W&SS Forum Custom Neck Knife Challenge!!!

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AA Forge said:
I guess 7th isn't bad; considering I took 19th out of 21 last time around. I would like to point out though, if it was judged by knife only I would have taken 2nd place.:D
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And that's an important consideration.
 
I am posting from my phone, got a 366 day old baby sleeping on my lap!

There's a lot of numbers in there to look at, and some trends I see on a quick scan.

But it will be morning before I get much more typed. Kgd, you can have some fun with his, even without the raw data.

Camp kitchen next :D ???
 
Thanks Bill, you taught me well! If I just was a little better on that fit and finish....! Brian, stellar job on yours man. Very impressive. Us newbies did respectable!
 
Yeah Christof, congrats on the new addition. I have four myself and kind of miss that age! They can't talk back yet.
 
I had the top three pegged, just didn't know which one would win. All great makers.
 
What surprised me is that the top 10 are all within 1 point of each other on the final score.
 
This is one serious lineup guys ! Congrats to you all for your efforts !
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So far I've learned allot from this and I'm thankful to have been a part as well as developing a great craftsman's dialog with Chris ,^)

Many thanks to you all !!!

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BE WELL .. GH
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Now that the results are up, I can post my thoughts.

First of all, big props to Jason (JCavSD) for doing all the work. He pretty much set it all up for us to do the test and handled all the grunt work.

The test was VERY impartial. I personally don't own knives from any of these makers. In fact, I think I've only seen examples previously from two of them. I doubt Ray owns any knives from these guys, and I don't think Lambertiana does either (but I'm not sure). I know Jason owns one knife from one of the makers (but I don't know if he has more).

What I'm trying to say is that we didn't have any favorites.

One thing to note... we tested the knives AS IS. We felt that the only fair way to judge them was the way they were shipped to us. That means that at no time did any of us sharpen any of the knives.

The categories were as objective as we could make them. We tested based on pure performance and observable fit/finish. Ergonomics was subjective (and varied widely between testers) and in some respects, so was the knife & sheath system category. For the knife & sheath system category, we were looking at "carry-ability," knife retention, weight, and a general feel for how it felt around your neck. However, each tester had different ideas on what made a good system.

Now, on to my opinions.

My personal favorite was the entry from Ryan W Knives. That's just 'cause I liked how it looked and I felt that it was more of a real neck knife than some of the other entries. By that, I mean that it was relatively light, had a relatively small and light sheath, and it carried handle down (which is my preference for a neck knife). Now, if he had only made the sheath so the paracord attached to it in two places instead of one (so it wouldn't spin around) and if he had included an adjustable length paracord like some of the others, it would have scored much higher than it did in the system category. It also could have used some sharpening.

Other thoughts on the other entries:

Koyote: this knife was RAZOR sharp. I was having a good old time gliding it through paper before we started testing it. The handle felt great and the size and heft of it was very nice (not too heavy). I would have preferred a better transition from the bottom of the handle to the blade, however. That was kind of sharp and tough on the index finger. That was its only drawback to me. The sheath was nice and offered a ton of carry options. This knife just did everything well, which translated to the highest overall score.

Rick Marchand: Also a good size for a neck knife. The handle was not my favorite. However, the fit and finish of the knife was pretty much perfect. It was difficult to judge that with this knife, since it's "rough" looking, but when you really looked at it closely, everything was dead on. The sheath was seriously a work of art and the leather strap feels better than paracord around your neck.

Bruce Culberson: This was a very no-nonsense and straightforward knife. The sheath worked perfectly, the handle felt good, the fit and finish was excellent. No frills. Just a straight up good knife. Not much bad to say about it.

KFU: I liked the looks of this one as well. It felt good in the hand and was sized perfectly. The sheath was VERY nicely done, but I would have preferred an adjustable strap and I felt like the knife was a bit too loose in it.

Gray Wolf: Similar to the Culberson knife with it's straightforward, no-frills design. The cutting performance was excellent. The sheath was very simple, but perfect. However... one big issue that may have cost it from winning this challenge... the knife retention was awful. It wanted to fall out of the sheath. We were forced to mark it down in the system category because of that.

AA Forge: Good solid knife. I personally felt it was a bit big and heavy for a neck knife. For a small belt knife, it would have been great.

Sargent: Similar to the AA Forge knife in size, so maybe a bit too big for me. Great ergonomics and looks good too. The sheath was very well done... but a little ugly (in my opinion).

Bush Monkey: Unique style versus the other knives. Didn't really fit my hand very well. Nice and simple sheath, and great size for a neck knife.

Scout: I didn't really like the feel of this knife (sorry!), and the fit and finish was lacking. However... it cut VERY well (one of two knives that surprised us with how well it performed), had a great sheath, was nice and light, and carried nicely around the neck.

Zander: I liked this knife. It's very similar to a knife I already own. I don't know if I would use it as a neck knife, but I liked how it looked and felt. The sheath was pretty much perfectly put together. The size and heft make it fall into the "good small belt knife" category for me.

Ryan W: Already talked about this one. Wish it had done better in the rankings.

Big Chris: First the bad: it was WAY too heavy for a neck knife, it was somewhat difficult to remove from its rather rough looking sheath, and it was lacking in fit/finish. However... this thing cut like CRAZY. It was by far the thickest blade stock in the competition, but that didn't keep it from cutting razor thin slices of tomatoes and potatoes. It carved wood just as well and did better than almost everyone with the rope. When it was done with all that, it went through paper like a razor. It also felt really good in your hand. So, not really a neck knife, but a very capable knife nonetheless.

CBryant: One of maybe three of these knives that I would enjoy having around my neck on a long hike or backpacking trip. Why? Because it's soooo light. The sheath was my favorite in the competition. Bar none. It clamped around the knife very securely when it was in there, but slid out easily. The handle felt great to me (but after seeing the ergonomics scores, I may have been alone in that assessment). The knife was rough... I'm not gonna lie, and I also don't think the polka-dots were anyone's favorites. What really killed this knife was how dull it was. It couldn't cut worth beans. Sorry Christian.

BACustomKnives: This was my wife's favorite! Most of us thought it was pretty cool looking as well. It had some real issues, however. Among other things, the sheath was HUGE. Like CBryant's knife, it's lack of cutting ability really hurt it.
 
AA Forge said:
What surprised me is that the top 10 are all within 1 point of each other on the final score.
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I'm going to go out on a limb and say that anything within a 0.25 range in the final score is pretty much a wash, and that the difference can be settled by going back to the main category scores and choosing your poison.
 
Wildewinds said:
Now that the results are up, I can post my thoughts.


Now, on to my opinions.

My personal favorite was the entry from Ryan W Knives. That's just 'cause I liked how it looked and I felt that it was more of a real neck knife than some of the other entries. By that, I mean that it was relatively light, had a relatively small and light sheath, and it carried handle down (which is my preference for a neck knife). Now, if he had only made the sheath so the paracord attached to it in two places instead of one (so it wouldn't spin around) and if he had included an adjustable length paracord like some of the others, it would have scored much higher than it did in the system category. It also could have used some sharpening.
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I greatly Appreciate this! I wish it had done better in the tests as well... No excuses! I have some areas to work on, and thank you for taking time to do all of this testing.
 
Great works guys! This kind of feedback really helps me as a new maker. More times than not someone buying your knife is too scared to offer their likes and dislikes. I want to know what I can improve on and what is working. Thanks.
 
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