Towards 0.1 Micron Archive - No safe queens

Repairing a Cold Steel Master Hunter (2 replies)

me2 — Sun, 23 Aug 2020 23:01:25 +0000

I have one of these to resharpen/repair the edge. It's an old one, still Carbon V steel. The overall shape and heft seems great. There are some things I'd change about the handle, but it's mostly good. I remember Cliff had issues with Kraton handles, but can't remember what they were.

The edge is corroded and pitted to the point of chipping. I told the owner I'd sharpen it up, and he could see how he liked it before I really start hogging off metal and remove all the corrosion damage. It will narrow the blade spine to edge by at least 0.065". To totally remove all the damage would be double that.

McCullen santoku (5 replies)

dragonetti — Wed, 27 Jan 2021 05:44:02 +0000

Well y'all. It's been a while.

It's been a while since I've visited this forum, and even longer since I've made a post or comment

For a bit of reference, I fell into the culinary field on a whim. Needed a job, turns out kitchens are always hiring. 5 years later I'm a fully fledged chef, life works in funny ways like that.

About 3 years ago I bought a knife from Jeremy McCullen, off of recommendations from this forum. Pretty much just because I wanted a cool knife to show off to people at the faux Mexican restaurant I worked at. And it worked great for that, and I was also cutting 30 gallons of onions at 8am every day, might as well do that in style.

6.5 inch santoku style knife, AEB-L in at a hardness I couldn't care less about, stabilized wood handle made out of a wood I couldn't care less about. That stuff isn't important, it just has to cut well and have a handle that doesn't absorb various meat and vegetable juices.

It delivered. It cut like a dream, took an edge easy off of whatever I could find at work to sharpen it with, and my head chef and the dishwasher who taught me clawhammer banjo offered to buy it from me for way more than I bought it for. A manager I worked with made me a fantastic leather sheath in exchange for a beat up guitar and a lesson to on how to play "hurt"
(Sheath is definitely worth more than that, the man is a fantastic cook but he's left handed and I sold him a right handed guitar, I'm sure he'll figure it out eventually.)

Things fall apart, and sometimes get rebuilt into something better. I found myself a Chef de Partie in arguably the best restaurant in a couple hundred miles.
Suddenly I had a burning need for a nice knife. And I'm all too lucky I had this McCullen santoku. (At my old job I found a dishwasher slicing strips off a sheet tray, with it, and took it home)

My first day at the new job? Yeah turns out you need a good knife. I tried to use a house knife that's probably older than me on my first day, didn't do that well.

Brought that damn santoku in. By the third day my head chef was stealing it from me to filet fish and chop shallots.

There's a saying among chefs "if you wouldn't touch my **** you wouldn't touch my knife" I've been a chef for almost 3 years and almost everybody steals my damn McCullen knife off me, with or without permission. Damn annoying cause if I can manage it I use it 6 hours a day at the least.

Anyways, long story short, I skyrocketed my way through the culinary field, with a McCullen knife at my side through it. Geometry is absolutely perfect, it's easy to sharpen, professional chefs use it behind my back. Found a dude shaving pieces off an untempered pan (much to my chagrin) with no damage.

Pictures are coming soon and I've bought a nakiri off of Mr. McCullen. I don't give a hot shit how he makes, how he tempers his steel, how he forms his handles. I've used thousands of knives through my career and the knives he's sold me draw the respect of people who cook and cut food for a living. I cannot recommend him more.

Reground Delica (29 replies)

me2 — Fri, 12 Mar 2021 00:29:03 +0000

I finally reground my Delica. I dropped the edge bevel down from maybe 7 degrees per side to 5 dps. I started with a 40 grit belt then went to a 120 to clean and polished it up. I like a uniform medium finish. Razor Edge Knives are excellent to me and I tried to mimic that. I also clipped the tip and dropped it down so it didn't stick out of the handle and cut me in the pocket anymore. I'm currently rebeveling it to 12 dps from the 17 dps it had previously.

[youtu.be]

Schrade SP1 Keychain Lockback 1.5" (4 replies)

jasonstone20 — Fri, 19 Jun 2020 13:44:18 +0000

My fiancee found this in my apartment buildings give away box. Nice knife. I like knives of this size, I had a small Buck lockback that was this same size, with a 1.5" blade. Great keychain knife.

Paring Knife Collection And Accidental Bloodbath (no replies)

jasonstone20 — Fri, 01 Mar 2019 00:47:36 +0000

Sideways version (Thanks YouTube!)
Fixed Rotated Version (Thanks GNU/Linux, VLC & Handbrake)

Here are the spine and behind the edge thicknesses, all are stainless except where noted:

Victorinox S-- 0.0475"/1.2mm- | BTE-- 0.014"/0.35mm
OXO (reground/reprofiled) S -- 0.054"/1.35mm | BTE-- 0.015" / 0.38mm
Ontario Old Hickory (carbon, reground/reprofiled)S -- 0.054"/1.35mm | BTE-- 0.0215" / 0.55mm
Tramontina S -- 0.046" /1.21mm | BTE-- 0.020" / 0.51mm
Kiwi S -- 0.036"/ 0.91mm | BTE -- 0.0145" / 0.37mm
Opinel S -- 0.050" / 1.40mm | BTE -- 0.0155" / 0.39mm
Wusthof Spearpoint S -- 0.035" / 0.90mm | BTE -- 0.0165" / 0.42mm
Wusthof Wharncliffe S -- 0.035"/ 0.90mm | BTE -- 0.017" / 0.41mm
Wusthof Hawkbill S -- 0.035"/ 0.90mm | BTE -- 0.018" / 0.45mm
Robert Herder Windmill Wharncliffe (carbon) S -- 0.0415"/ 1mm | BTE -- 0.001" / 0.02mm
E. Pires (Verdugal is where they are made) S -- 0.0455"/ 1.19mm | BTE- 0.013" / 0.33mm
Benchmade Folding Small Fillet (reprofiled) S -- 0.056" / 1.5mm | BTE -- 0.0155" / 0.38mm

Is anyone interested in the edge angles of these knives? I have half the measurements done already, it would take me 10 minutes work the angle out and put it up.

Spyderco Endura 4 ZDP-189 (3 replies)

stefan_wolf — Mon, 07 Jan 2019 05:33:20 +0000

Almost an year ago I swapped my Pacific salt in H1 steel for Endura 4 in ZDP-189.
On of the great thing about the Pacific salt is that 0 maintenance is required except frequent sharpening. Water, dearth, grime, oils - no worries...
ZDP-189 rusted on me on several occasions - on my summer vacation on the bulgarian beaches I observes in real time small pitting while I was sipping from my bear near the sea.
A couple of months ago I forget it in cup of water with dish soap for 4-5 hours and I had small pieces missing from the very apex of the edge - so I wasted metal for couple of regular sharpenings just to cover my mistake...

In the video you can see traces of ongoing pitting on the jimping, on the heel of the blade and on the sides of the blede near the pivot point.

[www.youtube.com]

The lockbar has poor surface finish.
The spring bar is deformed on the contact point.
The locking bar is rubbing only on 1/6 of the with of the blade tang.

The knife works just fine.
It locks solid with no side to side blade play.
I can feel and see small but noticeable up-down movement which is pretty annoying when cutting on a board.
It cuts well and long.
To be sharpen with Norton Crystolon stones is easy and quick. Finishing with translucent Arkansas give me good enough initial sharpness.

...but for 120$ I expected a little better internal fit and finish from Spyderco...

The new Native 5 Salt is out for 120$ but too short blade for me, and why 3.2mm thick stock ???
I hope to see Pacific salt in Lc200n this year. Until then zdp-189 will be my champion of choice to tackle daily choirs...

MTech Xtreme MX-8038 3" 440 Stainless Steel G-10 Tanto Kydex Sheath (no replies)

jasonstone20 — Tue, 04 Dec 2018 02:57:09 +0000

I have had this blade for some time:

[youtu.be]

I first saw Chris Tanner talk about how it was a good knife for the money, around $10-15 USD.

Not a bad knife and sheath, although the sheath will dull the whole small tip grind of the American Tanto, so I put a piece of phone book paper around the front of the knife and inserted it in the sheath and that fixed the issue. The steel is listed 440 Stainless, design in the USA and made in China. It has a drop-point, hollow ground 3" (OAL 6.5") American Tanto blade. If I remember correctly, the blade was shaving sharp with the factory edge. It sharpened easily to passing a HHT 3-4 on simple abrasive stones, and the blade is coated except for the edge bevel, and there has been no corrosion with daily wear. The G-10 is nice, and the sheath is light and locks positively as it should. The holes at the very top were off center, with one close to the end of the material. It came with a decent (not awesome like a Cold Steel ball chain!) ball chain, which I added hollowed out paracord to the outside of the ball chain for noise and tangle prevention. Unfortunately I don't think this knife is being sold anymore, I can't find it with a web search for sale.

Benchmade 806 AFCK Axis Lock in D2 (20 replies)

jasonstone20 — Tue, 01 Jan 2019 18:32:19 +0000

I have had this knife for quite some time, it is a pre-production model and I bought it brand new from the store. It's an Benchmade 806 AFCK Axis lock in D2 steel, with a coated blade and partially serrated. I carried it for a few months and then put it in the safe. Recently, after trying out a Spyderco Military in M4 and having a conversation with Shawn Houston (Big Brown Bear on YouTube and Triple B Knives) about how D2 wasn't a favorite steel of his, I decided to try D2 out. What surprised me about the knife was that it was very thin behind the edge (0.0165"), had a fairly close to zero angle (10* DPS), and had close to a mirror polish finish. This knife still had the factory sharpening:

[imgur.com]

This is one of my all time favorite designs. It fits my had perfectly, I really like knives with a negative rake on the blade. It is light for it's size (4" blade) at 4.6oz. The G10 scales are grippy but not abrasive, it has milled steel liners, so it doesn't have the handle bending issue of the original Benchmade 800 AFCK with the titanium liners. I like a big blade, especially if it is partially serrated. I attached a small leather lanyard, and plan to carry this knife for a month to see how I like the D2 steel.

Svord Drop point (4 replies)

stefan_wolf — Mon, 22 Jun 2020 21:11:25 +0000

[www.youtube.com]

Part of Svord's "Economy" line of knives - 15n20 steel with rough finish and basic mahogany wood handle + brass rivets

Comes with factory convex edge wich with couple of "licks" on the sharpening steel became reasonably sharp.

The blades are dipped in varnish to be protected during storage and shipping from rust.

Easy to clean with lacquer thinner.

Good fitment between the tang and the wooden handle.

Well pressed brass rivets.

Big enough lanyard hole.

Mine came with PVC sheath - nothing fancy but sturdy as hell on first examination.

Specs from the manufacturer:

Length of Blade (inches) 4 3/8
Over All Length (inches) 9 1/2
Blade Shape Drop Point
Handle Material Mahogany
Steel Specifications 15N20 - [www.zknives.com]
Blade Thickness (mm) 2.2mm
Sheath 3mm triple layer PVC with brass rivets and sharpener holder

Handle comfort even with the factory far from rounded edges - good. After some shaping, sanding and oiling - very good.

Best thing for me - thin blade stock of easy to maintain steel + reasonable price.

I sold my Swamp rat's and Scrap yard after using this knife.

I even bought a piece of Becut [zknives.com] steel to commission a faithful copy in a stainless steel flavor.

............

The well used one I have shown on my channel sever times.

It belong to a friend of mine and have seen rough use in the hands of the Kiwi Bushman (youtube guy from NZ) before gifting it to my friend while shooting "survival" type of show here in Bulgaria.

Cold Steel Peacemaker III - The Tactical Mora (9 replies)

Bugout Bill — Tue, 24 Jul 2018 00:01:34 +0000

Some specs:

Blade Thickness: 3 mm
Blade Style: Drop Point
Steel: German 4116
Sheath: Secure-Ex Sheath
Blade length: 4-Inch
Overall length: 8-1/2-Inch

Ergos:

This is a pretty thin little knife, that said, there is some contouring of the grip. Generally fits in hand well, quite comfortable in a variety of grips.

Kraton handle is highly textured, but not overly abrasive. It affords an excellent grip when wet or in gloves, which is mostly what I have on when using it.

Works well in a hammer or sabre grip:

Commentary On Use:

While this is a more expensive option than a Mora (by about $10), I have to admit that I prefer this as a work knife. While the blade profile is somewhat goofy, the thinner stock affords somewhat better cutting ability through thick materials like cardboard or packaging.

OOB sharpness was excellent, easily capable of popping hair off the arm. Yeah, the single bevel grind is training wheels, but it is extremely easy to resharpen when you don't particularly want to sharpen a knife. Being a work knife, that is often. Cold Steel easily does the best "surgical stainless"; the steel grinds easily with the most basic abrasives and takes a crisp edge. The 416 Stainless is generally stainless enough, easily survives prolonged exposure to salt, fertilizer, and other nastiness without cleaning.

I work in the landscaping industry, so this knife sees a lot of dirty, miserable use cutting things. The 4 inch bladed Peacemaker has proven ideal for that role. When cutting weeds, the blade is long enough to be used to slash through a small area, while the high cutting ability afforded by the single bevel grind enables you to easily cut saplings and other woody plants.

Being a fixed blade affords a number of advantages, namely that I can go without cleaning it and not have to worry about the lock failing or gumming up. However, due to this being of relatively thin stock, the Peacemaker lacks some of the prying ability a Mora or similar sharpened pry bar would afford.

The sheath is nothing special, being injection molded plastic with a stainless steel clip. No issues with retention or the sheath dulling the blade.

The knife and sheath fit very nicely in the thigh pocket of my Carhartt work pants; sits very unobtrusively, but remains easy to access. My only complaint would be that the clip is a bit too tight and has a tendency to wear pants pockets. My work clothes are provided, so it doesn't matter to me, but could be a concern.

Conclusions:

The Peacemaker III, despite the usual Cold Steel silliness, has proven to be an excellent working blade. While it is a bit pricier than a Mora Companion, the thinness of the blade and the sheath work a bit better for my uses. Despite my skeptism, I'm a big fan of this knife. I'll use this thing tell it gets wrecked or lost and I will happily buy another. Hell, I'll buy two.

OKC knives bend in bare hands (27 replies)

dingy — Sun, 04 Feb 2018 04:04:22 +0000

Hi you all.

this is my thread in OKC sub-f on BF:
[www.bladeforums.com]

I bend some of my OKC knives with bare hands , is it normal ?
i am confused now , what do you guys here think that ?

dingy

McCullen Knives Bowie Point Tar River (6 replies)

Bugout Bill — Tue, 10 Oct 2017 21:13:40 +0000

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAiXZuePI5U[/video]

cKc Slipjoint vs Opinel #8 (41 replies)

Chum — Mon, 19 Jun 2017 02:28:11 +0000

Quote
Chum
... what do you want for the cKc slip joint?

Quote
chad234
Challenged issued: It's yours. I'll send you the cKc and an Opinel. Carry and use both very day for a year (every day that's practical) and give us a report. Keep them both of course.

Challenge? Chad is a sneaky one.

Quote
cKc
Chad is a very generous guy.. I really enjoyed using my slipjoints when I had one

Look forward to the report Chum :) I think Opinels are great knives. the only downside in my humid environment is that often they are too hard to open from swelling.. Plastic ones they have now cure that issue.

Quote
chad234
Thanks for the complimet, but from my perspective the value of the potential knowledge the community can gain from a solid one year comparative review far exceeds the value of the knives themselves.

And I have a great solution to the present shortage of ckc knives available....you just need some more free time

And here we are :)

I actually considered not accepting Chad's extremely gracious offer. I am very particular about what I carry on my person. The lighter the better and the less complicated the better, as far as I am concerned. I have a pocket devoted for carrying a knife, and that pocket is designed for using a pocket clip, as it is very narrow. Without a clip the knife will be difficult to extract, and without a clip it is likely the knife would simply fall out of the pocket in various instances (ie. sitting down, running <--- it happens (:P) ) I've tried carrying slipjoints in said knife pocket before. It just doesn't work.

So, now I am carrying two knives, both without clips. At this point I am putting them in one of my front pockets. I don't like this set up however, and I will be searching for better ways to carry the cKc Slipjoint and the Opinel #8.

Some pics...

cKc Slipjoint on the right and Opinel on the left (in case anyone stumbles upon this post who isn't a regular on this forum)

For a size comparison (from left to right)...
Gerber EAB
cKc Mini Hiker
Cold Steel Tuff Lite
Spyderco Delica
Opinel #8
cKc Slipjoint
Cold Steel American Lawman
cKc Victorious

My cKc products (pales in comparison to Bruce Rugg's collection, unfortunately)...
* The third knife down is actually a Victorinox Paring Knife, but Kyley made the sheath for it, which works well.

Please correct me if I am wrong, but I believe the cKc Slipjoint is made of O1 steel, with a G10 handle. The Opinel #8, I believe, has an XC90 steel blade with a wood handle.

Here is a video Kyley made on this particular Slipjoint...
[www.youtube.com]

Instead of doing a singular comparison review of these two knives I will instead do an ongoing review over the course of a year. As something of interest happens, I will report on it in this thread.

At this point I haven't used the knives much. This could be an issue as I no longer work at the plant nursery, so my knife use has dwindled considerably. Regardless, this should be fun, and I will no doubt find many uses for these two blades.

Finally, for now... Thank you Chad!

ESEE Zabcudo AUS 8 Satin FInish Black Scale (no replies)

jasonstone20 — Wed, 18 Jan 2017 18:31:41 +0000

This knife was purchased at the same time from the same person as part of a group of knives he was selling on Facebook. The other knife I bought from the group was my Green Scaled Combo Blade Spyderco Tenacious. When I got them, the ESEE Zancudo's blade was rubbing on the scale side, and it was way off center. I didn't carry it because the action was so stiff if you made it were the blade wouldn't rub. A few weeks ago, I figured out how to center the blade and still have the action fast and easy, without hurting your thumb: [oldforum.beyondt01micron.com] . Here are some photos of the knife along with a Streamlight Nano:
Scale Side:
[www.instagram.com]
Lock Side:
[www.instagram.com]

I absolutely hate stainless clips/shiny metal clips, so I heat colored the clip and also the lock scale some. The knife comes right hand carry only, tip up or tip down. There is a lanyard hole, the one thing that I think would make the Benchmade 940 Osborne a Perfect Knife!! Blade steel is AUS 8, some of the best steel I have sharpened. This was the knife I was able to first get a head hair whitting edge on a Blue DMT #325 Diamond Plate sharpener. It takes a high girt edge great too, and you can get it to pass a HHT3 (cut the hair in half) with just using a Spyderco UF Triangle rod, no stropping needed. The handle is very well rounded, with all the usually sharp edges melted. There is a large indent on the handle, near the pivot, that helps with indexing and grip security, and makes it very comfortable and balanced in hand. Scale material is nylon that has been textured to feel like G10 knife scales. The weight is 3.1 oz, and if feels stout in hand. It is very thin, at 8.5mm / 5/16" thick. It has a full flat grind spear point blade, and is 2.2mm thick, and is ~0.022" behind the edge, with a bevel height of ~0.043". The bevel angle is ~17*-18* DPS or ~34*36* Inclusive, which is about as big of an ange you can go and still slice with a polished bevel. Blade length is 3" (~7cm), handle 3 3/4" (~10cm) with the overall legnth at about 7"/177mm. It has a frame lock, which is strong and stiff, and it is tucked away under the scale side, like the Benchmade AFCK or Gail Bradley does with a liner lock, so closing it has to be a very deliberate action. Speaking of action, it has a very strong detent, and the blade fires out of the handle when the ambi-thumbstuds (the scale side thumbstud is larger in height than the lock side thumbstud, which is about 2/3s the height) are used. When I got the knife, one of the nylon washers was sticking out of the pivot. Upon disassembly, the nylon washer disintegrated in my hand to mush, so I think so kind of strong acid, base or solvent hit it. I contacted the company, Blue Ridge Knives, and they offered to send me a new knife, when I asked if they could send me a replacement washer. For now, I just used three layers of teflon tape to substitute, for the nylon washer, because three layers is the same thickness of the other nylon washer. Upon disassembly of the knife, it had one pivot screw (T10) and six (T6) frame screws, three on each side, screwed into three standoffs. The stop pin was a stepped pin, that is fitted well. There were two pairs of washers, one nylon and one phosphor bronze, on each side. The nylon scale isn't glued to the scale side liner, which is set into the scale. Because the scale can catch near the blade and flex, I decided to glue (office glue stick used) the nylon scale to the steel liner, which is not skeletonized, like the lock side steel scale. The pocket clip is perfect for holding onto clothing and removal/insertion is perfect, and you can do it with one hand. It amazes me how much this knife got perfect, and it shows how much a good design, if executed well, doesn't need to cost hundreds of dollars or have bearings, titanium, and a flipper. The knife is also offered in different scale colors, you can get a black blade coating, and also in D2 steel. This is a great EDC knife, you completely forget you have it on you, it is light, thin, with a secure clip and it opens one handed fast. What more could you want?

benchmade 940 10 plus year review (6 replies)

Joe Calton — Thu, 12 Jan 2017 01:44:40 +0000

Hey guys, I don't do knife reviews very often but figured I would do one on the pair of benchmade 940's that I have used for awhile, and I think this is a good place to put it also.

[youtu.be]

Reground Rada Cutlery (15 replies)

me2 — Wed, 01 Nov 2017 15:44:25 +0000

I finally got around to regrinding the Rada Santoku that has been my guinea pig knife for some time now. I long ago ground away the original hollow ground edge. This was an attempt to get it back in service while also experimenting with some regrinding.

I set the primary bevel at about 3 degrees per side with a 40 grit belt, then ground until just a hint of the original 12 dps edge bevel was visible. I did not take it to a burr with the 40 grit. It was previously at about 6 dps, as a first step in regrinding it. That bevel was completely removed. The current bevel is about 5/16" wide, on 1/32" stock. These knives are extremely thin.

I then sharpened it at somewhere in the 7 to 10 dps range. The edge bevel width is less than the thickness of a playing card. Even after heavy destressing on a tile rubbing stone, it only took 35 passes per side to raise a large burr on the Norton 220 grit water stone, which was then cut off using the 1000 grit King and an angle increase of about 2 degrees. Then to the Sharpmaker Mediums at the same angle, then some deburring passes at about 30 dps, then more medium, then fine. There is a section toward the tip that is a little duller than the rest, about 2 inches long. I'm going to leave it as is for a while. When the grinding was done, but before the sharpening, flexing the edge over my thumbnail produced visible deformation, some of which stayed. This appears to have been removed by the sharpening though.

I plan to make some knives like this from some older recycled blades, so this is an experiment to see how low I can go. I have some larger blades that have outlived their usefulness in their current form, so I figured I'd reshape them. One is a large machete who's handles are just awful, but which appears to have very good steel. The others are some kitchen knives that are in need of reshaping and regrinding, so I might as well rehandle too.

On another note, anyone got any advice for 1x30 grinding belts for this? The Harbor Freight 40 grit belts are only good for about 1 side of a knife this size. There have to be some out there that last longer. On the other hand, they're only $1.50 each, so it might not be worth it.

Like an old friend... (6 replies)

Any Cal. — Thu, 09 Jun 2016 22:32:40 +0000

One of my knives that was sold as a second came back for sharpening, so I was pretty excited to see how it did. It was used as the main knife for one of a crew who were butchering several moose. There is nothing concrete to say about it, as it was cutting a combination of meat, gristle, bone, dirty hide, etc. He was really pleased with the performance though, so it will be sharpened up the same way again.

I had put a polished edge on it, so was surprised it did as well as it did, but am thinking that most of the work probably benefited from it. At 100x most of the edge had blunted, over a goodly portion had become even more polished through use. There was some fracture that was along the edge, .001-.003"? deep, no edge rolling. Also some nicks that were likely lateral stesses just in front of the handle and near the tip. He didn't want me to go to a coarser edge, as he prefers the finer one. The fine edge may be helping strengthen the edge, anyway. He does this often, but doesn't mind working the knife hard.

Anyway, it was CPM154 at 61rc with .030 edge at 15dps.

Picture
edge pic

Queen Cutlery Gunstock Jack (7 replies)

Bugout Bill — Mon, 01 Feb 2016 17:20:17 +0000

Earlier commentary:

[oldforum.beyondt01micron.com]

Concluding Thoughts:

The Gunstock Jack could be a really nice knife, but it will take a fair bit of work to get there. The primary issues I have with this knife are:

-Ridiculously thick blade grind

-D2 blade steel

In regards to the first point, the blade required a fairly extensive regrind to wind up with a blade that could actually cut, let alone cut well. After blending the bevel into the primary, the blade is now capable of doing what you would hope that a pocket knife could do.

Now as for the steel choice, D2 was probably the worst choice for this particular knife. Due to its low grindability, this knife took significant effort to regrind, as well as requiring fairly high end abrasives to make the task a bit more manageable.

As for the steel under actual use, I understand why a lot of people dislike D2. For whatever reason, I couldn't get a satisfactory edge on this knife unless I left it at a coarse finish (DMT 320 grit) or a highly polished finish like the 6K King. Once in use, D2 performed well for low wear cutting, but readily took damage when use to cut less than ideal materials like metal or on plates.

Furthermore, the lack of corrosion resistance that D2 affords also means that corrosive edge loss seemed to occur if not regularly cleaned or oiled, as well as some limited corrosion on the blade.

In all honesty, I wouldn't have minded a higher carbide stainless steel (154CM or 440C), simply due to the fact that they would be stainless. I have never had issues sharpening those steels either. However, a low carbide steel still would be preferred due to the ease of sharpening when used for non-cutting tasks.

TriStar Cheese/Tomato Utility Knife (no replies)

jasonstone20 — Wed, 20 Jan 2016 23:41:49 +0000

This is one of my cheapest kitchen knives, and one of my favorites:

TriStar Tomato Knife

I would like to get a Victorinox 4" Serrated, as shown here:

[youtu.be]

[youtu.be]

[youtu.be]

If I just have to make quick snack or a sandwich, this knife is my go to. I can even make full breakfast or dinner only using this knife.

HD Benchmade S30V (c. 2008 or '09) chipping on light cutting (22 replies)

jasonstone20 — Fri, 05 Aug 2016 11:00:52 +0000

I have sharpened the plain part of the edge, and I find it interesting, but not surprising, that the serrations exhibit the same chipping problem:

[instagram.com]

This is just from light cutting, food prep, food packaging ect. It only took one sharpening on the plain edge to fix the problem, but it can easily be seen why someone would have a misconception of the performance of the knife, straight out of the box.

McCullen Utility Fighter (2 replies)

Bugout Bill — Sun, 06 Sep 2015 20:43:23 +0000

The original thread:

[oldforum.beyondt01micron.com]

Overall Impression

After a couple months of carry, I think that I can come to some concrete conclusions about the performance of this knife. While the design is decidedly tactical, Jeremy did an excellent job of ensuring that this remained a function knife. Due to the length of the handle and attention to ergonomics, the utility fighter can be comfortably used in a variety of grips, while the acute grind means that it's raw cutting performance can prevent you from having to use heavy force to achieve a task.

[instagram.com]

When cutting up a sofa, the thin grind and acute tip allowed for precise cuts to be made with minimal force, reducing the risk of applying heavy lateral force or hitting metal and ruining the edge. When used for mud cutting, the high edge stability and easy grindability of 14C28N meant that the blade could be quickly sharpened to a shaving sharp edge in a few minutes, without having to be overly concerned about burr formation.

For the most part, this is my preferred fixed blade if I am not anticipating any heavy work over the coarse of the day. It carries nice, looks mean, and can prepare a nice ploughman's lunch:

[instagram.com]

Commentary on the Maker

Jeremy McCullen's customer service is deserving of high praise. He shows great concern for customer satisfaction with the product and delivering a product made to specifications. Jeremy delivered timely updates on production, both through email and social media posts, so you never felt in the dark about where your money was going. When damage occurred to the knife due to what was effectively negligence, Jeremy offered solid warranty service on the knife.

There are drawbacks to this approach as knifemaker should you get a bad customer, but if both parties remain clear throughout the entire process, the relationship between maker and customer can be quite productive. The only thing that I would suggest Jeremy do in the future is ensure that the customer is fully aware of what he is ordering. The damage that occurred was primarily due to the fact that I liked the numbers that I specified in the design and wasn't really aware of how that translated into the real world. Jeremy does fairly extensive testing, however, so it could be argued that responsibility falls on the customer to research.

Conclusion

For as weird and weaboo as this knife is, Jeremy did a good job of ensuring that it is still a functional tool first and foremost. I have many knives, but this one usually finds it's way onto my belt at least once a week.

Kershaw CQC-8K Emerson Design (21 replies)

Bugout Bill — Wed, 30 Mar 2016 22:32:37 +0000

Introduction

For a long time, I have been rather enamored with Emerson's folding knives, but I was always rather put off by the price. Predictably, I was thrilled when Kershaw introduced their line of folders designed by him. While I wasn't particularly interested in many of the knives, the CQC-8K model struck me as the closest thing to Emerson's hallmark design, the CQC-7. For the $25-$30 this knife costs, I am pleased to say that it is an excellent knife for trying out his designs or just getting the idea of the wave out of your system. Even as a practical work knife, it really isn't too bad.

Some Specs:

Overall Length:8.10"
Blade Length:3.50"
Blade Thickness:0.12"
Weight:5.40 oz.

(Shamelessly stolen from BladeHQ)

The knife features a sabre/chisel grind, with the sabre side appearing on the presentation side of the knife. The steel is officially quoted as 8CR13, though I have seen it labeled as 8CR14MOV

Ergonomics:

For $25, this is really a solid knife ergonomics wise. It has a big and nicely rounded handle with a fairly grippy texture. In general, the knife is comfortable in all grips, ranging from reverse to sabre grip, though the pocket clip can become something of a hot spot with bare hands. In a filipino grip, the knife is quite comfortable as well. Even in a pinch grip, it is a fairly comfy knife to use.

General Fit and Finish:

Due to the price of this knife, I was not surprised by the condition of the knife out of the box. Initial sharpness was quite low, being unable to cut copy paper cleanly on a slice. The tanto blade also had a slight recurve out of the box. Additionally, the hardware quality is fairly low. When switching the pocket clip, one of the screws and a screw hole readily stripped out.

Pedestrian Use:

With the edge reprofiled on a Norton Coarse Economy, the knife was then carried intermittently for daily use. On packaging, the CQC-8K had no real issues provided that the edge was sharp. On heavy materials like plastic or cardboard, however, the obtuse grind and chisel grind has a tendency to bind and pull, making detailed cuts difficult. On foods, the chisel grind had the nice feature of kicking food off to the side when slicing, making slicing cucumbers or onions relatively easy. Again, the obtuse blade grind is something of a detriment for this work, however.

Hard Use >:D<:

While this knife is ostensibly marketed as a heavy tactical folder, it's performance at this sort of work is a rather mixed bag. Due to the heavy grind and thick stock, there are no durability concerns with using the blade for prying or probing work. When removing weeds, the tanto tip easily penetrates soil and can be used to quickly cut roots underground. Even when essentially dull, the acute nature of the chisel grind allows the knife to readily cut weeds, albeit requiring them to be under fairly heavy tension. The steel performed as expected, dulling by blunting and light impaction. As this is a steel with a cheap ht, I am not surprised that it chipped to the degree that it did, no am I surprised that a portion of the tip snapped off.

Although the blade was solid under this use, the rest of the knife is another story. Under lateral and torquing loads, the thin liner lock really didn't deal with it well. under heavy loads, the lock would release. Additionally, the pivot loosened fairly quickly, generating significant side to side play, though this could be quickly tightened out. I was pleased, however, that the lock did not jam under loads, nor did it jam when exposed to mud. If this knife were to be used like this consistently, thread lockers like loctite are a must.

Sharpening:

It is an 8CR class steel and sharpens like you would expect an 8CR class steel would. Grinds fast, and responds well to cheap abrasives, though care must be taken to deburr and avoid the generation of a secondary bevel on the non-ground portion. I found the Norton India Fine to be sufficient for removing most damage, before then polishing with the 1K king. Deburring was then done with about 5 trailing passes with the knife flat on the unground side of the knife. After 5 alternating passes on denim, the knife had sufficient sharpness for most utility tasks.

Conclusions:

Not a bad knife for the money. If you want to get all the Emerson-ness out of your system, this is probably the most cost efficient way to do it. It is comfy, the wave feature works well (you can slay terrorists and open your beer with it), and the knife is generally rugged enough to handle fairly heavy work. Despite the apparent ruggedness, however, the lock needs to be treated like a CRKT M16.

P.S.

The skull on the pocket clip is moronic.

Spyderco Kiwi 3 (9 replies)

Bugout Bill — Tue, 21 Jul 2015 07:11:17 +0000

This is a fairly popular and affordable gentleman's knife from Spyderco, available for about $25 from most retailers.

Some Specs:

length overall 5.625 " (143 mm)
blade length 2.438 " (62 mm)
blade steel 8Cr13MoV

This is the third gen of the knife, with previous versions featuring a back lock design, VG-10 steel, and a variety of handle materials. The current model is considerably simpler, having stainless handles and a slip joint mechanism.

Ergonomics:

One of the positive aspects of the Kiwi is it's very high ergonomic security for a slip joint, with a finger choil serving to ensure that the lock remains open under use. At the same time, the design functionally limits you to a sabre or pinch grip.

The outsides of the handles are rounded, while the insides are unfortunately a bit sharp, as is the spine of the blade. This leads to some irritation in the choil area during extended or heavy use.

General Commentary on Use:

A lot of people enjoy wharncliff blades for utility, this knife is no exception. For a lot of low stress, pedestrian tasks like opening food packages and boxes, the acute tip serves this knife well. Additionally, the tip can also allow the knife to perform strongly at piercing tasks, like splinter removal or lancing skin ailments, as well as doing things like removing lint from a phone speaker. The blade is hollow ground, but somewhat thick stock for a pocket knife. However, many of the aformentioned gentlemanly tasks are more dependent on pure sharpness than cutting performance. Regardless, the grind was flattened on a Norton India Coarse and a convex bevel applied with 200, 400, and 600 grit SiC paper and cardboard.

While this did improve cutting performance, the small wharncliffe blade can prove to be a limitation when doing light food prep or carving work.

For cutting bread, care and multiple cuts are needed for a slice, something that can lead to uneven pieces. On onions, the reground edge offers adequate cutting performance,

For meats and cheeses, a longer blade and more acute stock would have been welcome, but the Kiwi can still prove useful.

For those who care, the sandwich consisted of salami, Cabot Farms white cheddar, onion, and a splash of malt vinegar. It was delicious as well.

Other Comments:

Due to it's high ergonomic security, even under dynamic cutting, the Kiwi has been praised by some youtube commentators as a being one of the few sub-3 inch, non-locking knives suitable for self-defense. While the wharncliff blade can readily slash, you are still limited by an extremely short blade. From testing done on some milk jugs, the end results of an encounter would be ugly, but not necessarily incapacitating or lethal. Individuals like James Keating have discussed the value of these sorts of knives for inflicting bloody "honor wounds", the value of something like the Kiwi in stopping a dedicated attacker is questionable.

Conclusions:

The Kiwi is a nice, non-threatening little pocket knife that is generally legal anywhere. Many non-knife people tend to appreciate the aesthetics as cute or interesting. While useful for a lot of daily tasks, I prefer a bit more belly and length in pocket knives due to their additional utility in food prep and heavier work.

First knife I made back in the operating room. 3V tecna colored convex (1 reply)

Pierre-Built — Tue, 21 Jul 2015 15:28:53 +0000

This was the first knife I made. I had sent it out for cereokee coat to try which took the guy 6months. I just wanted to try it and see how it worked.
This was treated to 61RC by peters and has a heavier convex then what I would shoot for now knowing the steel. It does cut fairly well and is geared towards rough outdoor like the rest of my stuff. I think I am going to top it off with a orange kydex sheath and micatra handle ferro rod.
The blue dots are GITD and the fasteners are heated titanium.
Now I can do some basic testing between Zwear at 60 and 3V at 61.

Leatherman CS4 Juice (22 replies)

Bugout Bill — Tue, 21 Jul 2015 15:33:07 +0000

My old warhorse. I got this about four years ago as a birthday present from my parents, and I can happily say that it has served me pretty well. It ain't perfect, but it does have some functionality advantages over other tools of similar size like a SAK.

General F&F and Long Term Durability

Out of the box, the fit and finish was generally pretty good, with one or two small wear marks in the anodizing. It has obviously gotten more, so I would recommend carrying it in a sheath if you want to keep it pretty. I carry it in my coin pocket, so no real issues. A few of the rivets were a bit proud and there is some slop between the two halves. Fortunately, it has more or less stayed that way. Due to the marvels of Leatherman's ht, the pliers have a tendency to rust, so you do need to keep an eye on it. I am also hesitant to really go ham on the pliers due to an underlying feeling of chinsyness, but those have held up, with no slop or play developing. All the other tools have been fine, no issues with their back springs weakening.

Functionality

Overall. every tool on it works, though some more than others.

Good Tools:

-Scissors are great for cutting light material and hangnails

-Pliers and wirecutters are nice things to have, I have cut barbed wire and string trimmer line with no problems.

-Can opener works well, though it can bend some bottle caps

-Marlin spike is nice for knots and other tasks, works ok as an awl.

OK Tools:

-Knife blade is very thick, but can be zeroed readily. An ok little knife, but easily outperformed by a SAK blade

-Philips Screw driver is easy to access and useful

Bad Tools:

-Saw. Way too coarse to be of a whole lot of use.

-Corkscrew struggles to get good leverage.

-All the other screw drivers can cut your fingers when you try to get them out and are generally difficult to access.

-File. There isn't one on this model. a huge problem.

Conclusion

It's a nice tool, I prefer to carry this over a SAK simply because I find it more useful as a tool, though as a knife I would rather have the SAK. Furthmore, due to the small size and comparable fragility, I would rather have something like a Leatherman Wave or a SOG EOD if I had to only carry one multitool or knife, as opposed to multiple tools.

Kyle's Blades sent to me for playing around with (13 replies)

cKc — Fri, 16 Oct 2015 03:43:00 +0000

Well.. I have had these for a long time without much said, and I've used them on and off during these times. So a review will exist.. Watch this space... Everything is in Island Time.

Miyabi 7000 D Chutoh (3 replies)

CliffStamp — Wed, 21 Jan 2015 19:53:32 +0000

The Miyabi Chutoh is an entrance from Henckel's into the Japanese style lines of knives. Picture from Zwilling :

A few specifications :

steel is VG-10 at 60 HRC
190 grams
very handle heavy balance
blade is 0.075" thick
complex chisel grind
edge is less than 0.015" thick, 18.5 (5) degrees included

More on the grind, it has a low convex grind which transitions into an edge which is right chisel ground about 10:1 (the right bevel is ten times as wide as the left bevel).

Ad copy from Zwilling :

Quote

Fascinating blade aesthetics because of the multi-layered steel with its attractive Damask design.

Japanese cuisine values aesthetics highly. These are the knives that complement the demanding presentation of Japanese dishes.
The blades are made from top-quality steel with 65 layers and impress with their fascinating Damask design. The specific blade construction allows for the high hardness and therefore outstanding sharpness and cutting edge retention of the MIYABI 7000D knives.

Steel with 65 layers and a core of top-quality CMV60 stainless steel, containing cobalt, molybdenum and vanadium for additional strength and durability of the blade. The high carbon content allows for a hardness of approx. 60 Rockwell and therefore exceptional sharpness and cutting edge retention. The final sharpness is applied by the original Japanese Honbazuke honing that is carried out by skilled master craftsmen using a fine whetstone and elaborate hand crafting.

- Blades made from steel with 65 layers and Damask design.
- CRYODUR® blade, hardened in a specifically developed process (including ice-hardening at -196°C) for its extreme hardness.
- Symmetric blades with an ultra-sharp Honbazuke honing.
- The traditional “D-handle” allows tireless working in all cutting techniques.
- Solid and easy-care Micarta handle in fine wood texture, made from a multi-layered linen/resin compound in combination with stainless steel.

Fascinating aesthetics of the blades because of the multi-layer steel with an attractive Damask design.

A bit of background on why I bought this as it obviously is a highly aesthetic based design. It was a demo model in a local shop which had visible edge damage so I got it for a heavy discount. I have had this knife for quite some time and recently took it out and used it for four straight weeks again as I intend to make a gift of it and wanted one last run before I wrote it up. I will say that in that month I struggled to find anything to really criticize about the knife aside from some personal preference issues.

General silliness :

Now before I did much kitchen work with it, like all cutlery samurai's I did a bunch of utility cutting :

which included shredding a large amount of cardboard :

and I have talked about this before ( [oldforum.beyondt01micron.com] ).

In short, I found that it compared well to VG-10 blades in general, often a little ahead of some knives from Spyderco which could be because it is slightly harder, or could simply be random scatter as I only have one of these and a lot of Spyderco knives. In general though the data doesn't show it is significantly better, it just performs as you would expect for an ATS-34/D2 type steel.

Handle :

The handle is one of the few things I can actually say something negative amount, but it is a small thing and there are many positives. At the front of the handle there are these little square cutouts which I would assume are there for a visual contrast - which they make. However they are abrasive and if you put your finger tips there (as I do) you can feel them and it is slightly annoying.

Aside from that, the handle is very well shaped for comfort and security. It is a bit smooth, so I would want a different texture for working very quickly with greasy foods, but it is actually asymmetric shaped to fit your hand and it tapers towards the rear for security. In terms of general ergonomics, aside from those little boxes, all edges are fully rounded and the knife is comfortable in any manner of grips.

General use :

What I found in general was not overly surprising. Given the fact it is a medium sized blade, sort of like a small and narrow chef's knife, it had a very wide scope of work. I could not only use it for dicing and slicing up a potato for example, it would easily be pressed into use peeling it as well.

Now can it replace a paring knife - well it is a lot heavier and more awkward to turn, but the difference isn't that great. I would say for example that comparing it to a Herder paring knife would be like walking a km or so in the summer with sneakers vs work boots. In contrast, a traditional larger chef's knife for peeling tasks would be like trying to do the same with snowshoes.

On smaller cuts of meat and similar work was where I could appreciate why someone would want a knife just of this size as it is easier to use/manipulate than a larger chef's knife working on things like chicken breasts :

+

and common fruits and vegetables :

and small loaves of bread :

But as I often work on larger foods, buying whole foods, I found often I would generally prefer a full size chef's knife, especially when working on melons, larger roasts, or even just full size loaves of bread :

But again, this is showing nothing more than how a mid sized knife of this type, while having a wide range of use, does at some point start to be inefficient no more than trying to peel an apple with a 10" Chef's knife.

Grind :

There are two things about the grind which are a bit different than a lot of knives :

asymmetric
convex

I tried some comparisons on the convex grind to look at binding in sticky foods. At times I could see a difference and it is clear why physically there should be one (as a convex grind breaks the contact point in cutting, a flat grind doesn't), but if this blade hit a sticker potato then it could stick while a flat grind did not. In the end there was enough of an advantage so that I could see why someone could get enamored with it but in order to really maximize this effect you also have to make sure that the blade polish is high as if it is rough then you will get very high friction on that anyway.

The asymmetric grind I could not really see any practical difference in use. Yes if I took this compared to a more common v-grind and did side by side cuts on a carrot I could maybe feel a small difference. But as soon as stopped doing that kind of controlled comparison it was hard to tell if there was a difference or not. I think this effect is simply so small that you need a lot of skill and be looking at very small differences to see it in use. Hence maybe why it gets strongly praised for things like sushi cutting.

Steel :

After working with this knife more exclusively in the kitchen I can gain an appreciation for it, and recent trials using VG-10 vs many other steels also shows the same. It is a fairly interesting steel in that it will show an increase in edge retention over the common 420 class steels but it isn't that dramatic that it is so hard to grind that it requires specific hones or a lot of skill/experience. I was able to maintain it in the kitchen with a 3000/8000 grit basic Henckel's waterstone. That being said though, I don't think it offers anything over AEB-L because when I did sharpen it once a week it wasn't due to wear, it was because parts of the edge would have lightly impacted. If I could pick, I would choose AEB-L or 14C28N, but based on the performance of this knife - I can see how the difference isn't likely to be dramatic and if you work to a lower sharpness, use more coarse finishes, then this steel might give an increase in performance over the increased apex stability steels.

In regards to corrosion resistance, I never rinsed it until it was necessary and I never noticed any issues with spotting or corrosion.

Weight and balance :

This to me was the reason why as much as this knife excels in many areas, is the main reason why I don't use it that much. It is simply very heavy for its size and the balance is very handle heavy. Now it might seem a bit odd for me to say, given how I use very large knives often, but the high weight here has no real purpose. It has the same weight as a much larger chefs knife and it is all in the grip where it just feels odd to me compared to a more neutral, or even Japanese style blade heavy balance. The thing to realize in general is that when using the knife the balance isn't actually how it is held in hand, but it should be designed when the knife is in contact with a cutting board (for knives like this) and thus a more neutral balance, or even blade forward is generally more ideal.

In short :

This knife is expensive and it is clearly designed to achieve an aesthetic standard. It also has a lot of weight for its size and very handle heavy balanced. These two things aside, it performs very well as a mid size kitchen knife.

CRKT Jeff Veff MUK in 2CR13 (21 replies)

jasonstone20 — Sun, 30 Nov 2014 02:47:31 +0000

I have been using my CRKT MUK for food prep lately, and I noticed some behavior that didn't make any sense, since it is a full flat grind with a bevel about half the height of a Mora 511. The knife drifts or steers at the end of a cut constantly. Say for instance, you are slicing and apple, it slices straight and then completely veers off at the end, same for slicing cheese. I watched a video in one of the posts on this forum about the naniwa aotoshi green brick of joy, and in the video, it was mention that with cheaper stainless steels, certain sharpening stones can cause this behavior, but the naniwa aotoshi didn't. Anyone have any suggestions? I have finished the stone many different way with different stones, and have not noticed a difference.

Ivo kitchen paring knives (4 replies)

Luisknivacc — Wed, 12 Nov 2014 20:56:23 +0000

Right about the time that Cliff started his experiments/ work with Joe's paring knife, he showed some other blades along with it, and one of those was the portuguese produced Ivo paring knife. I found it odd that it would end up across the Atlantic, as I know that there are quite a few portuguese immigrants in Canada but I wouldn't have expected a knife from a somewhat recent line of paring knives to end up lost in a canadian construction site. Cliff mentioned the knife as a nice example of a production parer, and because I can get it at many supermarkets for very cheap (well, you could get 3 Chef's Essentials, but c'mon guys), I ended up getting one. Heck, I ended up liking it so much I've given 4 as gifts, and have them in 4 different varietes of colours (red, green, black and a brown one with a cork based handle rather than plastic). They make them in a wharncliff variety and in a serrated version (albeit this one is more rare, I had to go to the expensive mall to find one). The serrated version is quite nice, relatively wide and even scallops, chisel ground for right sided use, unlike what is the standard I've seen of left-hand chisel grinds.

In the 9 months since I've started using them I can definitely say I really like them. The steel is 55cr14MoV, and from what I've read of portuguese websites/ asked to knifemakers in the region it's made, it's around 55-56hrc. The grindability on these is extremely high, it takes me two and a half to three minutes to fully sharpen one after de-stressing. This has much to do with the very small thickness behind the edge, this varies as they are power-sharpened and if the person sharpening them leans in too much or does it unevenly ( one I bought had the right side bevel almost at the same angle as the primary grind) the knife will thicken up, but they come as lean as around 0.005" (0.13mm) thick behind the edge on average (I'll put the metric in parenthesis now, as the forum seems to very much prefer the imperial system), and as thick as 0.008" (0.21mm). Blade thickness in 0.050" (1.28mm).

The steel and edge thickness make sharpening extremely quick, and the steel isn't very prone to forming a burr. This is after a minute and a half on a coarse DMT plate (300 grit) The push-cutting sharpness is more accurate if I take more time but I was rishing here, I realise after watching it that my first attempt at a push-cut was nothing of the sort. My usual finish is on a 15dps micro-bevel on a 10dps bevel, and then it can true-push cut. Also, you can't see it shaving on my pasty skin very well, but it does.

The handles are mostly made from injection molded plastic, the exception to this being the marginally more expensive line made with cork based handles. Following our economic crisis ( all you'll read about if you google portuguese current events), industries have been looking into using national materials for other uses, and one of them is cork, as we export around 50% of the world total. Cork has begun seeing use in fashion accessories, clothing, office materials and sound insulation and now in knife handles. It's not much heavier than the plastic and it has a feeling of slightly more grip to it than the plastic..

Overall, I really like them. Having so many around has led to my family using them with reckless abandon, so they see lots of cutting on glass or ceramic, sometimes get thrown in the dishwasher, etc. so I have come to really appreciate the practice of micro-beveling.

American Tomahawk Company Lagana VTAC (13 replies)

Bugout Bill — Tue, 21 Jul 2015 15:24:12 +0000

Tomahawks, while very much an integral part of American weapons lore, have been making something of a resurgence, making widespread appearances in popular culture and in the hearts of testosterone laden young men everywhere. Countless makers have produced their interpretations of this classic design, ranging from very affordable 3cr13 models to multi-hundred dollar customs. The Lagana VTAC, however, is the granddaddy of them all. Conceived by Peter Lagana in the 1960s, the original VTAC was envisioned as a close quarters and stealthy killing tool for US forces in Vietnam. In 2001, a pair of competition tomahawk throwers restarted Lagana’s American Tomahawk Company, as well as reintroducing the VTAC with a synthetic nylon handle as a breaching tool, eventually being issued to American servicemen.

Some Specs (From ATC)

Steel: Drop-Forged 1060, Rc 52-54**
Handle: ST “super-tough” modified nylon
Ergonomics: Oval design – indexing finger grooves
Overall Weight: 1 lb./453.59 grams practical*
Overall Length: 14”/355.6mm practical*
Sheath: Jumpable nylon – LBE/LBV, MOLLE, Sling, Belt

Ergonomics
Like most large, tactical objects, the VTAC inspires a certain degree of confidence from the user as soon as it is picked up. Upon use, however, some of its drawbacks become immediately clear. The handle is horrific in any kind of use, being very slick and prone to rotating even in light impacts. This has necessitated a paracord wrap in order to do any work. With the grip issue taken care of, a decent amount of power can be generated on a swing despite its relatively light weight. There are a number of fairly large safety concerns with this tool, so care should be taken when chopping to avoid accidental impacts by the spike into yourself or others. Also, I will flat out say that the VTAC is unsafe to use without the paracord wrap due to the slickness of the grip.

General Impressions in Use
In its stock form, the VTAC comes with an edge thickness intended for heavy demo work, not field tasks. While this particular example was thinned dramatically by its previous owner, I found it to be markedly inferior to the Cold Steel Gurkha Kukri as a pure chopping tool, but still a nice complementary tool for harder work. For removal of buried roots, the edge durability of the VTAC make it nice for chopping dirty materials, while the spike allows for dirt and rocks to be removed with easy. As a general destructive device, the VTAC can punch through metal with ease, as well as light wood. I am hoping to find a broken hollow core door at some point to do further demonstrations. Where the VTAC has really found heavy use has been as a campfire tool, as the spike can be used to assist in the carrying of logs, as well as repositioning them in the fire. Furthermore, the durable handle and heavy edge allow for trivial breaking down of pallets and other materials for fuel as well. Additionally, the smoke from fireside use has the added benefit of making the VTAC smell like bacon; a highly desirable side effect.

Sheath Issues
The VTAC comes with a durable and rugged cordura and plastic sheath capable of belt or MOLLE carry. While quite secure, the sheath is by no means rapid deployment, something desirable on a weapon or combat tool. Furthermore, the handle is incapable of being inserted or drawn from the sheath if it has a paracord wrap. If the VTAC is actually intended for duty use, a kydex sheath would be strongly recommended.

Conclusions
While very much intended as a combat tool, the Lagana VTAC is none the less a nice piece of kit for hard work. With some modification, the VTAC can be thinned out into a reasonably useful camp tool while still retaining sufficient durability for wrecking things or cutting hard materials. That being said, the rather serious issues of the slick handle and generally bad sheath will require the end user to do some hard thinking about what they will need the tool to do. Still, I look forward to putting the VTAC to continued use, but I may need to make some modifications. Finally, thank you, Cliff for the opportunity to evaluate this tool.