I was looking at it more as my future camp/hiking knife, but other possible uses are always appreciated...I loved your ARK, and would like you to personally tell me more about what to expect from the Rock Salt, if you don't mind.
What kind of chopping will it be able to take? (I know it's not a dedicated chopper)
Completely forget about batoning with it? (The Aqua can take quite a beating...)
Any improvements/changes over the old model other than coloured scales?
Recommended carry methods? I've heard some complaints about the sheath in the past...
Thanks!!! I admire your work and your posts. Keep them coming!
And have a nice day.
The Rock Salt is on the lighter side for a camp knife, IMO. Most of my outdoor knife time, I've been swinging a big HI kukuri, or in more recent times, a S-O
Camp Defender (see Sept
Blade Mag). I actually have the original Rock Salt, but it looks like the only difference is the color FRN on the handle.
At barely over 9 oz, the RS is also surprisingly lighter than you expect it to be, when you pick it up. It
looks like it's going to weigh much more. This has the advantage of making it easy to pack for a knife this size, but does mean that it doesn't hit as hard. At less than 1/8" thick blade, there is no excess steel in the knife. Don't expect to chop into thick hardwood logs unless you like working hard. I personally only baton knives to test strength, and I wasn't willing to baton this one. The grip is good for cutting light stuff, but would probably develop some hot spots, should you ever actually try to chop a bunch of hardwood without wearing gloves. The wide, relative thin blade of the Rock Salt does mean that it's a very good slicer, and the tip shape, false edge, and blade thickness combine to let the RS penetrate quite well on thrusts, though the handle angle isn't optimized for that.
How it's carried will partially depend on what you want it to be able to do. If you only see this as a camp tool, then you can lash the sheath onto your pack with 550 through the grommet holes. If you want to be able to quickly access it for defensive use as well, I carry my midsize camp knives on my off side, horizontally, edge down. I can reach across and draw if I have plenty of time, or in an emergency, I can do a same-side-hand inverted draw.
The RS felt quite different than I expected. I thought I was getting a compact, rustproof camp knife, and instead got a nimble fighter. (Ed says it's
not a camp knife, btw.) There are, of course, different fighting styles: I prefer tip-heavy knives with a lot of impact, believing that chopping stuff off an attacker is generally the fastest way to use a blade to stop the attack.
Hope that helps. Thanks, I hope you have a very pleasant day, as well.
John
) and easy to pocket and I think the Reverse is a brilliant design! 
