Ok, I have it now, and I've been busy. I'm off today, but working the next ten days straight, so have tried to do as much as possible with it in a short time.
First, this is a VERY nice knife. Fit and finish is excellent. The micarta handles are well done, and the palm swells, combined with the finger grooves, and integral guard make for a very comfortable and secure grip. It is a tad large for my hands, but my hands are a little smaller than average, and that is common for me.
I don't like the fact that the finger grooves don't really allow for a variety of grips. For instance, you cannot choke back comfortably for chopping, and the same taper that makes it very secure in a forward grip keeps it from being as secure in a reverse grip. If you do choke back to chop, which is possible by using your index finger in the cutout for the middle finger and letting the pinky (wrapped with the paracord lanyard) ride behind the butt, it puts the palm swell under your index finger, allowing the knife to rotate too easily.
The choil is nicely rounded, and though it doesn't protect your finger from sliding forward onto the blade itself, it is comfortable in a choked up grip, and the finger grooves and guard holding your hand in place make cutting yourself in this grip very unlikely. The spine is rounded, and easy on the thumb. Very comfortable and natural with the choked up grip for finer cutting. Along with the fact that the blade is balanced at the front of the index finger groove, you have good control over the tip.
The blade is stouter than I had imagined it, and the edge is well done-as in..not too thick. It would slice paper, but not pushcut it, or shave hair as I received it.
The edge is thin, and a few strokes on the corners of the white stones on a Sharpmaker@30* included formed a barely visible microbevel (the edge is convex, but is thinner than a 15* per side v ground edge would be). A few strokes per side, and stropping on a loaded strop has it push-cutting paper, and shaving hair, though it still grabs a little. Good enough. I'm not going to spend alot of time sharpening it just to get a small improvement.
I'm comparing it with a Becker BK7, and any comparisons I make from here on out will be between those two knives.
My first thought when looking at the tip was "man this thing would tear up a baton". Then I remembered that this is a combat knife, not a camping knife. The false edge formed by the swedge could feasibly be sharpened, but would probably chop stuff like commo wire as is. It would be horrible for use splitting wood with a baton, so I'm not even going to fool with that (though the blades profile should split very well).
It does is give the knife some great potential for penetration, though.
Just stabbing through an old sweatshirt with both knives showed a huge difference. The BK7 hangs up in the fabric initially, while the GB goes through it like air. Stabbing into a hard plastic garbage can (got an old one out back) shows the difference as well. With a light stab, the BK7 makes an impression about the size of the tip of an ink pen, and almost no penetration. The GB penetrates about 1cm, and leaves a cut about 1cm in length, also. With a hard stab, the Becker penetrated 3 1/4", while the GB went in the entire length of the blade.
On thin cardboard the blades are about equal, but on thicker or multiple layers, and long cuts that put the entire width of the blade into the cut, the GB binds and doesn't cut as efficiently.
I do not like the serrations, as they give no advantage I can see on the cardboard, and while they will cut a single strand of 550 cord okay, trying to cut through multiple and bunched strands they just hang up. The same portion of the blade on the Becker, and the rest of the edge that is plain perform much better, cutting through half a dozen cords at a time with little effort.
No surprises so far-you could look at the grinds on the two blades and write most of this without ever touching either knife.
I took the both knives out in the yard, and did some light chopping.
I like my Becker with its G-10 handles by Bill Siegle very much, but the GB feels more "alive" in the hand, in spite of the almost identical balance points on the two knives. On light vegetation and briars, the GB passes through without effort. The combination of thin edge, and good control from the neutral balance made it work well.
On chopping smaller hardwood (I used it side by side with the BK7 sectioning downed branches on a log) the blade also works well. It penetrates deeply with little effort on stuff up to 1/2"-maybe a little more, deeper than the Becker, and this work went faster with the GB.
At around 3/4" the Becker pulls strongly ahead, as the hollow grind of the GB starts to bind horribly, and has to be forced out of the cut with an audible "creeeeaaaak".
Like I said before, no real surprises here, the main difference in performance on different materials coming from the blade grinds. The Beckers full flat grind cuts better on thicker materials, while the GB is more suited to thinner less binding materials.
IMO, this would make a poor field knife for most civilians who want a knife for camp chores and wood work, but all-around, it seems well-suited for military use, at least from an infantry standpoint, as it is relatively light, the handle is secure, the blade has good control and cutting ability for smaller tasks and everyday cutting chores, is stout enough for heavy use like prying open crates and breaking banding material, and has great penetration in the event things get screwed enough to need it as a weapon.
It's obvious alot of thought went into the design (I kind of think of it as a Harsey handle/Chris Reeve blade...), and that CRK did a fine job producing it, which I'm sure will shock noone.
Not something I have a use for, but a great purpose driven tool, nonetheless.
I'll attach a pic of the GB and my BK7 for comparison (it's not a great one, you can't even tell the poor Becker is one big scuff from one end to the other
).
Next, we'll see how far this puppy will flex before it breaks.
Just kidding, Steven
You only had it for a day or two???? You do know you could have kept it for a week right?
