Mistwalker
Gold Member
- Joined
- Dec 22, 2007
- Messages
- 19,032
Well, in the south I had mostly gotten away from larger blades, particularly in the warm months. When it's 88F in the shade...at night...not much
call for chopping firewood, or building shelter unless it's a down pour. However, up here where we still had snow on the ground at the end of
March, and even had a couple of frosts the first week of June, I am starting to re-think my position on larger blades. Especially considering this
past winter came with four solid months of a cold white world. 60 plus days of sub-freezing temps, and a couple of solid weeks of -30
windchills is enough to give one a new perspective on things. The neighbors say that wasn't the norm, and that it won't be like that next
year...but then again the winter they described when I moved here was nothing at all like the one we experienced. So, I sort of have that "fool
me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me" thinking going on. With a total snow fall for the winter being 106 inches, 2 inches shy of 9
feet, there is a real possibility of me needing to build a substantial shelter in the winters here. So, being much more of a knife guy than an ax
guy, I have decided to check out a few larger, heavier knives again.
One of them is the TOPS Alaskan Harpoon.
The specs from TOPS
Blade Length: 6 3/4"
O/A Length: 12"
Cutting Edge: 5 7/8"
Thickness: 1/4"
Blade Color: Black Traction Coating
Steel: 1095 High Carbon Alloy RC-58
Handle Material: Black Linen Micarta®
Sheath: Combat Ballistic Nylon
Weight W/O Sheath: .95 lbs
Weight W/ Sheath: 1.25 lbs
With a blade length of just under 7 inches, it isn't exactly a huge knife no, but definitely a full sized knife.
The handle is a multi-position handle, allowing for different holds to shift the weight distribution for different tasks. I like the texture and contours of the handle, very easy to maintain a secure purchase on, but it's not so bad that I mind using it bare handed. I also like the fact that there is a deep first finger notch for enhanced grip and finger protection in thrust without having a huge guard. This helps the knife perform better during tasks like food prep.
It has a tang extension that could be used to strike or to strike with, which also serves as a lanyard ring, I like larger lanyard holes that allow for two strands of para cord to pass through, so that the lanyard can be easily removed and replaced without having to untie a knot.
The Alaskan Harpoon has a feature I haven't seen done quite the same on other TOPS Knives. The gimping on the spine is file work, which along with providing traction for a thumb or forefinger, also add a nice touch aesthetically.
The knife came with a nice sharp edge, and is fairly nimble for a knife this size. Using the forward position on the handle, whittling fine curls was easy to do.
Then dropping back to the rearward position on the handle lets me really exploit the mass of the harpoon shaped blade in chopping, In this hold the knife bites into the wood really well, and chops pretty darn good for a knife with a sub-seven inch blade. I didn't time it, but I think it took about a minute or less to bring down a 2.5 inch standing dead sapling that was pretty well seasoned.
All in all it is definitely a viable option for me here, bringing a lot of capability to the field without adding a whole lot of extra weight to an already heavy load. I may play with a few larger blades over the summer, I'm sort of hoping they will release the Power Eagle 9 I heard about a couple of years ago.
.
call for chopping firewood, or building shelter unless it's a down pour. However, up here where we still had snow on the ground at the end of
March, and even had a couple of frosts the first week of June, I am starting to re-think my position on larger blades. Especially considering this
past winter came with four solid months of a cold white world. 60 plus days of sub-freezing temps, and a couple of solid weeks of -30
windchills is enough to give one a new perspective on things. The neighbors say that wasn't the norm, and that it won't be like that next
year...but then again the winter they described when I moved here was nothing at all like the one we experienced. So, I sort of have that "fool
me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me" thinking going on. With a total snow fall for the winter being 106 inches, 2 inches shy of 9
feet, there is a real possibility of me needing to build a substantial shelter in the winters here. So, being much more of a knife guy than an ax
guy, I have decided to check out a few larger, heavier knives again.
One of them is the TOPS Alaskan Harpoon.
The specs from TOPS
Blade Length: 6 3/4"
O/A Length: 12"
Cutting Edge: 5 7/8"
Thickness: 1/4"
Blade Color: Black Traction Coating
Steel: 1095 High Carbon Alloy RC-58
Handle Material: Black Linen Micarta®
Sheath: Combat Ballistic Nylon
Weight W/O Sheath: .95 lbs
Weight W/ Sheath: 1.25 lbs
With a blade length of just under 7 inches, it isn't exactly a huge knife no, but definitely a full sized knife.
The handle is a multi-position handle, allowing for different holds to shift the weight distribution for different tasks. I like the texture and contours of the handle, very easy to maintain a secure purchase on, but it's not so bad that I mind using it bare handed. I also like the fact that there is a deep first finger notch for enhanced grip and finger protection in thrust without having a huge guard. This helps the knife perform better during tasks like food prep.
It has a tang extension that could be used to strike or to strike with, which also serves as a lanyard ring, I like larger lanyard holes that allow for two strands of para cord to pass through, so that the lanyard can be easily removed and replaced without having to untie a knot.
The Alaskan Harpoon has a feature I haven't seen done quite the same on other TOPS Knives. The gimping on the spine is file work, which along with providing traction for a thumb or forefinger, also add a nice touch aesthetically.
The knife came with a nice sharp edge, and is fairly nimble for a knife this size. Using the forward position on the handle, whittling fine curls was easy to do.
Then dropping back to the rearward position on the handle lets me really exploit the mass of the harpoon shaped blade in chopping, In this hold the knife bites into the wood really well, and chops pretty darn good for a knife with a sub-seven inch blade. I didn't time it, but I think it took about a minute or less to bring down a 2.5 inch standing dead sapling that was pretty well seasoned.
All in all it is definitely a viable option for me here, bringing a lot of capability to the field without adding a whole lot of extra weight to an already heavy load. I may play with a few larger blades over the summer, I'm sort of hoping they will release the Power Eagle 9 I heard about a couple of years ago.
.
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