What do you store in your HEST handle?

T

TFin04

Joined
Aug 21, 2005
Messages
1,494
As everyone else here, I'm an ESEE fan through and through.

My "small knife" is an Izula w/ micarta scales. I love the thing.

I've been tossing around the idea of replacing it with an Izula II or a HEST, and when it really comes down to it, the ONLY thing I like better about the HEST is the ability to store items in the handle.

So I thought about that some more, and have pretty much concluded that anything I could store in there, I could just as easily store in my pack, my pocket, or on the sheath itself.

The HEST gets me slightly more blade length, but at the cost of blade width and design/features I don't really want or need.

Keep in mind, this knife will serve only the role of 'small knife' in a multi sharp-thing combination that I travel in the woods with.

I'm back to thinking I will prefer the Izula II, but I'm curious to know your guys' thoughts.
 
The HEST handle I consider to be perfect. That alone would make me buy another HEST before the Izula II. The blade width doesn't hinder slicing ability at all, due to the blade geometry/profile and the characteristics of that flat ground Rowen 1095. I have been EDCing and woods bumming with mine since I bought it (first production run) 2009. I've thinned out the edge over time but other than that the thing is as it was when I bought it: ready for more. I wouldn't focus on the tank aspect negatively as it doesn't affect performance at all-just increases its capabilities.

I don't store anything in the handle at the moment, but I think my biggest thing would be to hide something, if I ever had to.
 
in my H.E.S.T. Handle is a small misch rod, small fishing kit with a tinder tab
IMG_3342.jpg
 
In the handle of my HEST I have a ferro rod, cotton balls, and some Skittles.

Even without being able stash stuff in the handle I'd still like the HEST the most. The only thing I like better about the Izula is that it's smaller, thus easier to carry in various manner. Like PayetteRucker, I'd also buy another HEST before I'd get an Izula II. The HEST is simply capable of more tasks.
 
I store a misch metal rod, a firestraw (a straw filled with vaseline and cotton balls), a sewing needle, 100' or so of spectra line, seveeral fish hooks, some sinkers, a few safety pins, and a little piece of aluminum foil, and a twenty.

It all fits perfect.
 
StoneColdChuckTX said:
In the handle of my HEST I have a ferro rod, cotton balls, and some Skittles.

Even without being able stash stuff in the handle I'd still like the HEST the most. The only thing I like better about the Izula is that it's smaller, thus easier to carry in various manner. Like PayetteRucker, I'd also buy another HEST before I'd get an Izula II. The HEST is simply capable of more tasks.
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Debatable. Seems to me the prybar is next to useless for anything but small tasks, the wire breaker is cool but I'd rather have a blade that doesn't snag on everything I try to cut and an Izula can open a bottle of beer just fine. Plus the HEST is just fugly.

Question to the OP, do you feel like you need something other than your Izula or are you just looking to buy a new knife just cuz?

Edit: Whatever you can fit in the handles would be better in a small pouch on your sheath. Then you wouldn't have to worry about getting the handles off. I just feel that knives like this are more gimmick then anything. IMO a knife should cut, cut well, and that's it. I think the little wire breaker/sharpening notch ruins the knife at the get go. YMMV.
 
As of now, I'm carrying a small misch rod, a few PJ cottonballs, and a very small bottle of Pappy Van Winkle 23 Year Bourbon............just kidding, its the 15 year version...:D
 
I carry a small supply of extra O2 in the handle of mine. It may save me from drowning one day!

God bless,
Adam
 
Shotgun said:
Debatable. Seems to me the prybar is next to useless for anything but small tasks, the wire breaker is cool but I'd rather have a blade that doesn't snag on everything I try to cut and an Izula can open a bottle of beer just fine. Plus the HEST is just fugly.

Question to the OP, do you feel like you need something other than your Izula or are you just looking to buy a new knife just cuz?

Edit: Whatever you can fit in the handles would be better in a small pouch on your sheath. Then you wouldn't have to worry about getting the handles off. I just feel that knives like this are more gimmick then anything. IMO a knife should cut, cut well, and that's it. I think the little wire breaker/sharpening notch ruins the knife at the get go. YMMV.
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The prybar is not a prybar in the sense of a crowbar or anything like that. It is a bottom guard that enhances blade retention and ergonomics, as well as a flathead screwdriver. You can use it for smashing a window or delivering a forceful blow in numerous other circumstances while saving your hand unnecessary abuse. I've got rheumatoid arthritis in my hands, and sometimes simple tasks like popping a soup can lid can be painful. Having that prybar there is useful for small tasks like that, that nowadays I don't even think about. It is low profile and out of the way. It definitely should not be one of those things that takes away from the functionality of a knife, because it doesn't.
 
PayetteRucker said:
The prybar is not a prybar in the sense of a crowbar or anything like that. It is a bottom guard that enhances blade retention and ergonomics, as well as a flathead screwdriver. You can use it for smashing a window or delivering a forceful blow in numerous other circumstances while saving your hand unnecessary abuse. I've got rheumatoid arthritis in my hands, and sometimes simple tasks like popping a soup can lid can be painful. Having that prybar there is useful for small tasks like that, that nowadays I don't even think about. It is low profile and out of the way. It definitely should not be one of those things that takes away from the functionality of a knife, because it doesn't.
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I totally understand that but I'm saying the overall package is what I dislike although the focus of my dislike is the little notch in the blade. IMO that's a design flaw instead of an enhancement. The prybar thingy I can take it or leave it. Or you could do something like this.
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=717350&highlight=edc
 
Shotgun said:
Question to the OP, do you feel like you need something other than your Izula or are you just looking to buy a new knife just cuz?
Click to expand...

Bigger handle, mostly.

I'm thinking the Izula II will be the way to go.
 
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