- Joined
- Nov 27, 2004
- Messages
- 3,124
Hi all,
I was up north helping my family with some tiling this weekend, and found myself with a nice chunk of free time on my hands on Saturday while I was waiting for some mortar to set up. I decided to grab my compass, pack, and a few knives, and head to the woods to hike one of my favourite snowshoe trails (which is covered in 4 ft. of snow in the winter, and 4 ft. of thick underbrush in the summer). My machete came in handy!
When I stopped for a break, I decided to subject the two small knives that I usually have with me on the trail to a bit of side-by-side evaluation. This was by no means an extensive round of testing, but it did prove to be educational. Since my wilderness knife use tends to involve cutting wood, I decided to do some comparative fuzz-stick making.
The two blades were a skeletonized Koster W&SS forum knife and my EDC scandi, shown here:
With pants -
Without -
The Koster W&SS forum knife did a good job of shaving fuzz-sticks from a piece of green(ish) wood. The flat grind and general shape seem to make it want to cut narrow, thin curls, which are great for fire starting. This knife is usually carried as a backup blade in my PSK. After using it for ten minutes or so, I decided that it makes no sense to carry the knife in a purely skeletonized form. While this saves on space, it makes it next to impossible to maintain a comfortable grip. The question at this point is: Do I go with a full handle treatment, or do I give it a paracord wrap? Tough call.
The Koster really excels at scraping fine fuzz, by the way:
On to my EDC scandi. This knife shaves wood like, well, like a sandi ground knife should! It sailed through the branch and easily made wide, long curls. The handle is comfy enough for some prolonged cutting, too.
From a survival standpoint, one of the advantages that the Koster has its its comparatively thick edge. My EDC scandi has such a fine edge that it runs the risk of chipping or wear during hard use. The Koster feels like it could take more abuse while maintaining a respectable edge, which is an important consideration.
When I was done working with the two little blades, I pulled out my JK-AK. It makes great fuzz sticks too (not quite as easily as my scandi, but the JK would doubtless be more comfortable to grip during a prolonged session), and - as an added bonus - it can chop or baton through wood with ease.
After a good 35 minutes of knife play the mosquitoes were getting bold, so I set out for home. Lessons learned: Make sure your back up blade can be used comfortably should the need arise, and make sure that its edge is optimized for survival purposes. Also, flat grinds make great scrapers, which is nice to know.
This little compare and contrast has renewed my interest in the idea of a 5-6 hiking knife with a 2.5-3 scandi ground section near the handle (for fuzz sticks and shaving) and a flat grind along the rest of the blade.
Thanks for looking, and all the best,
- Mike
I was up north helping my family with some tiling this weekend, and found myself with a nice chunk of free time on my hands on Saturday while I was waiting for some mortar to set up. I decided to grab my compass, pack, and a few knives, and head to the woods to hike one of my favourite snowshoe trails (which is covered in 4 ft. of snow in the winter, and 4 ft. of thick underbrush in the summer). My machete came in handy!
When I stopped for a break, I decided to subject the two small knives that I usually have with me on the trail to a bit of side-by-side evaluation. This was by no means an extensive round of testing, but it did prove to be educational. Since my wilderness knife use tends to involve cutting wood, I decided to do some comparative fuzz-stick making.
The two blades were a skeletonized Koster W&SS forum knife and my EDC scandi, shown here:
With pants -
Without -
The Koster W&SS forum knife did a good job of shaving fuzz-sticks from a piece of green(ish) wood. The flat grind and general shape seem to make it want to cut narrow, thin curls, which are great for fire starting. This knife is usually carried as a backup blade in my PSK. After using it for ten minutes or so, I decided that it makes no sense to carry the knife in a purely skeletonized form. While this saves on space, it makes it next to impossible to maintain a comfortable grip. The question at this point is: Do I go with a full handle treatment, or do I give it a paracord wrap? Tough call.
The Koster really excels at scraping fine fuzz, by the way:
On to my EDC scandi. This knife shaves wood like, well, like a sandi ground knife should! It sailed through the branch and easily made wide, long curls. The handle is comfy enough for some prolonged cutting, too.
From a survival standpoint, one of the advantages that the Koster has its its comparatively thick edge. My EDC scandi has such a fine edge that it runs the risk of chipping or wear during hard use. The Koster feels like it could take more abuse while maintaining a respectable edge, which is an important consideration.
When I was done working with the two little blades, I pulled out my JK-AK. It makes great fuzz sticks too (not quite as easily as my scandi, but the JK would doubtless be more comfortable to grip during a prolonged session), and - as an added bonus - it can chop or baton through wood with ease.
After a good 35 minutes of knife play the mosquitoes were getting bold, so I set out for home. Lessons learned: Make sure your back up blade can be used comfortably should the need arise, and make sure that its edge is optimized for survival purposes. Also, flat grinds make great scrapers, which is nice to know.
This little compare and contrast has renewed my interest in the idea of a 5-6 hiking knife with a 2.5-3 scandi ground section near the handle (for fuzz sticks and shaving) and a flat grind along the rest of the blade.
Thanks for looking, and all the best,
- Mike
