- Joined
- Jun 1, 2009
- Messages
- 1,217
I guess I should preempt this with the fact that I have only briefly met Todd at the Beckerhead gathering and had a little back and forth with him on the phone. At the gathering he was very eager to let people use / carry his knives. I absolutely loved one of the knives he brought and asked if I could give it a go. I wasn't really sure what would be considered acceptable "use" so with the exception of making one little fuzz stick it sat in my pocket only to be occasionally removed and fondled.
Long story short I end up with the knife I was carrying at the gathering with the stipulation that his knives were meant to be used; no safe queens here. That being said I finally got to "use" it how I use my other knives.
The knife arrived hair popping sharp wrapped in one of his leather sheaths.
[/IMG]
Fit and finish are excellent although I am by no means a picky person in this category. I couldn't see any off grinds or space in the handles.
[/IMG]
So off I went to test the knife to see if it would replace my modded ESEE 4 as my day hike companion.
The following pictures are from me doing the things I like to do with knives. I started with the old standby of fuzz sticks
[/IMG]
[/IMG]
As expected it did the task flawlessly. Next was digging in to an old stump to find some fatwood.
[/IMG]
[/IMG]
I actually prefer a bit larger of a knife to do this. Around the BK-7 size is perfect for me. As for this knife; it worked perfectly. With a smaller knife it does require a bit more battoning and whacking. The knife held up great to my uncoordinated attack on the stump. Next I wanted to see how far in to the wood it would bite with one chop. I didn't go any farther than this because I really never chop any live trees down.
[/IMG]
[/IMG]
Another useful but never used skill is digging in dead stumps for grubs. I like doing it but have absolutely no need to eat grubs. As you can see the knife worked great.
[/IMG]
Last on the list was to try and cross baton a piece of dead pine. I had no idea how hard this thing was going to be before I started but I ended up getting about 3/4 of the way through and just breaking it. I think maybe that this particular pine had mated with granite. I beat the snot out of this knife trying to get through this log. I really got a good idea of what kind of knife this is during this test. It held up perfectly to me beating the bajeezus out of it. I am sold at this point.
[/IMG]
[/IMG]
[/IMG]
[/IMG]
I couldn't believe it, but after all this the knife still shaved hair in the sweet spot.
[/IMG]
All in all I have decided to replace my 4 with Todd's knife. I am not a huge fan of leather sheaths so the next step is to make some kydex and attach my pouch to it. The only thing that I would / did change about the knife is the butt end. He has the jimping on the butt for using it like a tent stake or some other anchor point. I have little sensitive girly hands and the butt was a bit too sharp for my liking. All I did was take some sandpaper and work it to more of a rounded butt. Here is the picture before (don't have one of after)
[/IMG]
Hopefully Todd will chime in with the specs on this one. I'm not sure if he has a name for this model. From what I remember it is O-1 steel and size wise it's about the same as an ESEE 4. (much more comfortable to hold though)
There ya have it.
The end.
Long story short I end up with the knife I was carrying at the gathering with the stipulation that his knives were meant to be used; no safe queens here. That being said I finally got to "use" it how I use my other knives.
The knife arrived hair popping sharp wrapped in one of his leather sheaths.
Fit and finish are excellent although I am by no means a picky person in this category. I couldn't see any off grinds or space in the handles.
So off I went to test the knife to see if it would replace my modded ESEE 4 as my day hike companion.
The following pictures are from me doing the things I like to do with knives. I started with the old standby of fuzz sticks
As expected it did the task flawlessly. Next was digging in to an old stump to find some fatwood.
I actually prefer a bit larger of a knife to do this. Around the BK-7 size is perfect for me. As for this knife; it worked perfectly. With a smaller knife it does require a bit more battoning and whacking. The knife held up great to my uncoordinated attack on the stump. Next I wanted to see how far in to the wood it would bite with one chop. I didn't go any farther than this because I really never chop any live trees down.
Another useful but never used skill is digging in dead stumps for grubs. I like doing it but have absolutely no need to eat grubs. As you can see the knife worked great.
Last on the list was to try and cross baton a piece of dead pine. I had no idea how hard this thing was going to be before I started but I ended up getting about 3/4 of the way through and just breaking it. I think maybe that this particular pine had mated with granite. I beat the snot out of this knife trying to get through this log. I really got a good idea of what kind of knife this is during this test. It held up perfectly to me beating the bajeezus out of it. I am sold at this point.
I couldn't believe it, but after all this the knife still shaved hair in the sweet spot.
All in all I have decided to replace my 4 with Todd's knife. I am not a huge fan of leather sheaths so the next step is to make some kydex and attach my pouch to it. The only thing that I would / did change about the knife is the butt end. He has the jimping on the butt for using it like a tent stake or some other anchor point. I have little sensitive girly hands and the butt was a bit too sharp for my liking. All I did was take some sandpaper and work it to more of a rounded butt. Here is the picture before (don't have one of after)
Hopefully Todd will chime in with the specs on this one. I'm not sure if he has a name for this model. From what I remember it is O-1 steel and size wise it's about the same as an ESEE 4. (much more comfortable to hold though)
There ya have it.
The end.
