- Joined
- Dec 6, 2007
- Messages
- 324
David,
The curves in those handles look better than Victoria's secrets, and the orange/black ironwood has me breathless. I would pay just to wrap my fingers around those handles.
Todd,
What was your family doing in the Amazon? Missionaries?
One of my great joys remains solo backpack hunting in wilderness. In the last few years I've been taking 2-week solo sheep hunting trips into the Montana high country north of Yellowstone. At 66 I'm not the mountain goat I once was, but I can still do it by vetting gear and counting ounces. Even so when I leave the trailhead my pack exceeds 50 lbs (~30 lbs just for food), which explains why I have no Parang, bush knife, bowie, or machete along.
I know nobody wants to hear it on this knife forum, but I take one of those cheap, retractable/replacable bladed saws by Gerber. They weigh almost nothing, are small and packable, and with the bone blade (v. wood blade) they will cut thru anything. When the downpours/snowstorms come, and they always do even in Sept., I can quickly collect enough dry wood (dead branches at the base of large trees with thick, overhead canopies) to boil my soup. Normally the wood is small enough that I can snap it with my hands, but when it's too large to break, the saw is more than a blessing.
Stoves/fuel are too heavy. Esbit tabs would work except they smell like fish when they burn, which may not be good for my health in griz country, which is why I never cook meals in my tent no matter if I'm knee-deep in snow.
Remoteness and harsh alpine conditions underscore the importance of a solid, dependable knife that is extraordinarily light. Previously, I've packed a couple of Spyderco lightweight folders, but I've always felt underknifed. It was my search for a better pack knife that led me to BF. This Sept. I'll be packing a forged, fixed-blade knife made for me by Jerid Johnson. It is a sgian dubh design with a 4" blade of 1/8" damascus stock with a skeletonized handle. I can comfortably get my last 3 fingers in the handle portals, which prohibits slippage onto the guardless blade even with frozen fingers. It's a beauty, and weighs 2.5 oz. Sorry, no photos--this old fossil has no camera or technology. With this saw/knife combo, many ounces lighter than the typical Rambo survival bowie, I'm confident I can get the job done.
In November I'll be truck camping/hunting in the snow of North Idaho. I'll have a long handled ax, a large bow saw, a big blade (preferably my new bowie if I have it by then), a hunter/skinner, and a caper. In 1996 I was caught in an icestorm, which fell several trees across the road that I chopped at all day. By days end my hands/forearms were so exhausted and cramping that I could barely grip the handle. That's why the big bow saw comes along today. Bowie/machete would have been useless.
Who's my daddy? I have a daddy for each purpose, and fortunately for me and all blade lovers, there are many purposes, big and small.
ken
The curves in those handles look better than Victoria's secrets, and the orange/black ironwood has me breathless. I would pay just to wrap my fingers around those handles.
Todd,
What was your family doing in the Amazon? Missionaries?
One of my great joys remains solo backpack hunting in wilderness. In the last few years I've been taking 2-week solo sheep hunting trips into the Montana high country north of Yellowstone. At 66 I'm not the mountain goat I once was, but I can still do it by vetting gear and counting ounces. Even so when I leave the trailhead my pack exceeds 50 lbs (~30 lbs just for food), which explains why I have no Parang, bush knife, bowie, or machete along.
I know nobody wants to hear it on this knife forum, but I take one of those cheap, retractable/replacable bladed saws by Gerber. They weigh almost nothing, are small and packable, and with the bone blade (v. wood blade) they will cut thru anything. When the downpours/snowstorms come, and they always do even in Sept., I can quickly collect enough dry wood (dead branches at the base of large trees with thick, overhead canopies) to boil my soup. Normally the wood is small enough that I can snap it with my hands, but when it's too large to break, the saw is more than a blessing.
Stoves/fuel are too heavy. Esbit tabs would work except they smell like fish when they burn, which may not be good for my health in griz country, which is why I never cook meals in my tent no matter if I'm knee-deep in snow.
Remoteness and harsh alpine conditions underscore the importance of a solid, dependable knife that is extraordinarily light. Previously, I've packed a couple of Spyderco lightweight folders, but I've always felt underknifed. It was my search for a better pack knife that led me to BF. This Sept. I'll be packing a forged, fixed-blade knife made for me by Jerid Johnson. It is a sgian dubh design with a 4" blade of 1/8" damascus stock with a skeletonized handle. I can comfortably get my last 3 fingers in the handle portals, which prohibits slippage onto the guardless blade even with frozen fingers. It's a beauty, and weighs 2.5 oz. Sorry, no photos--this old fossil has no camera or technology. With this saw/knife combo, many ounces lighter than the typical Rambo survival bowie, I'm confident I can get the job done.
In November I'll be truck camping/hunting in the snow of North Idaho. I'll have a long handled ax, a large bow saw, a big blade (preferably my new bowie if I have it by then), a hunter/skinner, and a caper. In 1996 I was caught in an icestorm, which fell several trees across the road that I chopped at all day. By days end my hands/forearms were so exhausted and cramping that I could barely grip the handle. That's why the big bow saw comes along today. Bowie/machete would have been useless.
Who's my daddy? I have a daddy for each purpose, and fortunately for me and all blade lovers, there are many purposes, big and small.
ken
