A Day of Knives

The last couple of weekends, a friend and I went out to the National Forest, and experimented with some knives. I cut some willow, and then cut some notches, as with a figure-4 trap, to see which ones worked reasonably well…

Here are some pics…

I got two Swedish knives from Ragweed Forge… the Mora 2000, and the Brusletto Balder.

The 2000 is a 5” blade, Swedish stainless, with a rubber handle and plastic sheath. It cost all of $26 bucks… The rubber handle is somewhat abrasive to the bare hand after using it a while. Should be great for wearing gloves, however, like when it is cold.

The Balder is a very lightweight little whittler. The handle is only long enough for three fingers, but is not noticeable when you work with it.

The sheath is very lightweight leather, and would not be a sturdy belt knife. As a neck knife, however, it is pretty handy.

Cuts willow very well… And, it is only $17 bucks!

I got one of Bill Seigle’s neck knives, too…

It is also a short handled knife, but is wrapped in the Japanese tradition.

It cuts willow very well.. The sheath is kydex, and is very slim… Nice package!

Here is one of Rik Palm’s forged knives, the Stag.

It is also a small knife, but is thicker than the others, has some filework on the back, and a slightly different blade shape. Notice the double “hamon” or tempering line. Generally used on swords, Rik likes the effect, so uses it on some of his knives. Durn cool… Sharper than bejabers… It cut all the way back to last week.

I like neck knives, but sometimes you can have too much of a Good Thing…

(Did I really do that?)

As for the bigger knives, I found that my little (8” blade) Simonich Aurora, best handled the combo of slashing willow limbs, and chopping dead wood… Meaning, there were those that chopped dead wood better, but wouldn’t slash through free standing willow & mulefat. There were those that slashed willow well, but couldn’t chop the hard, dead wood. The Aurora has a tremendous edge….

The TOPS Laser Strike, is a really nifty utility sized knife, with tremendous chopping ability (for such a small blade). Should I not be able to have, or not want to carry the big choppers, I think I could get by with this one…

It slashed through willow thicker than it had any right to… I like it!

Fun couple of days….

Bill

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