Recently acquired a very nice knife, the Scrapyard Dogfather.
Compared to other large knives I've used, the performance is impressive. The thick spine and saber grind are what I prefer in a knife like this, because the geometry of the entire blade rarely comes into play considering what I use the knife on. The extra weight means more power behind a chop.
The Res C handle is very comfortable and helps absorb shock during a chop. Some of the better ergonomics out of any fixed blade I've used, though the balance is forward heavy when using the choil for finer cutting due to the blade length. Not much of an issue since I usually have my Mud Puppy or a SAK for things like making fuzz sticks and slicing sausages.
The blade steel has worked very well. When reprofiling it wasn't too difficult to grind, but felt harder and more wear resistant than something like 1095. It takes a killer edge, and holds it. For example today I used the knife to take back some shrubs on the edge of my driveway. The knife started out with a hair popping edge, and after about 40 minutes of hacking of plants and thin branches the knife would still cleanly shave. I've also hit rocks on accident a few times and the edge took minimal damage, small rolls that sharpened out on a sharpmaker medium rod in under a minute. The chopping performance is very high with the new edge. With the factory edge (about 22-25 degrees per side) 1 inch to 1.5 inch branches could be cut in a single chop. With the new edge 2 inch thick branches can be lopped off in one swing. Much fun.
Factory Edge:
Reprofiled edge:
Even with the thicker factory edge, the knife is still an efficient trail clearing tool. This is a before and after shot, after swinging the Dogfather around for a little under 5 minutes.
The reprofiled edge has stood up to heavier chopping than what you see here, and a lot of trail clearing. Takes a very fine, hair popping edge as well.
he factory edge was tested for sharpness by push cutting light thread on a scale. The edge scored an average of 57.38, which is just above the best scores from Spyderco and Kershaw for their small pocket knives. The edge would easily pop arm hairs but did not have the ability to whittle hairs.
Initial impressions of the Scrapyard Dogfather are very positive. The comfortable handle works better for chopping than exposed tang styles, the steel has shown excellent performance and the overall design is very robust and capable.
Compared to other large knives I've used, the performance is impressive. The thick spine and saber grind are what I prefer in a knife like this, because the geometry of the entire blade rarely comes into play considering what I use the knife on. The extra weight means more power behind a chop.
The Res C handle is very comfortable and helps absorb shock during a chop. Some of the better ergonomics out of any fixed blade I've used, though the balance is forward heavy when using the choil for finer cutting due to the blade length. Not much of an issue since I usually have my Mud Puppy or a SAK for things like making fuzz sticks and slicing sausages.
The blade steel has worked very well. When reprofiling it wasn't too difficult to grind, but felt harder and more wear resistant than something like 1095. It takes a killer edge, and holds it. For example today I used the knife to take back some shrubs on the edge of my driveway. The knife started out with a hair popping edge, and after about 40 minutes of hacking of plants and thin branches the knife would still cleanly shave. I've also hit rocks on accident a few times and the edge took minimal damage, small rolls that sharpened out on a sharpmaker medium rod in under a minute. The chopping performance is very high with the new edge. With the factory edge (about 22-25 degrees per side) 1 inch to 1.5 inch branches could be cut in a single chop. With the new edge 2 inch thick branches can be lopped off in one swing. Much fun.
Factory Edge:
Reprofiled edge:
Even with the thicker factory edge, the knife is still an efficient trail clearing tool. This is a before and after shot, after swinging the Dogfather around for a little under 5 minutes.
The reprofiled edge has stood up to heavier chopping than what you see here, and a lot of trail clearing. Takes a very fine, hair popping edge as well.
he factory edge was tested for sharpness by push cutting light thread on a scale. The edge scored an average of 57.38, which is just above the best scores from Spyderco and Kershaw for their small pocket knives. The edge would easily pop arm hairs but did not have the ability to whittle hairs.
Initial impressions of the Scrapyard Dogfather are very positive. The comfortable handle works better for chopping than exposed tang styles, the steel has shown excellent performance and the overall design is very robust and capable.
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At what angle did you reprofile the edge? I've been thinking about reprofiling my Battle Rat for some time now, but I'm not sure how thin the edge should be.
) Anyway, I've been trying to reprofile it for months, but all I've got is a strop and a Sharpmaker. Any suggestions?
