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Are you actually suggesting to bring a broadsword to a knife fight?
Perhaps they have different experiences in knife fights than you.
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THE Hollow Handle Knife Thread
- Thread starter Sam Wilson
- Start date
Are you actually suggesting to bring a broadsword to a knife fight?
Perhaps they have different experiences in knife fights than you.
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People who have had training with using a knife as a weapon will all have their own preferences but one thing they will have in common is a balance closer to the guard. Your not hacking at bone in a knife fight it doesn't act as a chopper or machete.
Note I am not saying you should hack while fighting with a 9" knife, just that the balance point being 1" in front of the guard has no effect at all on doing that... For utility chopping, the 1" again doesn't seem to make any difference performance-wise, but it does affect hand confort seriously, which is a huge deal for repetitive tasks...
Gaston
Gaston
Ausseknifeknut
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Hard to argue with an expert 
Can we go back to seeing more hollow handle knife pron ?
Can we go back to seeing more hollow handle knife pron ?
- Joined
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- 5,548
Well it was a pretty day for a hike
Those are big wood bites with the SURV9 Dave... Did you re-profile the edge since you got it?
Just got this last week: RJ Martin Blackbird (one of 20 made, plus 10 of the smaller Raven, similar but with a much lower secondary grind line: Looks nowhere near as good imho): 10.5" blade, and it really does measure this on the dime for a change! (Even the super-precise Vaugh Neeley SA9, quoted as 9.5", and is actually 9 5/16", and this seems intended):
Mine looks more satin than these two:
Quite a bit of damage from the Kydex on this one...:
It was initially offered at $2100, then was sold, but apparently the deal did not come through. For a while I thought it was gone (mine is #12), but then I came upon it by accident on Ebay long after the sale apparently fell through... It was not as easy to find as labeled now, and would not come up on my usual "Survival Knife" search on Ebay... I was searching for something completely different when I saw it...: It was now down to $1700 with a best offer option: My $1500 offer proved enough... I think it's a real bargain for what I stated before was my "Grail Knife"... I've seen them offered at as high as US $2400...
Photos cannot do justice to the stunning visual impact this knife makes... The Neeley SA9 (and most others, except for the really huge broad-blade Martin SURV9 I suppose) seems like a mere toy in comparison... The RJ's sheath is just kydex with no nylon lining inside (the nylon is only on the outside), but despite bare plastic inner surfaces, it fits so nicely it barely does any marring on the blade: A very minor "haze" near the rear left secondary grind line (I've seen #1, and it gets scratched much more on the flats, #3 is much worse still on the left hollow grind, a wide mid-hollow "haze" going all the way...). To my surprise Kydex does not scratch my blade much at all, only very small, rare and discrete "haze" marks, and, most important, it avoids contacting the edge perfectly, better than leather... The surface damage could worsen with ambient dirt compared to leather, but for now, most leather sheaths seem more blade-aggressive than this particular Kydex sheath...
The edge is around 13° per side, on a 1 mm (0.040") thick bevel base (A Randall Model 14 or Model 12 is much thinner, at 0.5 mm or 0.020", but this is still much better than the Neeley SA9 at a clumsy 1.5 mm or 0.060", and this even after much angle reduction to 13-14°, from the absurd original 30° +): The RJ's edge is a rough angle/width match to how a Chris Reeves Jereboam's came new out of the box (which I consider marginal, but passable): Despite this, it feels much sharper than the Reeves was, because the edge on the Reeves was polished on a slightly slack belt, making it slightly "out of flat" on its bevel sides, and the edge bevel angle opened up considerably towards the tip: On the RJ Martin, the edge is dead-flat on its sides, and stays close to the straight edge angle all the way to the point... The perfection of the edge is such that the only thing I felt it needed was a tiny bevel on each side at the very tip of the point, to thin the point's bevels as viewed from the top... This is in the same vein to what SOG does on the point of its SOG Bowies...
The only modifications I did to the sheath where as follows: I removed the leg strap: Shortened it, folded this thick nylon strap over a 4" Dia-Sharp coarse stone, which was glued inside the strap's fold. I then glued some Velcro "hook" surface to the outside: The "encased" hone now can just be "applied" to the front of the sheath, since the entire front of the Kydex sheath's nylon outer lining is a velcro "loop" surface... This basically adds a neat rectangular nylon "stone pouch" to the front. It worked very well and looks beautiful, even better than just the sheath alone... It came with no removable pouches for some reason...
Handle diameter is about 1 mm less than the Randall with its handle wrapped with 350 lbs cord: The difference in handle confort is huge, which seems to indicate the wrapped Randall slightly oversteps some threshold limit of my particular hand... Inner handle compartment is slightly smaller in diameter, and deeper, than Randall (much less deep than Neeley), but note that this is despite much thinner cord wrapping on the RJ Martin, so the tubing walls are much thicker... Despite these thick walls, the knife balances one inch ahead of the guard, which is way better than the Neeley SA9's guard balance... This makes me think the entire handle tubing is aluminium, as well as the buttcap...
The sawback design seems initially virtually identical to the Robert Parrish "Survivor", but comparing now the teeth of the Parrish in photos, it is clear the RJ Martin teeth are slightly reduced in vertical height, compared to the Parrish ones:
In person the RJ Martin teeths are quite aggressive, and they do not seem compromised by their lower height. To further enhance the combat use of the knife, they are reversed so as to not impede blade withdrawal... This makes this knife the only Survival Knife whose sawback does not really impede any of its major functions...
The "reversed" saw is 5" long exactly, vs 5.5" on the Neeley SA9: It would be interesting to see which one performs better on wood, but I will not have the courage to try any time soon...
The lack of any choil in the ricasso further enhances the combat aspect (although highly theoretical at 10.5"!), but at the cost of a lot of weight... Compared to its enormous size, the knife still does not feel heavy at all, but it is heavier... I would say the Chris Reeves Jereboam, despite being lighter, still feels "heavier per size", if that makes sense... Much of the RJ's weight can be attributed to the guard, which is my only objection to the knife's design: It could have been smaller and thinner, especially the thickness of it... That guard however confounded some of my apprehensions: By being oversized, it "hooks" exceptionallly well to the pant's upper belt edge, and allows very confortable inside-the-pants carry, with no movement at all... In fact, this 10.5" blade is more confortable to carry concealed for me than the 8.75" Chris Reeves Jereboam: It seems the worst thing a sheath can do is be a "semi square tip": Either be thin and fully square, or thick and fully rounded, but not in between...
The nylon sheath cover was given my usual treatment of superglueing all the stitches, then painting black the occasional white glue fumes.
The blade's clip design is very interesting: It is simply the spine dropped, with a flat back, so it is a "clipped" drop point, not a true bowie clip, but with a half-moon "cut-out" into the dropped spine that is as deep as possible, to allow using its edge as a "chopping" implement: It is fairly sharp by itself... The lack of a "true" clip grind means that, past the "cut-out" edge, the point goes back to a full "flat spine", which is very beneficial to batoning, and makes the point stronger, while still maintaining the option of an edge-saving chopping implement for smaller branches... I would say this is the best Survival Knife clip design I have ever seen: The dropped sharpened clip is usually, at best, a pure combat feature, of little use for chopping, and it usually makes the batoning option far less efficient, by chewing up the baton: This design improves both problems, with no real compromise to its combat ability...
This knife is a revelation in many ways: To my mind it disproves the notion that knives over 10" are impractical. I used to dislike broad blades, but the chopping performance must surely be worth it, and the thin functional sheath makes it seems like a reasonable-sized item once sheathed (taking it out is a shock to the senses each and every time)... Broad knives also seem less "dense" in weight per unit of size than narrower ones...
I never would have thought that a knife could instantly feel like it is easily worth $1500, but this one leaves absolutely no doubt, and for things not directly related to its outstanding size or design: The symmetry of the all the grinds is flawless. Even the secondary grind lines are slightly curved in a symmetrical way that seems controlled and intentional (I would have preferred them straight like on the Neeley, but they are nice enough). More than that, the transition between the surfaces is so crisp it litterally has to be seen to be believed... On the Neeley SA9, which is a match in the crispness of execution, every grind is perfect and incredibly crisp, but the actual grind work is obscured by bead-blasting: Here the grinding work is left out in the open, and it is just a joy to look at...
The biggest practical problem of this knife is the likely hysteria it would cause anywhere you would pull it out... It seems from another world... Yet, unlike most oversized wallhangers, it really is completely rational and functional in every aspect: There is not a hint of fantasy in any of its details... To most however, it will look more like a Survival Knife Zeus would carry in his fight against Typhon...
Gaston
Just got this last week: RJ Martin Blackbird (one of 20 made, plus 10 of the smaller Raven, similar but with a much lower secondary grind line: Looks nowhere near as good imho): 10.5" blade, and it really does measure this on the dime for a change! (Even the super-precise Vaugh Neeley SA9, quoted as 9.5", and is actually 9 5/16", and this seems intended):
Mine looks more satin than these two:
Quite a bit of damage from the Kydex on this one...:
It was initially offered at $2100, then was sold, but apparently the deal did not come through. For a while I thought it was gone (mine is #12), but then I came upon it by accident on Ebay long after the sale apparently fell through... It was not as easy to find as labeled now, and would not come up on my usual "Survival Knife" search on Ebay... I was searching for something completely different when I saw it...: It was now down to $1700 with a best offer option: My $1500 offer proved enough... I think it's a real bargain for what I stated before was my "Grail Knife"... I've seen them offered at as high as US $2400...
Photos cannot do justice to the stunning visual impact this knife makes... The Neeley SA9 (and most others, except for the really huge broad-blade Martin SURV9 I suppose) seems like a mere toy in comparison... The RJ's sheath is just kydex with no nylon lining inside (the nylon is only on the outside), but despite bare plastic inner surfaces, it fits so nicely it barely does any marring on the blade: A very minor "haze" near the rear left secondary grind line (I've seen #1, and it gets scratched much more on the flats, #3 is much worse still on the left hollow grind, a wide mid-hollow "haze" going all the way...). To my surprise Kydex does not scratch my blade much at all, only very small, rare and discrete "haze" marks, and, most important, it avoids contacting the edge perfectly, better than leather... The surface damage could worsen with ambient dirt compared to leather, but for now, most leather sheaths seem more blade-aggressive than this particular Kydex sheath...
The edge is around 13° per side, on a 1 mm (0.040") thick bevel base (A Randall Model 14 or Model 12 is much thinner, at 0.5 mm or 0.020", but this is still much better than the Neeley SA9 at a clumsy 1.5 mm or 0.060", and this even after much angle reduction to 13-14°, from the absurd original 30° +): The RJ's edge is a rough angle/width match to how a Chris Reeves Jereboam's came new out of the box (which I consider marginal, but passable): Despite this, it feels much sharper than the Reeves was, because the edge on the Reeves was polished on a slightly slack belt, making it slightly "out of flat" on its bevel sides, and the edge bevel angle opened up considerably towards the tip: On the RJ Martin, the edge is dead-flat on its sides, and stays close to the straight edge angle all the way to the point... The perfection of the edge is such that the only thing I felt it needed was a tiny bevel on each side at the very tip of the point, to thin the point's bevels as viewed from the top... This is in the same vein to what SOG does on the point of its SOG Bowies...
The only modifications I did to the sheath where as follows: I removed the leg strap: Shortened it, folded this thick nylon strap over a 4" Dia-Sharp coarse stone, which was glued inside the strap's fold. I then glued some Velcro "hook" surface to the outside: The "encased" hone now can just be "applied" to the front of the sheath, since the entire front of the Kydex sheath's nylon outer lining is a velcro "loop" surface... This basically adds a neat rectangular nylon "stone pouch" to the front. It worked very well and looks beautiful, even better than just the sheath alone... It came with no removable pouches for some reason...
Handle diameter is about 1 mm less than the Randall with its handle wrapped with 350 lbs cord: The difference in handle confort is huge, which seems to indicate the wrapped Randall slightly oversteps some threshold limit of my particular hand... Inner handle compartment is slightly smaller in diameter, and deeper, than Randall (much less deep than Neeley), but note that this is despite much thinner cord wrapping on the RJ Martin, so the tubing walls are much thicker... Despite these thick walls, the knife balances one inch ahead of the guard, which is way better than the Neeley SA9's guard balance... This makes me think the entire handle tubing is aluminium, as well as the buttcap...
The sawback design seems initially virtually identical to the Robert Parrish "Survivor", but comparing now the teeth of the Parrish in photos, it is clear the RJ Martin teeth are slightly reduced in vertical height, compared to the Parrish ones:
In person the RJ Martin teeths are quite aggressive, and they do not seem compromised by their lower height. To further enhance the combat use of the knife, they are reversed so as to not impede blade withdrawal... This makes this knife the only Survival Knife whose sawback does not really impede any of its major functions...
The "reversed" saw is 5" long exactly, vs 5.5" on the Neeley SA9: It would be interesting to see which one performs better on wood, but I will not have the courage to try any time soon...
The lack of any choil in the ricasso further enhances the combat aspect (although highly theoretical at 10.5"!), but at the cost of a lot of weight... Compared to its enormous size, the knife still does not feel heavy at all, but it is heavier... I would say the Chris Reeves Jereboam, despite being lighter, still feels "heavier per size", if that makes sense... Much of the RJ's weight can be attributed to the guard, which is my only objection to the knife's design: It could have been smaller and thinner, especially the thickness of it... That guard however confounded some of my apprehensions: By being oversized, it "hooks" exceptionallly well to the pant's upper belt edge, and allows very confortable inside-the-pants carry, with no movement at all... In fact, this 10.5" blade is more confortable to carry concealed for me than the 8.75" Chris Reeves Jereboam: It seems the worst thing a sheath can do is be a "semi square tip": Either be thin and fully square, or thick and fully rounded, but not in between...
The nylon sheath cover was given my usual treatment of superglueing all the stitches, then painting black the occasional white glue fumes.
The blade's clip design is very interesting: It is simply the spine dropped, with a flat back, so it is a "clipped" drop point, not a true bowie clip, but with a half-moon "cut-out" into the dropped spine that is as deep as possible, to allow using its edge as a "chopping" implement: It is fairly sharp by itself... The lack of a "true" clip grind means that, past the "cut-out" edge, the point goes back to a full "flat spine", which is very beneficial to batoning, and makes the point stronger, while still maintaining the option of an edge-saving chopping implement for smaller branches... I would say this is the best Survival Knife clip design I have ever seen: The dropped sharpened clip is usually, at best, a pure combat feature, of little use for chopping, and it usually makes the batoning option far less efficient, by chewing up the baton: This design improves both problems, with no real compromise to its combat ability...
This knife is a revelation in many ways: To my mind it disproves the notion that knives over 10" are impractical. I used to dislike broad blades, but the chopping performance must surely be worth it, and the thin functional sheath makes it seems like a reasonable-sized item once sheathed (taking it out is a shock to the senses each and every time)... Broad knives also seem less "dense" in weight per unit of size than narrower ones...
I never would have thought that a knife could instantly feel like it is easily worth $1500, but this one leaves absolutely no doubt, and for things not directly related to its outstanding size or design: The symmetry of the all the grinds is flawless. Even the secondary grind lines are slightly curved in a symmetrical way that seems controlled and intentional (I would have preferred them straight like on the Neeley, but they are nice enough). More than that, the transition between the surfaces is so crisp it litterally has to be seen to be believed... On the Neeley SA9, which is a match in the crispness of execution, every grind is perfect and incredibly crisp, but the actual grind work is obscured by bead-blasting: Here the grinding work is left out in the open, and it is just a joy to look at...
The biggest practical problem of this knife is the likely hysteria it would cause anywhere you would pull it out... It seems from another world... Yet, unlike most oversized wallhangers, it really is completely rational and functional in every aspect: There is not a hint of fantasy in any of its details... To most however, it will look more like a Survival Knife Zeus would carry in his fight against Typhon...
Gaston
Last edited:
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- Jul 3, 2001
- Messages
- 6,135
Sounds like a nice knife. Unfortunately, your photos aren't working. Blade material and thickness? Compass?
Steel is CPM S30V. Blade stock is 1/4" (Guard is well over that!). Yes it has a liquid compass and mine has a bubble(...), but it doesn't affect functionning. I can't believe I didn't look up the weight (I didn't think it would show up anywhere, and it doesn't really, but luckily it does appear -barely- in an incomplete google search listing...: 30 ounces plus sheath 8 ounces...): The figure of 30 ounces does seem plausible compared to the 21 ounces of my Hellion... The huge steel guard bears a lot of responsibility for that...
Here are photos of the one I actually got: Unfortunately comparative photos to my other knives will be a long time in coming...:
I have to say the weight of 30 ounces gives me pause as to the practicality of carrying this around... From what it felt like, I thought it was more like 25-26 ounces...
I'll carry it around and see if this is really that bad, or if it is mostly a -great- conversation piece...
Gaston
Here are photos of the one I actually got: Unfortunately comparative photos to my other knives will be a long time in coming...:
I have to say the weight of 30 ounces gives me pause as to the practicality of carrying this around... From what it felt like, I thought it was more like 25-26 ounces...
I'll carry it around and see if this is really that bad, or if it is mostly a -great- conversation piece...
Gaston
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- Jul 3, 2001
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That's a good looking knife, Gaston. From the photos, I can tell it's high quality. I like it and its sheath. I wouldn't worry about the weight. A lot of knife guys carry 3-4 knives when out in the woods, which add up to be more than 30 oz. - plus you will be able to stabilize the weight with the design of the sheath and the wide leg strap. Of course, the compass can always be replaced. You're correct about the bubble. If it doesn't enlarge, it won't be a problem. Good catch! :thumbup:
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Cool knife Gaston I like that and like the teeth on the saw looks like it would work pretty well. On the Surv9 I didn't reprofile just the occasional touch up of the edge it just chops very well.
Very impressive chopping ability... I have to say I feel really biaised to have said the SURV9 was too big and bulky for me in blade width (and guard size), and then being really happy with this other even more gigantic thing... The one thing that really disapointed me on your SURV9 was the kind of dull finished and thin-feeling black leather sheath (rough in surface, and with a big scratch): I didn't have your skills or equipment to make a nice new sheath for it, so that was a dealbreaker for me...
This is odd, as when you look on Newt Martin's site (Not to be confused with RJ Martin), all the leather sheaths seem superb, at least Randall-level finish, shiny and polished... Mine just felt rough... Must have been a bad segment of leather...
As far as Kydex making scratches on blades, that was always my big objection to Kydex sheaths (it seems to me an inner layer of nylon "tracks" would help): The RJ Martin on mine makes a very few scratches, with one hazy "cloud", but even those few blemishes I finally managed to get rid of: I used for the first time a polishing compound called "Autosol" metal polish, and to my surprise it seems to select the scratches, buff them off (with a paper towel) and leaves alone the "normal" grind marks(!)... When rubbing more to focus on deeper scratches, the metal's reflection, when put into a "shade" dark reflection, will then show a slight haze: The solution is to paste and polish the whole surface, which will blend-in the "haze"...
The blade now looks flawless. I rinsed the Kydex sheath with soap: Hopefully if the scratches return, they will be more subdued by the previous wearing-in...
I Sent the Wall "First Blood" to Razoredgeknives, my usual sharpener, to have its edge re-ground, and each sawteeth lowered 1/32" diagonally in front... Can't wait to see if he will do it, and how this will turn out...
Gaston
This is odd, as when you look on Newt Martin's site (Not to be confused with RJ Martin), all the leather sheaths seem superb, at least Randall-level finish, shiny and polished... Mine just felt rough... Must have been a bad segment of leather...
As far as Kydex making scratches on blades, that was always my big objection to Kydex sheaths (it seems to me an inner layer of nylon "tracks" would help): The RJ Martin on mine makes a very few scratches, with one hazy "cloud", but even those few blemishes I finally managed to get rid of: I used for the first time a polishing compound called "Autosol" metal polish, and to my surprise it seems to select the scratches, buff them off (with a paper towel) and leaves alone the "normal" grind marks(!)... When rubbing more to focus on deeper scratches, the metal's reflection, when put into a "shade" dark reflection, will then show a slight haze: The solution is to paste and polish the whole surface, which will blend-in the "haze"...
The blade now looks flawless. I rinsed the Kydex sheath with soap: Hopefully if the scratches return, they will be more subdued by the previous wearing-in...
I Sent the Wall "First Blood" to Razoredgeknives, my usual sharpener, to have its edge re-ground, and each sawteeth lowered 1/32" diagonally in front... Can't wait to see if he will do it, and how this will turn out...
Gaston
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- Dec 24, 2008
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I honestly didn't really care about the sheath I didn't care for its shape, the quality was good it just happened to have a scar on the leather. I generally order knives without sheaths because I know I'll want to make one myself either leather or Kydex. The knife itself is what interests me the most so thats what I pay attention to, I don't really care if its got scrapes or marks on it either, its just gonna get more when I use it. Mostly I look at the overall design, the steel and the size, everything else can be changed with a little work.
Your leather work is superb though... I've made a sheath mysef 20 years ago for a Carbon V Cold Steel SRK, dyed all black, the stitches spaced one by one with a ruler(!), and it was quite OK quality wise, but I just superglued a velcro snap release (on a properly stitched snap base), and the glued hook portion came off... So it became a snapless sheath...
For a fixed blade, the sheath is everything... And I hate sheaths that cause "not-work-related" scratches, and it can happen to all kinds, and all kinds of sheaths also sometimes don't scratch...
I've tried Savage made sheaths, but though functional, I did not like the finish color. The worst thing was that the snaps were small and weak too. It is the same problem on the Randall sheaths, though the sheaths themselves are usually very nicely finished... My Randall Model 12 has been modified to be a snapless sheath, and it works very well: One of the advantages of longer blades is the snap is not an absolute necessity, depending on the tightness of the sheath, which is plenty good enough in this case...
I prefer using hired help to re-work knives: My Randall Model 12 had a huge oversized Commando handle, and I did reshape the Micarta with fingergrooves myself, with a power drill and sandpaper drum, but the pommel was too hard for this tool, and I had to have the job completed by Josh of Razoedgeknives: It came out brilliantly! He also completely repaired the Model 14 that I had so heavily damaged in use: It now looks far better than it ever did new! Amazing.
On the downside, I just finally found the courage to test the sawback on the Neeley SA9... I could not believe it... The Wall's saw did not do anything, the Randall went 1/8" easily but with no "recoverable" sawdust, the TOPS Hellion's under 4" long sawback went easily 1/2", but then stops (still acceptable performance I feel, given how aggressively it gets there)... Now the Neeley's SA9's saw goes 1/4" into the same 4" branch, not easily, and then stops... Despite a comparatively huge 5.5" saw stroke...
Given that the Neeley's main edge bevel had an unacceptaby wide 1.5 mm bevel top anyway, on an edge of about 13-14° per side, I think I'll keep it for some testing for "the rest" of its qualities... Somehow the Hellion just keeps looking better and better, having been easier to sharpen to a sharper angle, despite an even thicker edge bevel base of 1.8 mm... I have emailed Josh to see if he could imitate the TOPS "alternating" sawtop right/left leaning on the Wall, as that seems a good ingredient to get more performance out of that kind of sawback... Dave's Martin MCE's big huge teeth also seemed to perform very well, maybe because of the larger spacing...
Gaston
For a fixed blade, the sheath is everything... And I hate sheaths that cause "not-work-related" scratches, and it can happen to all kinds, and all kinds of sheaths also sometimes don't scratch...
I've tried Savage made sheaths, but though functional, I did not like the finish color. The worst thing was that the snaps were small and weak too. It is the same problem on the Randall sheaths, though the sheaths themselves are usually very nicely finished... My Randall Model 12 has been modified to be a snapless sheath, and it works very well: One of the advantages of longer blades is the snap is not an absolute necessity, depending on the tightness of the sheath, which is plenty good enough in this case...
I prefer using hired help to re-work knives: My Randall Model 12 had a huge oversized Commando handle, and I did reshape the Micarta with fingergrooves myself, with a power drill and sandpaper drum, but the pommel was too hard for this tool, and I had to have the job completed by Josh of Razoedgeknives: It came out brilliantly! He also completely repaired the Model 14 that I had so heavily damaged in use: It now looks far better than it ever did new! Amazing.
On the downside, I just finally found the courage to test the sawback on the Neeley SA9... I could not believe it... The Wall's saw did not do anything, the Randall went 1/8" easily but with no "recoverable" sawdust, the TOPS Hellion's under 4" long sawback went easily 1/2", but then stops (still acceptable performance I feel, given how aggressively it gets there)... Now the Neeley's SA9's saw goes 1/4" into the same 4" branch, not easily, and then stops... Despite a comparatively huge 5.5" saw stroke...
Given that the Neeley's main edge bevel had an unacceptaby wide 1.5 mm bevel top anyway, on an edge of about 13-14° per side, I think I'll keep it for some testing for "the rest" of its qualities... Somehow the Hellion just keeps looking better and better, having been easier to sharpen to a sharper angle, despite an even thicker edge bevel base of 1.8 mm... I have emailed Josh to see if he could imitate the TOPS "alternating" sawtop right/left leaning on the Wall, as that seems a good ingredient to get more performance out of that kind of sawback... Dave's Martin MCE's big huge teeth also seemed to perform very well, maybe because of the larger spacing...
Gaston
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This is surprising to hear. At the 1986 Blade Show, I watched Bill Sanders (Timberline) saw 2x4s in half, one after another. Being so impressed with that demonstration, I purchased a Timberline SA soon after and the saw worked perfectly.
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When I did this it went through pretty easy, now sawing on long dead hard dry oak is another thing, that sucks. As someone posted on here once if you add a loop on the top of the guard and use your left hand to pull and your right to guide you can cut a lot faster and easier.
Ausseknifeknut
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The knives used in the first predator movie , does anyone own one of them ? I think the makers name was Crain ?
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No and the only guy making copies of them sucks when its time to deliver. I always wanted a life support by Crain back when he was making knives before he got ill he did a great job.
Finally I managed to find a fix for an older camera, but the screen is partially broken so "centering" is difficult... This is how my larger ones compare now (the Jereboam is off to re-sharpening)...
The Hellion's "internal" capacity really gives me pause as to what "stretchable" nylon pockets can carry, compared to a hollow handle... This is accentuated here by the fact that here there is two pockets... The capacity is just huge, and now, inspired by cricketdave, the bigger pocket includes a 4" six hours duration chemical light stick, plus two tiny 1.5" ones (a great idea for the 4" one at least)... In addition to the usual, it nows has a lot of rope both internally and on the outside... There is of course a compass and other stuff I forget... All this is still compact and slim enough to slide inside the belt... The only undeniable downside, compared to a hollow handle compartment, is the inability to carry pills without risking crusing them... Obviously, a Hollow Handle Hellion could still have the pockets and carry even more... The flat full tang handle is heavy but slightly less obtrusive than a round handle (except compared to the Wall's thin diameter design), and batoning this thing is pretty much without concern, even down to the nicely radiused "guard" base, devoid of stress risers (square corners cause the non-San Mai Trailmaster to occasionally fail inside the guard while batoning)...
By contrast the gigantic RJ Martin cannot carry the light stick, but it does have Advils and the same 4" coarse Dia Sharp within the nylon cover I made outside the sheath (removeable through velcro, but quite slim enough to slide inside the belt along with the sheath as is).
I got the San Mai III Trailmaster recently, mostly to have a "benchmark" reference of good performance... It is extremely well made in surface finish, especially compared to the "swirly" Randall Model 12 finish...
Of note is that, to maintain blade heaviness, the Trailmaster does not have a true full distal taper: It retains the same huge 5/16" thickness all the way to the start of the clip... So that explains its excellent 3/4" blade-heavy balance point... Symmetry is absolutely flawless (but so are all the others here [EDIT: The symmetry of the clip's taper, viewed from the top, is not perfect. Not bad but definitely off to the right])... There are several youtube videos showing the San Mai Trailmaster out-chopping, at 17 ounces, a 28 ounces Bussse Battle Mistress... The sharpness and thinness of the Convex grind are key to this performance, and mine only needed a slight touch up to increase the final angle aggressiveness [EDIT: In a short quick test, the convex grind, upon use, does not appear thin enough to avoid seriously impeding the knife's chopping performance, to the point a 7.75" Al Mar "Special Warfare" will match or beat it)... The knife feels slim and efficient. The handle is on the too slim side, but it doesn't feel bad. I think complaints about this rubber handle are odd, as the BK-9's full tang handle caused -for me- violent vibrations that nullified that knife's excellent chopping performance (despite being on par, blow for blow, with the much more confortable Jereboam). [EDIT: I have chopped a little now with the Trailmaster, and it does seem there is something quite wrong with the ergonomics of the handle: I did not do enough chopping to really describe it -I will do more testing soon-, but it feels unusually aggressive to the bare hand, to what long term effect I don't know)
It would be interesting to see if the Randall Model 12 would prove a superior chopper, with its incredibly thin edge and deep hollow grind, but unfortunately Josh of Razoredgeknives advised me he would no longer offer hand applied full reprofiling on big fixed blades, as he found it too time consuming (this is what mine has now, and an incredible job it is)... Basically the 12's hand-applied edge is not exactly replaceable, so a chopping comparison is out...
I bought a Model 12 with a "Commando" style micarta handle, which did look big and odd, but I liked the lighter micarta colour: It turned out to be a big mistake, as the Model 12's "Commando" handle is in reality an oversized monstrosity (the fingergrooved versions for the Model 12 are the ones to get)... It turned out well eventually, as it had enough material to allow reshaping the Micarta handle with a drill and sandpaper drum, and I then had the pommel re-sized and refinished by Josh, who did an outstanding job as usual... This handle is now the most confortable and functional handle I have ever held: I am sure that this particular shape would work great for a lot of people, yet you don't often see a knife handle looking like that, for some reason...: It is not as shiny, but that also feels better and less slippery. The sheath was modified for inside the pants carry, and the friction fit is plenty good enough to do without the weak Randall snap...
The Neeley SA9 has proved too thick edged to ever be made really "operational": It offers only an "illusion" of sharpness no matter how much you sharpen it... I plan on testing it against the Trailmaster and Jereboam, to see how edge geometry affects chopping performance... I'll also do the "spear lashing" trick with it, to see it that has any real value...: I am actually quite looking forward to it...
Gaston
The Hellion's "internal" capacity really gives me pause as to what "stretchable" nylon pockets can carry, compared to a hollow handle... This is accentuated here by the fact that here there is two pockets... The capacity is just huge, and now, inspired by cricketdave, the bigger pocket includes a 4" six hours duration chemical light stick, plus two tiny 1.5" ones (a great idea for the 4" one at least)... In addition to the usual, it nows has a lot of rope both internally and on the outside... There is of course a compass and other stuff I forget... All this is still compact and slim enough to slide inside the belt... The only undeniable downside, compared to a hollow handle compartment, is the inability to carry pills without risking crusing them... Obviously, a Hollow Handle Hellion could still have the pockets and carry even more... The flat full tang handle is heavy but slightly less obtrusive than a round handle (except compared to the Wall's thin diameter design), and batoning this thing is pretty much without concern, even down to the nicely radiused "guard" base, devoid of stress risers (square corners cause the non-San Mai Trailmaster to occasionally fail inside the guard while batoning)...
By contrast the gigantic RJ Martin cannot carry the light stick, but it does have Advils and the same 4" coarse Dia Sharp within the nylon cover I made outside the sheath (removeable through velcro, but quite slim enough to slide inside the belt along with the sheath as is).
I got the San Mai III Trailmaster recently, mostly to have a "benchmark" reference of good performance... It is extremely well made in surface finish, especially compared to the "swirly" Randall Model 12 finish...
Of note is that, to maintain blade heaviness, the Trailmaster does not have a true full distal taper: It retains the same huge 5/16" thickness all the way to the start of the clip... So that explains its excellent 3/4" blade-heavy balance point... Symmetry is absolutely flawless (but so are all the others here [EDIT: The symmetry of the clip's taper, viewed from the top, is not perfect. Not bad but definitely off to the right])... There are several youtube videos showing the San Mai Trailmaster out-chopping, at 17 ounces, a 28 ounces Bussse Battle Mistress... The sharpness and thinness of the Convex grind are key to this performance, and mine only needed a slight touch up to increase the final angle aggressiveness [EDIT: In a short quick test, the convex grind, upon use, does not appear thin enough to avoid seriously impeding the knife's chopping performance, to the point a 7.75" Al Mar "Special Warfare" will match or beat it)... The knife feels slim and efficient. The handle is on the too slim side, but it doesn't feel bad. I think complaints about this rubber handle are odd, as the BK-9's full tang handle caused -for me- violent vibrations that nullified that knife's excellent chopping performance (despite being on par, blow for blow, with the much more confortable Jereboam). [EDIT: I have chopped a little now with the Trailmaster, and it does seem there is something quite wrong with the ergonomics of the handle: I did not do enough chopping to really describe it -I will do more testing soon-, but it feels unusually aggressive to the bare hand, to what long term effect I don't know)
It would be interesting to see if the Randall Model 12 would prove a superior chopper, with its incredibly thin edge and deep hollow grind, but unfortunately Josh of Razoredgeknives advised me he would no longer offer hand applied full reprofiling on big fixed blades, as he found it too time consuming (this is what mine has now, and an incredible job it is)... Basically the 12's hand-applied edge is not exactly replaceable, so a chopping comparison is out...
I bought a Model 12 with a "Commando" style micarta handle, which did look big and odd, but I liked the lighter micarta colour: It turned out to be a big mistake, as the Model 12's "Commando" handle is in reality an oversized monstrosity (the fingergrooved versions for the Model 12 are the ones to get)... It turned out well eventually, as it had enough material to allow reshaping the Micarta handle with a drill and sandpaper drum, and I then had the pommel re-sized and refinished by Josh, who did an outstanding job as usual... This handle is now the most confortable and functional handle I have ever held: I am sure that this particular shape would work great for a lot of people, yet you don't often see a knife handle looking like that, for some reason...: It is not as shiny, but that also feels better and less slippery. The sheath was modified for inside the pants carry, and the friction fit is plenty good enough to do without the weak Randall snap...
The Neeley SA9 has proved too thick edged to ever be made really "operational": It offers only an "illusion" of sharpness no matter how much you sharpen it... I plan on testing it against the Trailmaster and Jereboam, to see how edge geometry affects chopping performance... I'll also do the "spear lashing" trick with it, to see it that has any real value...: I am actually quite looking forward to it...
Gaston
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