- Joined
- Dec 31, 2005
- Messages
- 2,984
Well, after a fair wait and problems with the post this beauty finally arrived...
There is a little bit of Kydex rub in the picture compared to when it was new...
but the knife is a user and some rubbing just has to be accepted if your going to carry it in Kydex and this is a good choice for a military/outdoors knife.
The specs on the knife are that it has a 7.5 inch blade and weighs in at 18 oz's and is .27inch thick stock ( original Camp Bloods are .34 inch! ) and has a total overall length of 13 inches tip to end of the talon hole. The grips are made from Carbon Fibre and first impressions of the knife are that it is really well balanced with the balance point being just infront of the grips...exactly to the rear part of the finger choil. This gives the knife a nice slightly blade heavy feel...very purposeful in that sense as this knife ounce for ounce is one of the most impressive choppers I have used...with the weight and feel to the knife being for me excellent as a mid sized "carryable" kit knife. The way a knife balances and feels more or less lets me know at the outset just how much I am going to like it....and this knife does feel "good"!
The carbon fibre grips on this knife and the general grip shape go a long way to giving the knife that "special" feeling in the hand. To test the grips I made the most of trying them both "wet" and "dry"....
With the grips wet from the snow we have had the knife still felt warm and controlable in the hand....this standard shape for a set of grips is actually far better for me than the wavy "peaks and troughs" shape you can find on other knives....not that they are uncomfortable....it is simply that they are not as comfortable as those here. A big plus therefore for the knife in terms of first impressions on "balance and feel"......
Taking the knife out for some testing I happened to have a number of trees on my land which had suffered some what from the heavy snow fall and storms and had limbs snapped off which needed clearing.
Starting on limbing some of the snapped trunks on some of the younger trees I was really impressed with how this blade could "bite" deep with just standard chopping swings...this knife could easily sink into quite hard woods virtually up to the 1, 9/16ths inch depth of the blade...
It is a "little powerhouse" of a performer on chopping...especially for a 7.5 inch blade....when it came to sectioning the central trunks of the younger trees where they had snapped off....this knife could go through the trunk in 6/7 chops...three either side of the "V"....with a small stroke to finish where the wood snapped "....
Because of the balance and weight you can go on using this knife all afternoon chopping logs and it is not tiring to use...
This knife works well at general field work tasks too..... you can also choke up on the blade for fine work comfortably ....the saw teeth are great for cutting grooves or notches in sticks for camp cooking work or for traps...and the upsweep of the blade would be fine for skinning and cleaning game.
With the blade getting some proper cleaning in the house before sharpening...
the knife ended up looking as good as it did at the start...
Which is one of the blessings of a Double Cut finish...it avoids glare but unlike coated blades you can see if you have tanin or sap stains on the knife...which can be very toxic in certain climates...and when cleaning you know when the knife is properly done and for me this is a much safer and better finish.
The knife came with a great edge and after an afternoons worth of pretty hard work the edge was dulled a bit but came back easily after some stropping on a leather paddle with some green polishing compound....it took about 20 minutes to sort out....and it is back to being razor sharp. Convex edges do seem to be somewhat easier to keep and maintain if giving the knife some hard chopping work.
In that sense I don't see the "big deal" over steel types once you have used a good steel...if at the end of the day a knife can put in a good days work and do it well....and you can restore the edge easily by whatever method you prefer...there is'nt much more you can ask of it.
This knife is a pleasure to use and certainly will be seeing a lot more carry time from me....nice one Jeremy!
There is a little bit of Kydex rub in the picture compared to when it was new...
but the knife is a user and some rubbing just has to be accepted if your going to carry it in Kydex and this is a good choice for a military/outdoors knife.
The specs on the knife are that it has a 7.5 inch blade and weighs in at 18 oz's and is .27inch thick stock ( original Camp Bloods are .34 inch! ) and has a total overall length of 13 inches tip to end of the talon hole. The grips are made from Carbon Fibre and first impressions of the knife are that it is really well balanced with the balance point being just infront of the grips...exactly to the rear part of the finger choil. This gives the knife a nice slightly blade heavy feel...very purposeful in that sense as this knife ounce for ounce is one of the most impressive choppers I have used...with the weight and feel to the knife being for me excellent as a mid sized "carryable" kit knife. The way a knife balances and feels more or less lets me know at the outset just how much I am going to like it....and this knife does feel "good"!
The carbon fibre grips on this knife and the general grip shape go a long way to giving the knife that "special" feeling in the hand. To test the grips I made the most of trying them both "wet" and "dry"....
With the grips wet from the snow we have had the knife still felt warm and controlable in the hand....this standard shape for a set of grips is actually far better for me than the wavy "peaks and troughs" shape you can find on other knives....not that they are uncomfortable....it is simply that they are not as comfortable as those here. A big plus therefore for the knife in terms of first impressions on "balance and feel"......
Taking the knife out for some testing I happened to have a number of trees on my land which had suffered some what from the heavy snow fall and storms and had limbs snapped off which needed clearing.
Starting on limbing some of the snapped trunks on some of the younger trees I was really impressed with how this blade could "bite" deep with just standard chopping swings...this knife could easily sink into quite hard woods virtually up to the 1, 9/16ths inch depth of the blade...
It is a "little powerhouse" of a performer on chopping...especially for a 7.5 inch blade....when it came to sectioning the central trunks of the younger trees where they had snapped off....this knife could go through the trunk in 6/7 chops...three either side of the "V"....with a small stroke to finish where the wood snapped "....
Because of the balance and weight you can go on using this knife all afternoon chopping logs and it is not tiring to use...
This knife works well at general field work tasks too..... you can also choke up on the blade for fine work comfortably ....the saw teeth are great for cutting grooves or notches in sticks for camp cooking work or for traps...and the upsweep of the blade would be fine for skinning and cleaning game.
With the blade getting some proper cleaning in the house before sharpening...
the knife ended up looking as good as it did at the start...
Which is one of the blessings of a Double Cut finish...it avoids glare but unlike coated blades you can see if you have tanin or sap stains on the knife...which can be very toxic in certain climates...and when cleaning you know when the knife is properly done and for me this is a much safer and better finish.
The knife came with a great edge and after an afternoons worth of pretty hard work the edge was dulled a bit but came back easily after some stropping on a leather paddle with some green polishing compound....it took about 20 minutes to sort out....and it is back to being razor sharp. Convex edges do seem to be somewhat easier to keep and maintain if giving the knife some hard chopping work.
In that sense I don't see the "big deal" over steel types once you have used a good steel...if at the end of the day a knife can put in a good days work and do it well....and you can restore the edge easily by whatever method you prefer...there is'nt much more you can ask of it.
This knife is a pleasure to use and certainly will be seeing a lot more carry time from me....nice one Jeremy!
Last edited:
