This is to update on the "collection": Quite a lot of paring down has gone on to get to this stage (My Lile "Mission" is the only "good" one missing here):
These are some of the knives that didn't make "the cut": In all cases the damage occurred very quickly (around 10-30 strokes at most) while chopping Maple: Except for the $2000 RJ Martin at the end, the makers have been made aware of the issue:
Randall Model 12 after a thousand chops in the very same wood, with equal or much thinner edge (10 degrees per side on 0.020"):
This is the RJ Martin Raven or Blackbird (it was never clear which name it has, this is the 10.5" blade): This has an interesting history, since after being re-sharpened a dozen times, its tendency to make a slight micro-fold, despite its much thicker edge (15 per side on 0.040"), seemed to go away when chopping into wet Maple. I thought I had finally sharpened out of the "burned layer", but when the Maple dried, it went right back to doing micro-folds...: These micro-folds are so small the only way to demonstrate this is to show the nail material the curled edge grabs, which you see as whitish "fuzz" on the edge here:
This occurred on tiny branches around 1-2" in diameter, so that was the end of that knife, and it goes for sale... This is S30V, and it was interesting to see how consistently it failed in the exact same way.
This is what the sheath set-ups typically look like under their socks:
And here is the new one I finally managed to snag, a Steve Voorhis "Rambo style", with my typical set up of two thermal blankets, 20+ feet of 550 rope, and one AAA flashlight hiding under the sheath's tip:
The AAA Mag-Light is now up to 48 lumens, and is way brighter than it used to be, with batteries now good for storage for 20 years (with taped ends to prevent drainage inside the casing), they make a worthy item that will easily fit inside a hollow handle (usually with the compass removed), with space around it for more, or on the sheath.
This is what the Voorhis looked like with its original scratch prone mirror polish, versus a Chris Reeve Jereboam:
The Jereboam was not that great a knife in my opinion, thick edged (0.040" to 0.056" at the tip), much too narrow in the blade, and very heavy for the size: How heavy? Consider that the Voorhis is 22 ounces, while the Jereboam is over 17 ounces, so over 3/4 the weight of the bigger knife(!)... The Voorhis edge could easily be thinned to 0.020" when it got its satin finish, as flat grinds make this easier.
This is what the Patriot leather looks like under all the gear: A truly great sheath...
Some test shots vs the failed RJ Martin:
The Voorhis is in 5160, and I have to say that, despite my misgivings about Carbon steels, it showed no weakness at all even at 12 degrees per side...
The twisted rope moved around on the handle, which I fixed by twisting more the front, and running superglue under it...:
Some more photos:
Lile-style sawback dominates the Parrish-style, but both have their plus and minuses:
The photo below shows just how unobtrusive the carry of even the gigantic 10 5/16" Colin Cox is... No real point to the Blackjack dagger in a shoulder harness, unless you really want a good spear point... I added to it its own tie-up rope... The one bad thing about hollow handles is they really are terrible at tying up as spear tips, and they make poor spear tips anyway...
Except I guess the Randall 18 with its purpose-made walking staff!:
Or the 19th Century Colonel Baldock knife!:
Gaston
