This knife in the Frontier series by Schrade has a ton of reviews, many of them nicely done on youtube. I would just give you my opinion on it without doing a real review. It took me some time, but I ended up buying one. Mine came at CDN$36 (free shipping) on Amazon. At this price I wonder why did I wait this much. We all have some budget limitation for our stuff and mine is about $150 for a knife. Everything at or above that is expensive for me and I tend to take special care of them. That's why my Ontario SK-5, which I would consider an excellent outdoors knife, stays rather at home than coming with me in the woods. $36 for me is below the "use and abuse" limit, so that alone will make me happy for the SCHF38.
Initially my two issues were the powder coating and the jimping on the grip. The coating is indeed brutal and I saw it chipping badly in many pictures, but I also didn't really want to strip the blade first because I'm lazy, but also because I thought it would offer some rust protection on the tang. I ended up sanding the coating with 1000 grit sandpaper until it became smooth and shiny, like the coating on my SRK, at least to the touch. It's not really uniform and it wears off at all edges but it feels much better than it was initially. The other issue was the jimping on the tang which is a bit too aggressive and positioned in such a way that it rather rips into the webbing of the hand instead of offering support for the thumb. After a while it becomes very uncomfortable, especially when when you move your hand close to the blade when making feather sticks, for instance. Again, instead of filing the jimping off, I chose the easy way and made a roll of electrical tape on the top then wrapped some tape over it around the tang, under the scales.
The picture also shows the scuffing but that is going to happen to all coated knifes anyway. The third issue I noticed is the asymmetrical grind on the blade. Mine is visibly off. Once I noticed it, I just couldn't look away. I tried to find an angle to take a picture of it but I can't get it right. Enough said, when looking from the tip along the edge, there is a visible veer to the left on the last 1/3 inch or so. To be fair, it only bothers the eye: the knife works just fine.
On the positive side, this is a really hefty blade, takes an edge very well and holds it well enough. It will handle anything you throw at it and it will give you the general feeling of a solid slab of sharp steel ready to keep you alive in the woods. Be it fire, shelter, man or bear, the SCHF38 will fix it.
I can't compare Schrade's 1095 with others on the market - I would leave that to people who really know how to talk steel. I also have the habit to do slight touch-ups whenever necessary instead of having to do a new sharpening for dull blade. The spine is sharp so it will throw spark just fine and it's thick enough to allow comfortable pushing with the thumb when needed. The knife sits very well in the hand and the scales I find grippy with a enough traction even if wet. The butt could be more square and in line with the blade to be a better crusher or masher but the spine of the blade can break and shred all the the bark you need. The sheath is what it is, the nylon could be thicker, but it holds the knife well, so it's okay.
For me the Schrade SCHF38 was a very good buy. A solid, heavy knife that gets the job done, reminiscent of the roach belly trade knives of times past, simple, honest and tough.
Initially my two issues were the powder coating and the jimping on the grip. The coating is indeed brutal and I saw it chipping badly in many pictures, but I also didn't really want to strip the blade first because I'm lazy, but also because I thought it would offer some rust protection on the tang. I ended up sanding the coating with 1000 grit sandpaper until it became smooth and shiny, like the coating on my SRK, at least to the touch. It's not really uniform and it wears off at all edges but it feels much better than it was initially. The other issue was the jimping on the tang which is a bit too aggressive and positioned in such a way that it rather rips into the webbing of the hand instead of offering support for the thumb. After a while it becomes very uncomfortable, especially when when you move your hand close to the blade when making feather sticks, for instance. Again, instead of filing the jimping off, I chose the easy way and made a roll of electrical tape on the top then wrapped some tape over it around the tang, under the scales.
The picture also shows the scuffing but that is going to happen to all coated knifes anyway. The third issue I noticed is the asymmetrical grind on the blade. Mine is visibly off. Once I noticed it, I just couldn't look away. I tried to find an angle to take a picture of it but I can't get it right. Enough said, when looking from the tip along the edge, there is a visible veer to the left on the last 1/3 inch or so. To be fair, it only bothers the eye: the knife works just fine.
On the positive side, this is a really hefty blade, takes an edge very well and holds it well enough. It will handle anything you throw at it and it will give you the general feeling of a solid slab of sharp steel ready to keep you alive in the woods. Be it fire, shelter, man or bear, the SCHF38 will fix it.
I can't compare Schrade's 1095 with others on the market - I would leave that to people who really know how to talk steel. I also have the habit to do slight touch-ups whenever necessary instead of having to do a new sharpening for dull blade. The spine is sharp so it will throw spark just fine and it's thick enough to allow comfortable pushing with the thumb when needed. The knife sits very well in the hand and the scales I find grippy with a enough traction even if wet. The butt could be more square and in line with the blade to be a better crusher or masher but the spine of the blade can break and shred all the the bark you need. The sheath is what it is, the nylon could be thicker, but it holds the knife well, so it's okay.
For me the Schrade SCHF38 was a very good buy. A solid, heavy knife that gets the job done, reminiscent of the roach belly trade knives of times past, simple, honest and tough.
