Valiant Golok : intial impressions, mainly descriptive

Thanks, Cliff - its a great review!
For those considering the survival goloks - well I surely enjoy using mine. They're at the lower end of the Valiant blade selection, and of course you can get better finished blades for higher prices. The upper end blades of damascus are vastly better in finish, and still incredible value.

Spence - the hardening is about 1.5cm on average. I'm not so sure that it's worth etching for us - the blades get too much use, and you sure can't see hamon lines when the blade is covered in black sap.
 
Thanks for the info, Jimbo. I wasn't interested in an etch for aesthetic reasons, but to figrue out how much hardened steel was there and to see where it was distributed.

S.
 
Jimbo :

I surely enjoy using mine.
Click to expand...

Indeed, this isn't an easy aspect to quantify, but it probably one of the more important ones none the less. It is one of the blades that I enjoy using the most . It is a combination of high cutting ability, weight and balance, and handle comfort and security.

In regards to blade finish and such, it should also be noted that user blades of this type typically look very rough because sharpening effects the entire profile. In that respect it makes little sense to put a high finish on the blade because who is ever going to keep it up outside of those who are into Japanese sword polishing.

-Cliff
 
I don't believe that I'd enjoy using the SG
if it didn't have good profile, balance and cutting
ability - and you did quantify those sucessfully.

I can see where problems come in with evaluating a "whole
package" or series of features - but everyone will have their
own weighting anyway.

I heard from Jean-Marc that Wandi will be producing the SG in
longer versions for people like me!
 
Yes. the thing about the SG is how well integrated the various design aspects are to each other. A fine cutting edge on a knife with a poor handle is still a decent cutting tool, but compared to the same blade on a fine handle it is horrible. The thing that I never fully realized until the last while is how all the aspects combine.

When the handle gets more comfortable and secure you can use more force on the cut, and less force on the follow through. Your cutting ability goes up and the fatigue down. The lower fatigue then allows you to raise the power on the cutting strokes up even more. I was thinking for a long time that such aspects were additive in nature, but the overall effect is much stronger, it is more of a multiplication effect. This is the real strength of the SG, it is a coherent design.

A longer golok would be of benefit for a lot of machete and brush work simply because of the longer cut path. This profile is more demanding on the blade strength though so you would probably want to increase the handening depth and/or length. The balance point would be key, I don't think I would want it much heavier, which would mean either thicker blade stock and more of a taper, or more material left in the tang.

-Cliff
 
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