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would this safari make a good wilderness knife????
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Swamp Rat Safari Skinner SR101
- Thread starter daniel4572
- Start date
Cliff Stamp
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- Oct 5, 1998
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I have used a Safari Skinner in D2, compared it extensively against a Mora 2000, among other knives. The initial edge on my Safari Skinner was 0.025" thick and ground at 16 degrees per side. This is fairly thin and acute, but for a pure wood craft knife you can go significantly lower. Mine is currently at about 11/13 degrees per side compared to the Mora 2000 which is stock at 9/11. D2 has a low grindability, similar to S30V, so you will want a very aggressive stone to do any edge shaping.
With the edge adjusted it will cut alongside the Mora 2000 and is much harder and more wear resistant so will hold the edge better in some cutting, but the Mora is much more corrosion resistant and is better suited to a high push cutting sharpness. If they were in the same geometries the Mora would tend to sharpen much easier after extensive use as the steel is very nice to hone, but given the very wide edge bevel it is faster to actually sharpen the Skinner.
The Skinner is also much thicker than the Mora and capable of heavier prying and twisting to split. However it still isn't at the point where you could not break the point by hand for example in thick woods with just wrist strain. The Mora also has a better point shape for several wood activities like batoning and fine point carving.
When batoning with the Skinner the baton tends to stick into the point readily as it is upswept, and the upsweep also tends to make it awkward for fine point work. I also find the tip curvature to be a little too extreme for general utility - though again it is made as a skinner.
The handle is nice and ergonomic in a variety of grips, the index finger cutout in the blade however needs some work as it is still a bit squarish. You can note a big difference between it and the Mora 2000 if you attempt a lot of heavy rough wood carving because since the edge on the Mora starts right infront of the handle there is little torque strain induced on the wrist. You have to use the index finger cutout on the Skinner to prevent the torque from being a factor and as noted it has ergonomic issues.
-Cliff
With the edge adjusted it will cut alongside the Mora 2000 and is much harder and more wear resistant so will hold the edge better in some cutting, but the Mora is much more corrosion resistant and is better suited to a high push cutting sharpness. If they were in the same geometries the Mora would tend to sharpen much easier after extensive use as the steel is very nice to hone, but given the very wide edge bevel it is faster to actually sharpen the Skinner.
The Skinner is also much thicker than the Mora and capable of heavier prying and twisting to split. However it still isn't at the point where you could not break the point by hand for example in thick woods with just wrist strain. The Mora also has a better point shape for several wood activities like batoning and fine point carving.
When batoning with the Skinner the baton tends to stick into the point readily as it is upswept, and the upsweep also tends to make it awkward for fine point work. I also find the tip curvature to be a little too extreme for general utility - though again it is made as a skinner.
The handle is nice and ergonomic in a variety of grips, the index finger cutout in the blade however needs some work as it is still a bit squarish. You can note a big difference between it and the Mora 2000 if you attempt a lot of heavy rough wood carving because since the edge on the Mora starts right infront of the handle there is little torque strain induced on the wrist. You have to use the index finger cutout on the Skinner to prevent the torque from being a factor and as noted it has ergonomic issues.
-Cliff