- Joined
- Oct 26, 2001
- Messages
- 1,438
Hello all,
After 5 weeks of waiting I finally received my Hawke's Hellion Elite from TOPS. I have to say I was not immediately impressed. The photos on the website really don't show anything for scale, so I was expecting something a bit larger. That said however, it's still a pretty interesting knife. It has the typical TOPS chainsaw style notching teeth on the upper spine along with a sharpened upper swedge and a sort of Kukri-esque shape to the lower cutting edge.
I found that out of the box the knife is not hair popping sharp, but with a little work on the Sharpmaker I was able to fix that. In the kitchen I was able to peel and slice an apple, with a little bit of work. Using the point I was also able to slice meat, though not as cleanly as one would expect from say, a Mora or other type of finer edged blade. I then took the knife to the woods behind my apartment and tested its chopping abilities. The knife seems to be very well designed in this regard, with one exception. Its sharp enough and the bevel is perfect for chopping, however, this model is a little light, requiring more oomph from the user. The inner portion of the blade, called the whittling edge in company literature worked well to carve fuzzsticks and peel green wood. Lastly, the spike on the pommel punched cleanly through a beer bottle cap, and left a good size dent in the butt end of a log. I'm sure that it would also work well to crack nuts, but I didn't have any handy.
Lastly, the sheath. The Hellion Elite comes with a kydex lined nylon sheath with external pouch and a length of parachute cord attached. The pocket was large enough for me to store an LED light, Victorinox Huntsman, and lighter in it and I was also able to attach a whistle and small Brunton compass via a keychain to the outside of the sheath. When carried in typical drop leg configuration this proved to be very light and comfortable.
Overall, I'd have to say that this is a great knife from a design and manufacturing perspective, and the sheath pouch is large enough that one can create a nearly complete survival system, or at least one which has the bare minimum of tools needed in a survival situation. Having said that,I would also suggest that if one has the space, and is not burdened with severe weight restrictions that one pick up the larger version of the knife, as it would be heavier and better for chopping. Ultimately though, this comes down to personal preference and one could do a lot worse in a knife. On a scale of 1 to 10 I'd give this one an 8.
Lagarto
After 5 weeks of waiting I finally received my Hawke's Hellion Elite from TOPS. I have to say I was not immediately impressed. The photos on the website really don't show anything for scale, so I was expecting something a bit larger. That said however, it's still a pretty interesting knife. It has the typical TOPS chainsaw style notching teeth on the upper spine along with a sharpened upper swedge and a sort of Kukri-esque shape to the lower cutting edge.
I found that out of the box the knife is not hair popping sharp, but with a little work on the Sharpmaker I was able to fix that. In the kitchen I was able to peel and slice an apple, with a little bit of work. Using the point I was also able to slice meat, though not as cleanly as one would expect from say, a Mora or other type of finer edged blade. I then took the knife to the woods behind my apartment and tested its chopping abilities. The knife seems to be very well designed in this regard, with one exception. Its sharp enough and the bevel is perfect for chopping, however, this model is a little light, requiring more oomph from the user. The inner portion of the blade, called the whittling edge in company literature worked well to carve fuzzsticks and peel green wood. Lastly, the spike on the pommel punched cleanly through a beer bottle cap, and left a good size dent in the butt end of a log. I'm sure that it would also work well to crack nuts, but I didn't have any handy.
Lastly, the sheath. The Hellion Elite comes with a kydex lined nylon sheath with external pouch and a length of parachute cord attached. The pocket was large enough for me to store an LED light, Victorinox Huntsman, and lighter in it and I was also able to attach a whistle and small Brunton compass via a keychain to the outside of the sheath. When carried in typical drop leg configuration this proved to be very light and comfortable.
Overall, I'd have to say that this is a great knife from a design and manufacturing perspective, and the sheath pouch is large enough that one can create a nearly complete survival system, or at least one which has the bare minimum of tools needed in a survival situation. Having said that,I would also suggest that if one has the space, and is not burdened with severe weight restrictions that one pick up the larger version of the knife, as it would be heavier and better for chopping. Ultimately though, this comes down to personal preference and one could do a lot worse in a knife. On a scale of 1 to 10 I'd give this one an 8.
Lagarto