your review. It was very well done (much better than mine!) and it's a shame that it degenerated into a locked thread. What a bummer considering all of the work you went to. Oh well, that's water long ago under the bridge I suppose.

There has been some question as to the steel used in the knife over the years. Just to clarify in case someone only sees this thread, I believe without doubt that the steel used is 1070. It's been confirmed by Taylor and I put some mustard on the exposed blade last night for about 10 minutes and got a heavy patina as well as a bit of surface rust.

I'm very much looking forward to taking this with me on my camping trips this summer. I'm planning on using it for everything and I won't go easy on it.

 

[dax0007]

Love to hear about it and see a few pics.. If i was rich i would send you one of my shadows to use)!!

 

[Omega Leather Works]

So for reasons beyond my control I wasn't able to take the family camping this year.

Until this weekend.

I didn't forget my promise to take the knife and give it a decent beating. I must say that between when I first posted the review and now I learned sharpening on my belt grinder, mostly using this knife since I didn't want to screw up any of my more expensive folders. What I ended up with was a freaking awesome apple seed convex edge that was very close to mirror polished. Being a fairly thick geometry, and convex to boot, it wasn't up to my folders level of sharpness, but it was better than I did with the edge pro, and easily shaved hair and cleanly sliced phone book paper.

On to the pics...

I batoned it through this tree cross grain. The second pic shows what happened to the tree after I hammered the tip in and snapped it out sideways.

Just kidding guys.



Seriously though, it really excelled at batoning, although the thick stock wanted to push the wood apart.

The edge showed no sign of damage, which is what I expected.

It mearly took off some of the polish. It is still quite sharp after beating it through a number of logs, and the spine, even at the tip where the stock thins due to the swedge, shows zero impact damage.

I forgot to take pics after snapping the tip out a number of times. Forgive me, it was freezing! Anyway, there was also no damage there.

Here's a couple of pics of the sheath with a paracord wrap.

All in all I was very impressed by the knife. I'll tell you what, 1070 is some tough stuff, and even at whatever Rockwell they heat treat these at they hold a good edge too.

Until I get another chance to beat on it, I'll submit that it's a very good knife for the money, and would probably be a good buy at twice the price.

 

[untamed]

Thanks for sharing. Does it seem that Taylor Brands (current owners of Schrade) is now taking their heat treat seriously? Hmmm...

Strigamort:

With regards to ergos and handling on different tasks, do you find that the cylindrical handle shape causes the knife to spin in your hand when doing various work?

 

[Omega Leather Works]

Thanks for sharing. Does it seem that Taylor Brands (current owners of Schrade) is now taking their heat treat seriously? Hmmm...

Strigamort:

With regards to ergos and handling on different tasks, do you find that the cylindrical handle shape causes the knife to spin in your hand when doing various work?

Thanks man.

As far as the ergos go, in my opinion you trade off a lot of comfort for the utility of a storage compartment. Does it spin? Not in my hand. As a realistic heavy use knife I think that a good sheath could carry just as much gear as the handle, maybe more. It also transfers a lot of shock when chopping and batoning. I found myself taking my hand off the handle and just using the baton to do most of the work. You also have to consider the weight. I would never pack such a heavy knife for real hiking. I'd be more inclined to pack something like a Mora. In terms of fun and novelty they are hard to beat though. As a guy who grew up in the 80's the knife just screams nestolgia, and it really is tough. I love the steel, the patina is great looking. The heat treat looks to be perfect. I'm not sure if that's a product of Taylors specifications, or if you the Taiwanese manufacturer just knew what to do. I am curious as to whether it is differentialy heat treated or not.

All in all, I wouldn't recommend it for serious, practical use. If you are taking it camping, however, and you intend to use it for fun, it's a great buy. I love mine and will never get rid of it. Should I end up breaking it, which I doubt, I'll be first in line to get another one.

I hope that addresses your question.

 

[JTC]

Awesome review! Its far from a original Chris Reeve, but for the price u get instant coolness.. I own 5 Chris Reeve fixed blades and 1 of these.

Hey Dax since you own both the Chris Reeve knife and the Schrade could you tell me if the caps on the handle are interchangeable? Thanks in advance!

 

[Omega Leather Works]

Hey Dax since you own both the Chris Reeve knife and the Schrade could you tell me if the caps on the handle are interchangeable? Thanks in advance!

I could be wrong but I believe that the threads on the CRK are finer.

Can anyone verify this?

 

[untamed]

I hope that addresses your question.

Cool! Rock on!