Photos Winkler II Recon and Belt Knife - Ongoing Review

[JJ_Colt45]

I prefer a fixed blade to ride lower like the dangler or the sheath you made too. The only time I might like the high ride is if Im in heavy brush hunting or picking berries or something where the sheath riding lower catches.

I've just started trying some leather work as a hobby so glad to see you made your own ... hopefully I'll get to that where I can make some of my own sheaths. Yours looks good.

 

[JJ_Colt45]

Love my Belt Knife, but the edge is very thick and mine wasn’t terribly sharp out of the box.

Both my Winkler knives came with a decent factory edge ... but they are a bit thick ... they are built for hard use that way ...

but they are great shape and size for hunting and camping use I love them for that ... so the one in my picture above I sent to Jason B here from the forums ... he is one of our really great craftsmen ... he freehands using waterstones ...

so I talked to him and sent that knife to him to have him thin it out a bit and sharpen while he had it ... he did beautiful work and it made the knife alot better for my uses ...

now I have used it alot and sharpened it a few times ... just needed touch ups mostly ... and it has a bit of a convexed edge ... and I love the knife ... it field dressed n quartered up two wild boars no problem ... and its field dressed a few whitetails.

So if you like the knife and don't want to thin it out in my opinion it's well worth having Jason B or Josh at REK or TLE or one of the other really great sharpening services that are forum members ... they do very nice work and the knife is easy to maintain and sharpen after its thinned.

 

[jstrange]

^
I have been thinking of sending it to Josh at REK, just don’t want to spend the money right now.

I think I read somewhere that Winkler will thin it out for you if you send it back to him. Not sure if he charges to do it though.

 

[JJ_Colt45]

I'm not sure about Winkler doing it or cost ... and I know sometimes the cost is more then you want to spend ... but the knives for my uses have been worth having it thinned out ...

I didn't have the best equipment to do it myself so Jaon B got it done for me ... and Josh is great too ...

I bought all new stones so now I have the equipment to do my own but was worth it to have Jason do it ... it really made the knife cut totally different.

 

[jstrange]

I really should break down and do it. You spend that much on a knife and you shouldn’t really balk at having the blade fixed to you’re liking.

 

[bwall85]

I’ve been drooling over Winkler knives for years but never could pull the trigger on a fixed blade I wouldn’t use much.

However I was able to snag a Blue Ridge through a great deal. So I’ll have first Winkler next week! Looking forward to it and thanks for the review.

 

[Riz!]

Glad to hear you got a deal on a Blue Ridge.

After using the knife for more kitchen duty today I needed to wash the blade. I cut up a bunch of fatty steaks and there was a lot of residue on the blade. I used the yellow side of a sponge and it didnt get all of the grease off. So I switched to the green side and lightly scrubbed. It definitely lightened the finish. This is not a surprise to me because in the little papers that come with the knife Mr. Winkler says that with use the finish will fade and an “antique” appearance will form. He also staes that buffing with 0000 steel wool can speed this process. Here are two pics. Its difficult to catch it in on the phone but is easy to see in person. I actually like the look of the knife even better now.

 

[Will C]

Have

I have a couple Winklers a Blue Ridge Hunter and the regular Hunting Knife ... the regular Hunting Knife field dressed and broke down 3 whitetails without any touch up and that evening a ceramic hone and a strop and the edge was just as good as it was to begin the day ...

they are definately quality knives.

and not to hijack your thread but just wanted to show you an option for the sheath if you like it like I did ... but not how it rode ... I got a dangler attachment from Sagewood and it works great ...

View attachment 830072
View attachment 830073

Have you noticed any issues with the sheath being hard to reinsert the Knife? I have a new Winkler belt Knife in CPM 3v. I noticed that when changing out the screws on the sheath to install the leather belt option, the knife was very hard to get back into the sheath. Obviously the screws are creating a tighter fit within the sheath. I am hoping that the sheath will break in with time. I do not want to loosen the screws too much. Other than this issue the Knife and sheath are awesome.

If you have noticed that the handle is darker in the in hand pics as compared to the fresh out of the box pic, then you would be correct. I put a very thin coat of minwax finishing paste wax on the handle. It made the tan micarta turn a nice brown. I like leather sheathes and the stock sheath is very well made, but rides high for my taste. The stock sheath is 6 layers. Outside working in its like this... Leather, kydex, felt, knife, felt, kydex, leather. It retains the knife well and looks pretty cool, but I just like a standard leather pouch sheath. I will be making one of my own this week and will add pics when it is done.

I noticed that the Belt Knife fit perfectly in a dangler/pouch sheath that came with my LT Wright Northern Hunter. (I think it is made by JRE industries). It can definately be purchased aftermarket from a few different dealers. For now the Belt knife will be living in the dangler. MORE PICS...

View attachment 830031 View attachment 830030 View attachment 830032 View attachment 830034

 

[Riz!]

So after I unintentionally took some of the Caswell finish off I decided to go ahead and buff it with steel wool and was happy with the result. I had that realiziation the the newness was gone. When that happens I usually start to modify things. I decided to knock the shoulder back and thin out the edge. I powered up the 1x30 belt sander and got to work. The knife has a convex edge and is magnitudes more sharp than when I got it. These pics are outside at different angles so you can see how the finish reflects the light. I dont know if the Winkler crew roughly sandblasts these things before applying the Caswell or if the Caswell causes the surface to become rough. When you look closely you can see the texture in the surface.

 

[Riz!]

Double post

 

[JJ_Colt45]

W Will C ... Yes when I put the dangler attachment on it made the sheath quite tight ... but I took a couple of the O Rings that come with the Winkler Sheath and added them as spacers in the top holes on the sheath between the dangler attachment and the sheath on the back of the sheath and slipped a set of the O Rings between the leather front of the sheath and the leather back pice of the sheath to spread them ever so slightly ... that adjusted it and gave it just enough extra space that the knife now slides in smoothly even better than before ....

I tried to snap a few pictures that might show the two placements I tried and figure out which works best for you or use in both if you need a bit more spacing ...

these O Rings ...


and inserted O Rings in these two places ...



Hope that helps.

Have

Have you noticed any issues with the sheath being hard to reinsert the Knife? I have a new Winkler belt Knife in CPM 3v. I noticed that when changing out the screws on the sheath to install the leather belt option, the knife was very hard to get back into the sheath. Obviously the screws are creating a tighter fit within the sheath. I am hoping that the sheath will break in with time. I do not want to loosen the screws too much. Other than this issue the Knife and sheath are awesome.

 

[JJ_Colt45]

Riz! ... I think it looks good ! ... my Blue Ridge is starting to wear and of course it wears unevenly ... I have through about doing something similiar but haven't taken the time to yet.

And I see you thinned the edge ... I noticed that made it so much better for my uses on my Hunting Knife ... I'll be curious to see how much difference you notice with the thinning ... looks like a nice even line nice work Riz!

But I might do the same it looks good how you finished it.

 

[Riz!]

JJ_Colt45

The lighter finish looks great. I sliced some hotdogs and strawberries for my kids’ lunch today and it definitely cuts better. The caswell finish absolutely stops staining. The area where I cut the strawberries showed a blue patina within minutes. I dont mind that though. I love a good patina. As long as its not rust I am happy. To the eye the patina is blue. On camera its just a little darker gray. Not worth posting a pic yet. I willlet it go a couple weeks before doing that

 

[Will C]

W Will C ... Yes when I put the dangler attachment on it made the sheath quite tight ... but I took a couple of the O Rings that come with the Winkler Sheath and added them as spacers in the top holes on the sheath between the dangler attachment and the sheath on the back of the sheath and slipped a set of the O Rings between the leather front of the sheath and the leather back pice of the sheath to spread them ever so slightly ... that adjusted it and gave it just enough extra space that the knife now slides in smoothly even better than before ....

I tried to snap a few pictures that might show the two placements I tried and figure out which works best for you or use in both if you need a bit more spacing ...

these O Rings ...
View attachment 833102

and inserted O Rings in these two places ...
View attachment 833103
View attachment 833106

Hope that helps.

Thank you so much. I also see you are using the kydex plate as well. Let me give that a try.
Thank you for your ongoing review. I think it always helps to get feedback on everyday usage, issues that come up, as well as how to best maintain the knife.

 

[jstrange]

I love the actual sheath, but not a big fan of the attachments. I took some 550 cord, a cord stop, and a Spyderco G-clip and made my own. Worked pretty well.

 

[JJ_Colt45]

Thank you so much. I also see you are using the kydex plate as well. Let me give that a try.
Thank you for your ongoing review. I think it always helps to get feedback on everyday usage, issues that come up, as well as how to best maintain the knife.

You're welcome I hope that helps ... it seemed to make a huge difference in the ease of drawing the knife and resheathing it. And I do really like the sheath ... I just prefer it to ride lower and Sagewood's Dangler was a great option for me.

I agree the sheaths are actually very nice ... but if you find an option to drop it some for a different type carry it just adds to the versatility.

And jstrange I have seen some use cordage as you did on other kydex sheaths ... it seemed to work ok for them.

 

[Will C]

You're welcome I hope that helps ... it seemed to make a huge difference in the ease of drawing the knife and resheathing it. And I do really like the sheath ... I just prefer it to ride lower and Sagewood's Dangler was a great option for me.

I agree the sheaths are actually very nice ... but if you find an option to drop it some for a different type carry it just adds to the versatility.

And jstrange I have seen some use cordage as you did on other kydex sheaths ... it seemed to work ok for them.

I like the thought of using a dropped belt setup. I was thinking of attaching it to my pack, but if you are separated from your pack in an emergency, it is always good to have a knife attached to your body.

 

[JJ_Colt45]

I sometimes carry extra knives in or strapped to my pack ... but those are usually a larger knife for chopping strapped to the pack ... or a smaller knife for food prep in my pack ... but always have one that can handle a bit of everything on my belt.

 

[Will C]

I sometimes carry extra knives in or strapped to my pack ... but those are usually a larger knife for chopping strapped to the pack ... or a smaller knife for food prep in my pack ... but always have one that can handle a bit of everything on my belt.

Have a Winkler axe I strap to my pack. Bought the axe first and was so impressed I decided to purchase the belt knife.
Once again thanks for the input and feedback.

 

[JJ_Colt45]

You're welcome ... it's good to hear what others experience with some of the same knives and equipment and what they like or dislike about them.

I have a Gransfor Bruks Axe I strap to my pack when called for ... I haven't gotten to handle a Winkler Axe yet ... but if they are anything like his knives they probably perform great.