- Joined
- Dec 12, 2007
- Messages
- 888
I wanted a Bark River knife for a long time now, so I finally placed an order for one. Well, actually several 
.
Today was a beautiful autumn day, so I grabbed my backpack, two of the new Bark Rivers and headed out the door into the woods.
While walking along I picked up an old branch and just started whittling away on it, without any plan, just slowly converting the stick into a long trail of wood shavings.
I never owned a fixed blade with a convex grind. From my experience so far I always believed that in general a thin blade cuts better than a thick blade.
Naturally the thickness behind the edge makes a huge difference as well, that's why I generally prefer blades with thin edge bevels.
Of course I've heard that convex and scandi grinds are well suited for bushcraft knives, but I never imagined how well these thick convex ground blades would cut wood.
(I had a Mora with a scandi grind as a kid, but the most I can remember of it is that another kid stuck it into the stony ground, heavily denting the edge. I never forgave him.)
So I got curious and decided to compare them to a Sebenza and a GEC which were in my pocket and backpack.
Hopefully you can forgive the modern folder, it's just what I had with me to compare to.
The Bark Rivers are far thicker than the other two, and the Little Carver is even the thickest.
The Mini Fox RIver has the thickest tip of them all, and the Little Carver the thinnest.
When trying to cut a finger-thick dry beechwood branch (that's pretty hard), both Fox Rivers did well with a single clean cut, even with the three-finger grip of the Little Carver.
The Sebenza managed it as well, but required considerably more force to do it, about the same as the GEC.
That surprised me quite a bit, because the Sebenza with its thin hollow grind usually is the best cutter of all my folders.
Next I tested the tips, by cutting out a pyramid with four cuts.
To no surprise the Little Carver excelled at this with its thin tip. The Mini Fox River however not so much...
These little things are not scared of some heavy-duty stuff, trying some batoning to make smaller firewood.
Yummy, who doesn't like chocolate bananas. Hmm, actually this looks pretty disgusting (it isn't, trust me)
.
Just for the fun of it...
The Little Carver really deserves that name.
I haven't touched the edge of the Mini Fox River, but stropped the Little Carver when I received it (I guess the CPM 3V steel is tougher to sharpen during production, that's why it didn't come shaving sharp).
And after all this:
Here are the most important impressions I got so far:
- The convex grind is magic. Go on, you can say it, "We told you so"
- The thick bladestock allows you to push hard with your thumb. (Although I'll have to sand the edges down a bit to make it more comfortable.)
- The Mini Fox River with its full-size grip and stout blade is a little beast, well suited for hiking trips where you don't want to carry anything too large.
- The Little Carver with its three-finger grip is very small but surprisingly capable, and really excells at what it's made for. I'd say it's the perfect companion knife for a larger blade.
- They suck at cutting apples. The Sebenza is still the undefeated champion in that category .
- And now I'm already itching to look at their larger offerings, oh dear oh dear.
I hope all of you had an enjoyable weekend as well.
.Today was a beautiful autumn day, so I grabbed my backpack, two of the new Bark Rivers and headed out the door into the woods.
While walking along I picked up an old branch and just started whittling away on it, without any plan, just slowly converting the stick into a long trail of wood shavings.
I never owned a fixed blade with a convex grind. From my experience so far I always believed that in general a thin blade cuts better than a thick blade.
Naturally the thickness behind the edge makes a huge difference as well, that's why I generally prefer blades with thin edge bevels.
Of course I've heard that convex and scandi grinds are well suited for bushcraft knives, but I never imagined how well these thick convex ground blades would cut wood.
(I had a Mora with a scandi grind as a kid, but the most I can remember of it is that another kid stuck it into the stony ground, heavily denting the edge. I never forgave him
.)So I got curious and decided to compare them to a Sebenza and a GEC which were in my pocket and backpack.
Hopefully you can forgive the modern folder, it's just what I had with me to compare to.
The Bark Rivers are far thicker than the other two, and the Little Carver is even the thickest.
The Mini Fox RIver has the thickest tip of them all, and the Little Carver the thinnest.
When trying to cut a finger-thick dry beechwood branch (that's pretty hard), both Fox Rivers did well with a single clean cut, even with the three-finger grip of the Little Carver.
The Sebenza managed it as well, but required considerably more force to do it, about the same as the GEC.
That surprised me quite a bit, because the Sebenza with its thin hollow grind usually is the best cutter of all my folders.
Next I tested the tips, by cutting out a pyramid with four cuts.
To no surprise the Little Carver excelled at this with its thin tip. The Mini Fox River however not so much...
These little things are not scared of some heavy-duty stuff, trying some batoning to make smaller firewood.
Yummy, who doesn't like chocolate bananas. Hmm, actually this looks pretty disgusting (it isn't, trust me)
.
Just for the fun of it...
The Little Carver really deserves that name.
I haven't touched the edge of the Mini Fox River, but stropped the Little Carver when I received it (I guess the CPM 3V steel is tougher to sharpen during production, that's why it didn't come shaving sharp).
And after all this:
Here are the most important impressions I got so far:
- The convex grind is magic. Go on, you can say it, "We told you so"
- The thick bladestock allows you to push hard with your thumb. (Although I'll have to sand the edges down a bit to make it more comfortable.)
- The Mini Fox River with its full-size grip and stout blade is a little beast, well suited for hiking trips where you don't want to carry anything too large.
- The Little Carver with its three-finger grip is very small but surprisingly capable, and really excells at what it's made for. I'd say it's the perfect companion knife for a larger blade.
- They suck at cutting apples. The Sebenza is still the undefeated champion in that category
.- And now I'm already itching to look at their larger offerings, oh dear oh dear.
I hope all of you had an enjoyable weekend as well.
