survival knife review

[The REAL Commander]

now you are making fun of me, they don't wear pants there!

LOL! Almost fell off the stool! Reminds me of the guy who tossed his shoe at Bush. If I was Bush, I would have politlely handed the man's shoes back to him, said and reminded him that without these luxuries he would have had a VERY uncomfortable walking experience for several months to come. :foot: Or maybe I'd just be an ass and say "now I got your shoes, you're gonna have to walk barefoot for the next year, sap!"

 

[baldtaco-II]

That's a neat find for several reasons. True, it is far from what I consider useful as a field knife now. The handle is so wrong for me and there are those bloody awful serrations that I find grotesque for starters. I need something much more tactile and with an emphasis on cutting as a priority not poking. Cutting knives that can make a fair stab at poking are much more useful to me than spears that can cut a bit.

Below shows why. That is a shocking mashup of an onion. Looks like the blade more crushed and split its way through than actually severed. I might be being harsh, but one of my pet amusements is watching people cut up onions and potatoes.

That said, there's a lot of nice that comes from this find. First and foremost must be the response from Chris Reeve. It's great that they, so far at least, seem to have been dignified about it. I see that as a nice testimony to their confidence in that “they have the real one and everyone knows it”. In a market where designs are often copied, refined, simplified, improved, ripped off, claimed as an original idea whilst standing on the shoulders of giants, there was certainly potential to turn bitch. How refreshing.

Quite apart from the obvious Reeve association though I find a neat parallel elsewhere. My first big proper knife when I was a child was a big Ka-Bar. It worked well enough for the kinds of things you do as a child – look for excuses to cut stuff, dig it in the ground, throw at a tree, play the “if this was a survival situation and you could only have one knife” game that only a child like mind could produce...blah blah. Well, how much better would this knife have been for me then. I think brilliant. I would have loved it like a dog with two dicks. Yup, I'd like to know how well this knife stacks up against the classic Ka-Bar.

That leads me to another neat thing about this knife. I've often though that for a user in 1095 about that size around £30 GBP is the limit. Picking the Ka-Bar type offerings again and that is intuitively right. Always has been. All bets are off if someone makes a fancy heirloom quality thing in 1095 because of the extra production steps, but a simply made user from a Mora to a Ka-Bar gives the rip off to users costing 4* that much with nothing sophisticated about their making. A quick scan of t'internet and I've just found this Schrade for about $50 USD. That accords exactly with my model of what a 1095 user should cost, and enters the fray right next to the Ka-Bars. Neat.

In sum, I don't want one for many reasons. If I had young offspring I'd undoubtedly snatch one up, polish it nicely and blue it. A bit of projection for sure, but I would have been so chuffed to have received one like that with all the imagery that evokes.

 

[j williams]

Those look like nice pants. I love carharts, and Dickies are cool.

I am partial right now to a pair of Ripstop Northface pants I bought. Lightweight, breathable, and tough.

Im still waitin on a revew of them Tilley pants Joe.

That Schrade would be a nice way to get a feel for a Reeve cheap if youwere interested in one but didnt wanna come off the $$

 

[kgd]

It was a good review. 1095 is a great steel, so often under-rated in the other forums. I love its toughness and ease of sharpening. Both good properties for the types of activities you put your knife through.

From you description, the coating had surprising little wear. I find that batoning and chopping often produce pronounced wear marks on my RC- and Scrapyard. First the coating tends to flatten, then after that it tends to wear. I don't mind so much, as the wear occurs where the knife is used the most and as such actually improves cutting performance.

I'd probably toss the bits or put them somewhere else, stick a fire steel blank in the hollow compartment and stuff it with cotton, matches and other tinder to keep the fire steel from rattling.

You never mentioned if the knurling of the handle causes hot spots or not - seems like it would.

 

[Rupestris]

Great review!

I did a quick search on google and found 'em for $45.

I'm not a fan of tactical looking knives as much as I used to be. But for that price it might be worth checking out.

As for denim/jeans, the Mrs. works at JC Penny. I get their Arizona brand with her discount for somewhere around $15. They've lasted as long as Levi's and if I'm going to wear pants made in a sweat shop/3rd world country, I'm not paying $40 or $50 for them.

 

[Joezilla]

Interesting and intriguing points Bald . I'm going to use that input to no avail. Thanks for making notes of it, and definitely something to strive for in the future.
THANKS!!!!
J

 

[baldtaco-II]

Well, I suppose as we've negotiated to explore to no avail I could expand a tad more:

Apart from the SCHF1 above there is a clip version, the SCHF2. Also the SCHF3 below came to the public domain last year. Check it – another fairly obvious Reeve inspired job.

Again, not to my personal taste but let us consider this. I have been given to believe the SCHF3 is meant to have a retail price less than that of the SCHF1, that I found for about $50.

I suspect the extra manufacturing steps [disclaimer: I know zip about manufacturing, factories, or anything like that. The Dark Satanic Mills have never held an appeal for me] in production that add the bits I really hate also add to the cost of making the brute. If we dumped the horrid serrations and moved the cutting edge up toward the handle and did away with the finger stalls I think it would be a better design. I also believe it would be much cheaper to make. In fact, if it was a simple slab handle effort of Micarta held on to a bit of 1095 with Allen bolts on the basis of the speculation above it should, in English, cost about the same as 4* packets of cigarettes. For sure it should be a hell of a lot cheaper than $50 USD out on the interwebs.

Ho hum.

 

[trentu]

Bought 2. Man I hate a well written review. Now I have to try and destroy one.

 

[Horn Dog]

That was one serious knife review. I would have never even considered a Schrade copy of a CR, but after seeing what the knife can do, I think I'll get one and save a few hundred bucks!

 

[razorsdescent]

I buy $20 store-brand jeans that last twice as long as a piar of Levi's.

yet to find the jeans that are as good as levis ive had jeans that i have done rediculous things in and they have still lasted 6 years or more. if you have jeans that are still going after 12 years of hard use please tell me what brand they are.

 

[Mistwalker]

That's a neat find for several reasons. True, it is far from what I consider useful as a field knife now. The handle is so wrong for me and there are those bloody awful serrations that I find grotesque for starters. I need something much more tactile and with an emphasis on cutting as a priority not poking. Cutting knives that can make a fair stab at poking are much more useful to me than spears that can cut a bit.

Below shows why. That is a shocking mashup of an onion. Looks like the blade more crushed and split its way through than actually severed. I might be being harsh, but one of my pet amusements is watching people cut up onions and potatoes.

That said, there's a lot of nice that comes from this find. First and foremost must be the response from Chris Reeve. It's great that they, so far at least, seem to have been dignified about it. I see that as a nice testimony to their confidence in that “they have the real one and everyone knows it”. In a market where designs are often copied, refined, simplified, improved, ripped off, claimed as an original idea whilst standing on the shoulders of giants, there was certainly potential to turn bitch. How refreshing.

Quite apart from the obvious Reeve association though I find a neat parallel elsewhere. My first big proper knife when I was a child was a big Ka-Bar. It worked well enough for the kinds of things you do as a child – look for excuses to cut stuff, dig it in the ground, throw at a tree, play the “if this was a survival situation and you could only have one knife” game that only a child like mind could produce...blah blah. Well, how much better would this knife have been for me then. I think brilliant. I would have loved it like a dog with two dicks. Yup, I'd like to know how well this knife stacks up against the classic Ka-Bar.

That leads me to another neat thing about this knife. I've often though that for a user in 1095 about that size around £30 GBP is the limit. Picking the Ka-Bar type offerings again and that is intuitively right. Always has been. All bets are off if someone makes a fancy heirloom quality thing in 1095 because of the extra production steps, but a simply made user from a Mora to a Ka-Bar gives the rip off to users costing 4* that much with nothing sophisticated about their making. A quick scan of t'internet and I've just found this Schrade for about $50 USD. That accords exactly with my model of what a 1095 user should cost, and enters the fray right next to the Ka-Bars. Neat.

In sum, I don't want one for many reasons. If I had young offspring I'd undoubtedly snatch one up, polish it nicely and blue it. A bit of projection for sure, but I would have been so chuffed to have received one like that with all the imagery that evokes.

In all honesty, I have good kitchen knives already. I was not trying to demonstrate this knife's ability to double as a chef's knife in the field merely that it was definitely functional in the area of in the field food prep. In a survival or even wilderness adventure or camping situation are you really going to care that it doesn't slice onions or potatoes as cleanly as the chef's knives in your butcher block at home? I sure won't, I'll either be far too busy enjoying my surroundings or busy trying to stay alive long enough to get home, either way the onions will suit me just fine

 

[Mistwalker]

Well, I suppose as we've negotiated to explore to no avail I could expand a tad more:

Apart from the SCHF1 above there is a clip version, the SCHF2. Also the SCHF3 below came to the public domain last year. Check it – another fairly obvious Reeve inspired job.

Again, not to my personal taste but let us consider this. I have been given to believe the SCHF3 is meant to have a retail price less than that of the SCHF1, that I found for about $50.

I suspect the extra manufacturing steps [disclaimer: I know zip about manufacturing, factories, or anything like that. The Dark Satanic Mills have never held an appeal for me] in production that add the bits I really hate also add to the cost of making the brute. If we dumped the horrid serrations and moved the cutting edge up toward the handle and did away with the finger stalls I think it would be a better design. I also believe it would be much cheaper to make. In fact, if it was a simple slab handle effort of Micarta held on to a bit of 1095 with Allen bolts on the basis of the speculation above it should, in English, cost about the same as 4* packets of cigarettes. For sure it should be a hell of a lot cheaper than $50 USD out on the interwebs.

Ho hum.

I have new ones coming, I am hoping there is an offering of one without that saw, but either way I'll be happy to see how it does in the bush . If it performs near as well as the SCHF-1 does I won't have a problem going into the bush with only that knife and a small folder for detail work.

 

[baldtaco-II]

mistwalker, hola

Seems reasonable enough. There are numerous blades that are quite superb at making shallow cuts but are poor performers at cutting through stuff. A lot of hunting knives spring to mind that function like that. All I was clarifying by that is that I by far prefer field knives to have excellence at their ability to cut through because of the problems I require them to solve. Onions are pretty good at disclosing the ability of a knife to cut through. I've even seen kitchen knives that will fracture them as opposed to cut them cleanly. Although to some extent it is simply a matter of taste in blade geometries I find that blades that are good at that tend to give little of anything I really value away in terms of a performance compromise: A Scandi might be a tad better whittling sticks, so what – A deep hollow grind may present a slightly keener edge on flesh, oh well. - A dedicated stabbing point might have some advantages on paper, but tee hee anything I'd want to stab I reckon I could plunge a good kitchen knife into just as deep and deliver the same amount of trauma. That's what I was getting at. Once upon a time I assessed probability differently and would have taken a knife like that in a trice. I used a SOG Government very effectively once upon a time and that was crap on onions too. Now I stack my hand differently to the requirement of what is useful to me rather than what may be useful to me.

I couldn't be lured into the SCHF3 for anything. That's too far gone for me. The SCHF2 looks quite functional though and I'm not overly disposed to clips. I think what I said above I'd apply equally to that.

Good to see some new stuff on the market anyway. With any luck it'll draw attention to the materials / construction / price ratio with several companies you have over there, and drive the prices down to the level they are truly worth. Win / Win

 

[The REAL Commander]

yet to find the jeans that are as good as levis ive had jeans that i have done rediculous things in and they have still lasted 6 years or more. if you have jeans that are still going after 12 years of hard use please tell me what brand they are.

I don't know many people who still fit jeans after 12 years, nevermind the condition the clothing item might be in. I get about three or four years out of these Work Wearhouse jeans, and I only own four pair at a time. Given the fact I wear each pair once, maybe twice a week before a wash, it is safe to assume 52 washes a year. This translates to roughly 180 washes during the life span of the garment on average (correct my math if incorrect). Sure, by the end of their life the pockets look like garage rags and slipping a dime into one means a guaranteed loss of ten cents, but the jeans still keep my balls from hanging out.

 

[Rat Finkenstein]

Chris Reeve is well aware of the Schrade knife (I called and asked) and they don't seem to worried about it as I don't think there is a law against making a knife similar to someone elses.

Yeah, there are laws against it, especially when it is a blatant knock off. . . But thieves in china don't care about copyrights.

 

[STAGE 2]

Yeah, there are laws against it, especially when it is a blatant knock off. . . But thieves in china don't care about copyrights.

There are laws against violating copyrights and patents, but that doesn't mean thats what happened here. The hollow handled knife concept was around long before CRK was in business. And as was mentioned above CRK has knocked off a design as well so it would seem to be a wee bit hypocritical for them to cry foul about this.

 

[Mistwalker]

Yeah, there are laws against it, especially when it is a blatant knock off. . . But thieves in china don't care about copyrights.

It's not a blatant knock-off, it's a blatant built-off as it is built off of the CRK design. The handle is a little fatter which will be more comfortable for some and less for others, the tool kit in the Schrade is not quite as hi-tech, fancy, or fashionable as that in the CRK's it's just your basic magnetic extension, some bits, and a plastic caddy.... nothing that isn't available in other tool systems at a hardware store.... that happens to be perfectly functional in it's intended role. Everyone should know the grind lines of the blade are different because as Chris himself even said he left as much meat as possible at the tip for added strength for rough work while this knife has more ground off at the tip apppearing to go more towards better penetration. It's not like CRK invented knurling, nor the threaded butt cap, and serrations have been done to death. The phrase "knock-off" in and of it's self implies a cheapened copy. While the price may be lower this is not a "cheaply built" knife. Many knives that sell for more won't take as much. Beside look at Busse, he wasn't the first guy in the worl to make a slab handled leaf shaped knife, a lot his knives exhibit variations of design features in previous knives by other people such as Marbles and Randall. To me the FAT FBM looks like a flat ground SOG Tigershark blade on steroids mated to a different handle. There are only so many ways one can vary a blade or a handle. I think the fact that they did remain so close to the original design could be taken as an admission of respect for CRK.

 

[trentu]

Did you see where that NOSS guy said it out preformed the CRK in his testing? Thought that was pretty cool. I am going to shorten one of the ones I purchased to a 5" blade and install a fire steel in the butt cap.

 

[baldtaco-II]

Schrade one piece schf1 vs. CRK one piece.

shecky - "Would be interesting to see if it does any better."

Noss - "I already did it. I haven't posted it yet. It did do better than the CRK. Not by a huge amount but if the price is considered then yes No way I would buy the CRK if I was going to use it."

 

[brians]

I am going to shorten one of the ones I purchased to a 5" blade and install a fire steel in the butt cap.

That's a great idea. Perhaps you could post pics of your progress?

I think I would also grind down that guard to something more reasonable.