What is your favorite fixed blade knife

Nice to see that your knife is actually used and not pampered.

killgar said:
P1000953750x563_zps6974cd30.jpg


Wilson Tactical model 25. 5" blade, 10" OAL. Been my daily carry for the past 7 years or so. Pried open more than a few shipping crates at a previous job with it, among other countless tasks. Almost 1/4" thick, D2 steel. Handle wrapped with a strip of bicycle inner tube for enhanced grip.
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I made this one for myself. After messing with alot of blades and after making 3 others.
Z-Wear tool Steel at RC 60-61 by Peters, full convex, roughly 0.207 thickness and about 12oz
I was winter camping for it's madden voyage and put it thru the ringer. Came back popping sharp after alot of abuse/use.
 
rpn said:
^^^^ Great job. :thumbup:

Does it have a swedge?
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Best pic of the spine I could find. The knife is currently at Grizzly Outdoors getting a custom sheath. But I brought the back down to about 0.125. I wanted something stabbier for gathering chaga and still be able to batton.
 
gsx-rboy750 said:
I made this one for myself. After messing with alot of blades and after making 3 others.
Z-Wear tool Steel at RC 60-61 by Peters, full convex, roughly 0.207 thickness and about 12oz
I was winter camping for it's madden voyage and put it thru the ringer. Came back popping sharp after alot of abuse/use.
Click to expand...

gsx-rboy750 said:
Best pic of the spine I could find. The knife is currently at Grizzly Outdoors getting a custom sheath. But I brought the back down to about 0.125. I wanted something stabbier for gathering chaga and still be able to batton.
Click to expand...

WOW!!!

That is a really great design. The shape of the handle and blade looks like it would very comfortable for extended periods of use. I especially like the decorative shapes filed in the tang - nice touch. Also, the grooves filed/ground out of the scales are pretty sweet and I'm guessing more than just for appearance (I may do a bit of that to my field knife).

Excuse my ignorance, but what is Z-Wear tool steel? Would that be an O1, D2 or A2 type or something like 1095?
 
The scales are smooth. They look carved cause they are a seed stablized and then impregnated with GITD resin.
Funny I was just pming a knife maker about this. Z-wear is a Zapp tool steel. It is basically PD1. Like a more hardenable CPM3V with better edge retention. I am not a knife pro but am astounded by the edge retention so far at 60-61.
 
My Fallkniven F1

It gets used for everything... and I mean everything. Its not the prettiest, its doesn't have the most exotic materials, and its not very impressive to look at but its the perfect size, light weight for its toughness, feels great in the hand, tough as nails, easy to sharpen with a very nice convex grind, has a very small and light sheath, and is affordable.

Its the equivalent of my old toyota pickup truck. After a few years of ownership and a bunch of scratches you stop being scared to really use it and it gets to take all of the punishment of all the daily tasks and the family trips.

One thing I really like about Fallkniven is the customer service. I had to finally send my F1 in after years of use for a re-profile and they were really excited to see how "used" my knife was. My experience with other companies has not been so positive when they see a "used" knife... they tend to either chide for knife use "outside of its intended scope" or tell me that I need to send my knife in for routine sharpening rather than do it myself.
 
KG4ULR said:
Nice to see that your knife is actually used and not pampered.
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Oh yeah, I use the hell out of it.

And that's actually a "clean" picture of the knife. It usually has drywall mud, paint, tape residue, etc on it. But every once in awhile it gets bad enough that I feel the need to clean it and replace the handle wrap.

As far as I'm concerned it's just a piece of sharpened steel with a handle attached. I bought it as a tool, and whenever I think it's appropriate I use it as such without hesitation or concern for it's safety.
 
gsx-rboy750 said:
The scales are smooth. They look carved cause they are a seed stablized and then impregnated with GITD resin.
Funny I was just pming a knife maker about this. Z-wear is a Zapp tool steel. It is basically PD1. Like a more hardenable CPM3V with better edge retention. I am not a knife pro but am astounded by the edge retention so far at 60-61.
Click to expand...

I just googled PD1 (I know *very* little about metallurgy....) and it seems to be an amazing material. Did you do all the heat treat stuff? It looked quite challenging to my ignorant eyes...

gsx-rboy750 said:
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Very cool glow-in-the-dark stuff! Thanks for the clarification - though I'm still considering modding the scales on my knife :p
 
I dont do the Heat Treat and probably wont ever. I send my stuff to Peter's Heat Treat. HT is a art form like making knives or sheaths.
Ya I have a bar of PD1 and am making two BA 11-14 inch battle blades with but I think Z-Wear will be my steel of choice going forward. I have some CPM3V, CPM4V PD1 and some more Z-Wear I am playing with now.
This is probably going to be my "favorite fixed blade" really. Lol
23.5inch overall CPM3V aka "Grinch"
Hahaha
 
gsx-rboy750 said:
I dont do the Heat Treat and probably wont ever. I send my stuff to Peter's Heat Treat. HT is a art form like making knives or sheaths.
Ya I have a bar of PD1 and am making two BA 11-14 inch battle blades with but I think Z-Wear will be my steel of choice going forward. I have some CPM3V, CPM4V PD1 and some more Z-Wear I am playing with now.
This is probably going to be my "favorite fixed blade" really. Lol
23.5inch overall CPM3V aka "Grinch"
Hahaha
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Is this the worlds 1st PD1 machete?!?

Where do you buy the PD1? Do you "shape" it on a belt sander?
 
fmajor007 said:
Is this the worlds 1st PD1 machete?!?

Where do you buy the PD1? Do you "shape" it on a belt sander?
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No this is CPM3V. I bought the last PD1 from Alpha that they had to test againts the others.
Look up Dan Keffeler on Youtube or one here. He is the big sword machete king!! He has some badass stuff in PD1.
I have a 1x42 inch crappy grinder right now.
If you are board here is part one of my projects.
I will have part 2 of the Grinch coming soon. They will be more exciting. This was my first knife video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2htHS1AUaU
 
This is the only fixed blade that I have two of...in the house at this time. Other than the BushBaby by the now-extinct BlindHorseKnives, I am very fond of SurviveKnives GSO series and would take one of them into the woods if bad things happened...
 
I would be really hard pressed to choose a specific fixed blade for the woods if "bad things happened". It would more than likely be whatever I had with me regardless. I like a lot of them, but honestly can't say that one is really my favorite. I really like the Dogwood Dan Kephart quite a bit. But I also really like the new BRKT Mini Kephart I just got. But I wouldn't take a 4-inch(ish) blade to the woods if things got difficult.
 
Four years, seven months and eighteen days ago, this thread seemed to have died a natural death. At that time, I had two fixed blades, a Wirkkala puukko, and the USMC Ka-Bar Conchita gave me for Christmas. I guess the Wirkkala would have gotten the nod for seniority and scarcity.

The answer would probably be different today, but I’ll just leave it at that.
 
Aside three custom knives I had made by master craftsmen here, I’d have to say the best production fixed blade I own is a TRC Splinter 120. Very versatile in the woods and the kitchen.

I also have a Wirkkala puukko, but I’ve never actually used it.
 
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