WhittlinAway
Gold Member
- Joined
- Feb 11, 2016
- Messages
- 2,541
I tend to be deliberate in my knife purchasing decisions these days. But, every once in a rare while, one comes along that speaks to me and I just go for it. That happened recently when I saw this Sugar Shack Forge Briar:
It's proving to be a delightful little knife. I'm finding myself quite smitten. I figured other folks here might find it interesting, too, so I thought I'd share a mini-review.
It's maker, Ethan Goss (@egoss.sugarshackforge), describes its design as a 3.5 finger knife: your index, middle, and ring fingers grip the handle, while your pinky wraps around the end. I've found this to be a natural, comfortable, and secure grip. The shape of the handle and the balance of the knife work well for choking up on the blade for detail work, whether it's holding in a pencil grip or just sliding your hand forward and gripping the bevels with your thumb and index finger. I've used the former when hulling strawberries and the latter with a pull grip while peeling fruit. Both felt comfortable and secure. It's quite an agile knife to work with.
I purchased this knife without a sheath, opting to make a simple leather and paracord slip instead, but Ethan does partner with a leathercrafter to make sheaths available for those who want one.
The blade is forged from 80CrV2 and features a distal taper in both the blade and the tang. Mine has a slight convex grind and arrived quite sharp. It's been easy to maintain the edge with stropping and it slices well. For the past few days I've been using it for all the tasks I'd usually give to my lambsfoot or a small kitchen knife. It's performed admirably on cardboard, cherry tomatoes, and everything in between. It's also starting to pick up a nice patina.
As far as size goes, it's compact: the handle measures 4" and the blade is about 2 5/8" with the sharpened edge being about 2 1/2". Despite its size, it has a reassuring heft to it and feels very natural in the hand. For size reference, here it is with a Mora 120 (top) and a Mora 106 (bottom):
All in all, the Briar packs a lot into a little package and it's truly a delight to use. I'm looking forward to building more experience with it over time. I'm quite certain it'll continue to see frequent use.
It's proving to be a delightful little knife. I'm finding myself quite smitten. I figured other folks here might find it interesting, too, so I thought I'd share a mini-review.
It's maker, Ethan Goss (@egoss.sugarshackforge), describes its design as a 3.5 finger knife: your index, middle, and ring fingers grip the handle, while your pinky wraps around the end. I've found this to be a natural, comfortable, and secure grip. The shape of the handle and the balance of the knife work well for choking up on the blade for detail work, whether it's holding in a pencil grip or just sliding your hand forward and gripping the bevels with your thumb and index finger. I've used the former when hulling strawberries and the latter with a pull grip while peeling fruit. Both felt comfortable and secure. It's quite an agile knife to work with.
I purchased this knife without a sheath, opting to make a simple leather and paracord slip instead, but Ethan does partner with a leathercrafter to make sheaths available for those who want one.
The blade is forged from 80CrV2 and features a distal taper in both the blade and the tang. Mine has a slight convex grind and arrived quite sharp. It's been easy to maintain the edge with stropping and it slices well. For the past few days I've been using it for all the tasks I'd usually give to my lambsfoot or a small kitchen knife. It's performed admirably on cardboard, cherry tomatoes, and everything in between. It's also starting to pick up a nice patina.
As far as size goes, it's compact: the handle measures 4" and the blade is about 2 5/8" with the sharpened edge being about 2 1/2". Despite its size, it has a reassuring heft to it and feels very natural in the hand. For size reference, here it is with a Mora 120 (top) and a Mora 106 (bottom):
All in all, the Briar packs a lot into a little package and it's truly a delight to use. I'm looking forward to building more experience with it over time. I'm quite certain it'll continue to see frequent use.
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