SURVIVE! GSO-10 initial review with photos (warning: pic-heavy)

[chiral.grolim]

SURVIVE! Knives GSO-10

I was lucky enough to get involved in the promotional run of Guy Seiferd's design for a 10" chopping knife. Guy chose to employ Crucible'a CPM-3V, a high end American steel ideal for the tasks that a 10" blade might be put to - decent corrosion resistance matched with impressive impact toughness (twice that of M390) and very high wear-resistance (twice that of D2). I'd seen this steel perform in custom knives by Dan Keffeler with astounding results, so to find this offering from SURVIVE! Knives at the promotional price was ... more than exciting. Guy published design images on his website and FB page.

My initial impression was that he placed too much focus on handle indexing, similar to his early 4" and 5" models. Aggressive indexing can make a knife that fits perfectly in one user's hand virtually unusable for another person, and this may be futher complicated when the environment requires gloves or mittens. Nevertheless, I took the risk, and three months after placing my order, I had a GSO-10 in hand.

I should first comment on the packaging. The sturdy carboard box shipped USPS priority mail is exactly the right size for this knife. Within is stamped Guy's SURVIVE! emblem, along with a business card, and classy wood-straw rather than obnoxious peanuts or crumpled paper. The knife itself lay within the nesting material in its Kiah-dex sheath wrapped neatly in brown paper. Myself and my colleagues (I openned it at my place of employment) wondered if it was to be a museum piece!

The entire blade, including beneath the scales, and also the micarta had a light and even coat of mineral oil (a guess - it was clear and unscented, readily wiped away). As another owner has noted, even the handle screws were aligned! Examining the knife closely, the bevels are perfectly even, the stone-wash exquisite, the edge polished to perhaps 600 grit? Guy could enlighten us on that point. Along the spine and handle belly into the choil, rough machine-marks are visible, deep enough to catch a finger nail, a striking contrast to how smooth the stone-wash finish and edge are. The marks do not bother me, so it's up to Guy and his customers whether further refinement is in order there.

The handle scales were a rich black with the oil on the surface of the micarta - I've worked that out somewhat, prefering the gray & black intonations common to black micarta slabs. The edges of the slabs are rounded nicely, while the wide flats have a series of small valleys milled out to enhance retention, something thay accomplish well while maintaining a smooth, non-abrasive feeling. I am a fan of canvas micarta. The handle slabs are attached by slotted screws and stud-pillars, easily removable with a flat screwdriver or washer, which is necessary to access the "hidden lanyard hole" - a feature I've not seen on any tool before. The lanyard hole is fairly narrow. I tried doubled-over paracord, but the fit is tight and the cord is immovable once the slabs are re-attached. I prefer a single strand so that the cord is easily moved aside in case the pommel needs to be used for impacts.

(along side a SRKW Rodent 9)

More to follow...

 

[chiral.grolim]

...
The pommel is notched, allowing it to catch against targets like tent-stakes and fence-spikes when struck off flat.

The curve of the pommel also generates a smaller protrustion that can be used to bash through windows as wells as bricks and ice. The pommel spur sweeps gently, maintaining a comfortable grip that doesn't induce blisters on the 'pinkie' or lowest finger during use while also keeping the handle from sliding out of the hand. And while the handle narrows as it approaches the pommel, allowing the shorter 'pinkie' to better encircle the grip, the slabs become thicker flaring at the back of the pommel with a taper toward the belly, very secure and indexed according to the shape of the hand in both 'hammer-grip' and an inverted grip.

Contributing to retention and indexing are the deep finger-grooves Guy implemented on the GSO-10. The grooves lock the user's hand in place gripping nominal, forward, and rearward.

 

[chiral.grolim]

As I mentioned above, I was anxious about these grooves acting as an obstruction, but they fit my small/medium hands well, and are wide enough to accommodate tighter work gloves, even in the choil. I would not recommend this froward position in wide-fingered gloves or mittens (obviously).

A special feature of this choil that I've not seen on other designs is the rounding off of the blade heel. This reduces the chance of cutting one's finger on the blade and also provides a smooth transition for material intended to be cut to slide out of the choil onto the blade, minimizing 'snagging'.

 

[chiral.grolim]

Now, a couple key points of criticism:

As mentioned before, the handle becomes wider toward the blade, to ~1.6" within the choil. The choil and spine are both un-beveled, the ricasso extending almost the full height, which means that gripping here is against a 1.6" x 0.19" rectangular slab of steel, already uncomfortable in gloves, much more so bare-handed. I found that if I used the choil, I tended to keep my thumb along the spine, often a less than ideal position. In contrast, the Rodent 9 has a narrower beveled choiled and minimal ricasso, much more comfortable in forward grip.

Second, while intentionally blade-heavy for improved chopping performance, the balance point is >1" ahead of the choil, so a forward grip more cumbersome than experienced with the Rodent 9.

Third, this is a very WIDE blade, >2" deliberately extending beyond the knuckles in 'hammer-grip' for maximum reach when cutting on flat surfaces. Such width entails a wide profile which may be obnoxious to some. The sheath only adds to this width... although it would make for an excellent paddle! Users could modify the sheath by grinding the perimeter kydex down to the eyelets, but this may compromise the strength of the slots.

 

[chiral.grolim]

I present specific measurements and some more photos tomorrow, so stay tuned. Performance review this weekend.

Finally, watch ESPN tonight 7pm CST. Go IRISH!

 

[ShishouMatt]

My only criticism on this knife is that I didn't get one. ;(

Great review!

 

[defiant-1]

chiral.grolim:

Great review! Thanks for taking the time to write about the GSO-10. Can hardly wait to get mine.

D-1

 

[jstn]

Thanks for the detailed review, and the nice pics!

 

[CamoNut]

Good review, Good pic's!!:thumbup: I like mine very much too(in fact I'm more than happy with it)!! The only thing I want to change is the way it rides on my belt. Rides too high for my taste, but since it will spend most of it's time strapped to the back of my pack and not my leg, it's not that big of a deal. Still, I am going to have to get in touch with Kiah and see if he has any options for dropping it down while being worn on a belt.

 

[SURVIVE!]

Now, a couple key points of criticism:

As mentioned before, the handle becomes wider toward the blade, to ~1.6" within the choil. The choil and spine are both un-beveled, the ricasso extending almost the full height, which means that gripping here is against a 1.6" x 0.19" rectangular slab of steel, already uncomfortable in gloves, much more so bare-handed. I found that if I used the choil, I tended to keep my thumb along the spine, often a less than ideal position. In contrast, the Rodent 9 has a narrower beveled choiled and minimal ricasso, much more comfortable in forward grip.

Second, while intentionally blade-heavy for improved chopping performance, the balance point is >1" ahead of the choil, so a forward grip more cumbersome than experienced with the Rodent 9.

Third, this is a very WIDE blade, >2" deliberately extending beyond the knuckles in 'hammer-grip' for maximum reach when cutting on flat surfaces. Such width entails a wide profile which may be obnoxious to some. The sheath only adds to this width... although it would make for an excellent paddle! Users could modify the sheath by grinding the perimeter kydex down to the eyelets, but this may compromise the strength of the slots.

Awesome critical review Man! I like it. Since you took the time to take all of those awesome photos and do this written review, I'll take some of my lunch time to respond to a few things.

On all of my designs I try to give a person a high quality, highly functional and ergonomic base platform. Aside from that, you'll notice the knives are very "wide open". Functional and comfortable as they are but very open to user modification. This is done on purpose. The things you mentioned above would all require additional machining operations, which would in turn increase the cost of the blades. I tossed around ideas like that early on but I'm quickly finding my market niche is that of high quality, no nonsense, hard use cutting tools. I don't want to muddy up the water with trying to make them too fancy or expensive for their own good. I truly want people to use these. I honestly feel guilty charging as much as I have to now, to be able to turn a profit and make a living.

The entire blade, including beneath the scales, and also the micarta had a light and even coat of mineral oil (a guess - it was clear and unscented, readily wiped away). As another owner has noted, even the handle screws were aligned! Examining the knife closely, the bevels are perfectly even, the stone-wash exquisite, the edge polished to perhaps 600 grit? Guy could enlighten us on that point. Along the spine and handle belly into the choil, rough machine-marks are visible, deep enough to catch a finger nail, a striking contrast to how smooth the stone-wash finish and edge are. The marks do not bother me, so it's up to Guy and his customers whether further refinement is in order there.

Yes Sir, you are spot on about the mineral oil. I prefer using this over other types of oil because it is food safe and odorless. The edges are refined with a 320 grit belt and are further refined with a rouge loaded felt belt, before a final buff.

I'm glad you pointed out the laser marks on the spine and blade perimeter. With the intention of these being a hard use cutting tool and not a high end safe queen, I do not touch up the edges before tumbling. Even on that Rodent 9, I feel you would find much the same laser or waterjet marks on the spine, if you were to take some airplane stripper to that thick, textured powdercoating. Personally, I love the raw "tool" look of the marks and feel they compliment the overall rugged look of my knives. Their ruggedness is their beauty. Aside from that though, I deliberately leave them this way for handle tolerancing. Without going uber high end, with precision milling fixtures, I can't reliably remove an even .001"-.002" off the perimeter of every blade. I wanted to ensure if a person wanted an additional handle set or something down the road, they would bolt right on without fine tuning and sanding.

Lastly, something I'll touch on is the actual tumbled surface finish. I noticed a guy sold his GSO-10 over a few "scratches" on the blade, stating it wasn't a "safe queen". These are normal and are just a part of the tumbling process. These "veins" in the surface are from the blades occasionally crashing into one another in the tumbler. Some of the blades even have a few leftover surface grinding marks. This is normal and will always be.

If you are looking for a safe queen, to cherish and stare at, please keep moving. SURVIVE! is not your company.

I proudly make knives for people who appreciate a well designed, high quality cutting tool they can absolutely count on. As such, I put all of my time, money and effort where it counts: Performance.

Good review, Good pic's!!:thumbup: I like mine very much too(in fact I'm more than happy with it)!! The only thing I want to change is the way it rides on my belt. Rides too high for my taste, but since it will spend most of it's time strapped to the back of my pack and not my leg, it's not that big of a deal. Still, I am going to have to get in touch with Kiah and see if he has any options for dropping it down while being worn on a belt.

I do believe Kiah can make you a low ride belt clip or something similar. I also believe he is working on some kind of tension based, adjustable webbing loop.

 

[chiral.grolim]

Good review, Good pic's!!:thumbup: I like mine very much too(in fact I'm more than happy with it)!! The only thing I want to change is the way it rides on my belt. Rides too high for my taste, but since it will spend most of it's time strapped to the back of my pack and not my leg, it's not that big of a deal. Still, I am going to have to get in touch with Kiah and see if he has any options for dropping it down while being worn on a belt.

There are certainly some drop-leg options available. I will try to snap some more crappy pics of my own kydex drop-leg attachments this weekend. But given the footprint of this blade+sheath (~4.15" wide at the throat), I wouldn't be happy carrying it that way, much more likely to be a pack-blade or on a sling, the way I carry my Rodent 9. For those interested, my GSO-10 weighs 20.95 oz naked, 27.86 oz in its sheath. In comparison, the Junglas and Rodent 9 are ~23 oz naked.

For those wondering, the sheath is very secure, extending 1.5" up the handle, no rattle, but deployment is still easily accomplished via the incorporated thumb-ramp. Because of the slots, the sheath could easily mount a Tek-Lok or webbing-straps as well as small pouches, packs, etc., however the width of the sheath might demand that you tie the attachments in place with cordage instead of screws. The sheath is not seamless. There is a 1/4" drain-hole drilled in the side near the tip-end. Kiah includes his special kydex MOLLE G-clip, measured for vertical carry at the throat but it can be mounted at an angle or for horizontal carry as well.

I promised measurements & specs, so here they are. Please let me know if there are others desired:

OAL ~15.5" = 5.25" handle + 0.125" pommel (extended tang) + 10.125" blade. Linear cutting-edge length is ~9.125", ~9.75" total measured along the curve from heel to tip. The choil is ~1". The handle guard is 2" wide while the blade extends another 0.175" further, spine to edge.

Blade stock thickness ~0.187", tapering quickly near the tip as the spine drops to meet the point. The blade is 2.175" wide, saber-grind with a 1.365" primary bevel in the belly that tapers down to 1.11" at the tip. Guy has stated that this tapered bevel and steep drop-point are deliberate features to increase tip strength at keep weight at the end for a more powerful chop.

As mentioned before, secondary bevel appears perfectly even along the entire edge, ~25 DPS by my measurements, so ~50-degrees inclusive. If you think that isn't very acute, note that the thickness behind the edge is only ~0.05" in the belly, thickening to 0.065" in the sweep for the stronger tip. In comparison, the Swamp Rat Rodent 9 measures ~0.08" behind an edge of equal inclusive angle, I've read that a Junglas measures about the same as the GSO-10. Guy's edge is built to be as robust as these competitors but could be taken even thinner while maintaining comparable toughness. I have yet to test the cutting ability of the coated GSO-10s, but un-coated this blade (with the razor-edge Guy puts on them) glides through paper and card-board MUCH more easily than my convex'd Rodent 9. But I'll be honest - I didn't buy this blade for cutting up paper and cardboard

Stay tuned, more to come.

 

[chiral.grolim]

Guy, thanks for your clarifications!

I don't want to muddy up the water with trying to make them too fancy or expensive for their own good. I truly want people to use these. I honestly feel guilty charging as much as I have to now, to be able to turn a profit and make a living.
...
I'm glad you pointed out the laser marks on the spine and blade perimeter. With the intention of these being a hard use cutting tool and not a high end safe queen, I do not touch up the edges before tumbling. Even on that Rodent 9, I feel you would find much the same laser or waterjet marks on the spine, if you were to take some airplane stripper to that thick, textured powdercoating. Personally, I love the raw "tool" look of the marks and feel they compliment the overall rugged look of my knives. Their ruggedness is their beauty. Aside from that though, I deliberately leave them this way for handle tolerancing. Without going uber high end, with precision milling fixtures, I can't reliably remove an even .001"-.002" off the perimeter of every blade. I wanted to ensure if a person wanted an additional handle set or something down the road, they would bolt right on without fine tuning and sanding.

I proudly make knives for people who appreciate a well designed, high quality cutting tool they can absolutely count on. As such, I put all of my time, money and effort where it counts: Performance.

I very much look forward to testing this tool's performance! My expectations are high, and I occasionally feel that the amount I paid for this piece steals food from your mouth! I have half a mind to send you back a knife so that you can sell it for regular price, but I think I'd rather put the extra money I saved on this promotion toward the purchase of another GSO knife down the line

It does not surprise me that someone would reject a GSO-10 because of surface "blemish" But I doubt that was the true reason. And again, the spine marks do not bother me, simply pointing them out so others know what to expect. Not only are such marks present beneath the Rodent 9's coating but indeed there are corrugations from how they CNC-grind the bevels, seen HERE. I look forward to receiving a coated GSO-10 and will post similar pictures once I have one in hand.

Keep up the good work! :thumbup:

 

[SURVIVE!]

Guy, thanks for your clarifications!

I very much look forward to testing this tool's performance! My expectations are high, and I occasionally feel that the amount I paid for this piece steals food from your mouth! I have half a mind to send you back a knife so that you can sell it for regular price, but I think I'd rather put the extra money I saved on this promotion toward the purchase of another GSO knife down the line

It does not surprise me that someone would reject a GSO-10 because of surface "blemish" But I doubt that was the true reason. And again, the spine marks do not bother me, simply pointing them out so others know what to expect. Not only are such marks present beneath the Rodent 9's coating but indeed there are corrugations from how they CNC-grind the bevels, seen HERE. I look forward to receiving a coated GSO-10 and will post similar pictures once I have one in hand.

Keep up the good work! :thumbup:

No offense taken Brother! I was just glad you brought those things up, giving me a chance to clarify some of those details. On the "blemish", you can find the post around here, if one were inclined to look. It got bought up in a heartbeat, hopefully by someone with intentions of using the hell out of it.

Those stripped rodent photos are crazy! Thanks for sharing. I don't get time to just browse the forums all too often, so I probably would have never seen that otherwise. Good looking out.

And yeah, I did take a beating on these preorders when it was all said and done. I was just about breaking even on these but then came shipping charges... LOL It's cool though.

 

[TheGame]

Thanks for the review on this blade. It is a great looking knife, especially for those of us who love our big choppers.

Oh, sorry for your loss... Roll Tide.

 

[ShishouMatt]

Well I was able to order one of the non-preorder extras. I paid full price, which is quite a bit more than the pre-order special which is just insane of Guy to do.

Some profit to cover some of the shipping costs on those preordered steal of a deals. I'll need to make a sheath whenever you ship mine out.... Duct tape and Cardboard it shall be.

 

[Poleaxe]

That thing is a monster, congrats.

 

[Kiah]

The sheath only adds to this width... although it would make for an excellent paddle! Users could modify the sheath by grinding the perimeter kydex down to the eyelets, but this may compromise the strength of the slots.

Can also be used as a tactical fan.

Grinding it down would weaken the slots. If they're just gonna be used for strapping it wouldn't matter, but for attaching carry methods and accessories it could be a problem.

Good review, Good pic's!!:thumbup: I like mine very much too(in fact I'm more than happy with it)!! The only thing I want to change is the way it rides on my belt. Rides too high for my taste, but since it will spend most of it's time strapped to the back of my pack and not my leg, it's not that big of a deal. Still, I am going to have to get in touch with Kiah and see if he has any options for dropping it down while being worn on a belt.

It does ride a bit high for it's size. The intention was to offer some low-ride Kydex clips as an option, but after some testing I didn't feel they were gonna work. Kinda clunky and a bit of leverage woulda bent them to the point of snapping. It's no secret that I hate Kydex belt loops in the first place (gimme paracord any day), but when they're dropped that much they cause real issues.

As Guy said, I've been fiddling with a webbing based low-ride option that's tension based with a tongue that comes up to the top to minimize flopping. It's height adjustable and keeps me from having to sew, and I really don't like to sew. I've made a couple for individual sheaths and they work well, but I'd like to add something to increase hold a bit. I'll be working on it next week. Email me your addy and you can be my guinea pig.

 

[CamoNut]

As Guy said, I've been fiddling with a webbing based low-ride option that's tension based with a tongue that comes up to the top to minimize flopping. It's height adjustable and keeps me from having to sew, and I really don't like to sew. I've made a couple for individual sheaths and they work well, but I'd like to add something to increase hold a bit. I'll be working on it next week. Email me your addy and you can be my guinea pig.

Okay, Will do... Thanks!!

 

[Spectre]

Thanks for the review and all the pics. I'm sorry I missed the initial pre-order, but I'm close enough to drive to Gettysburg sometime.

John

 

[chiral.grolim]

As promised, an update after some use. I'll try to post a video this week, not today as my camera creates MOD files not recognized as videos by Picasa so I need to edit and convert them prior to posting.

For CamoNut and Kiah, here are a couple of shots of drop-leg carry using my preferred attachments:

This is ~1.5" wide x 12" long .093" Kydex folded in half and off-set ~1/2". Obviously it isn't 'professional' work, just kydex and some rudimentary tools (tin-snips, heat-gun, gloves, drill, eye-lets & hand-setter, hammer). The off-set holes match the Tek-Lok 3/4" OC radius, cut so that the attachment can be rotated for different handle angles without compromising attachment strength. The top 4 holes are also 3/4" OC. But Tek-loks are uncomfortable, especially under a pack-belt, so I prefer to simply tie on a rotating leather belt-clip that maximizes freedom of movement. The split-ring is only present to allow addition extension or attachment of other items as needed.

I also have this attachment - a single layer of .093" kydex tapped 3/4" OC, the steel clip is detachable:

However, neither of these attachments is my preference over a simply sling:

The blade can even be slid around behind me (when not wearing a pack) - the sheath provides more than enough retention to prevent losing the blade even when running with it thus upside down. But to each their own. I didn't have an assistant, so no shots of it on my back, sorry.