Here is a side shot :
and the handle shaping :
This custom in A2 heat treated by Paul Bos was made Luke Freeouf. The blade weighs 525 g and the center of mass is about one centimeter in front of handle. It has a full height flat grind on 5/16" stock and the grind transition from primary to full stock in the choil area is very smooth and flowing. The edge is 0.037" thick and is ground at 18-19 degrees per side. It has seen some use and shows minor chipping below the naked eye visibility, just some roughness with a thumbnail check, it was resharpened before significantly used. The handle is contoured in width and depth enhancing comfort and security. However, the pins are not flush with the grip which can be abrasive depending on size of hand and grip, plus the holes are also places where water and debris can collect and make cleaning the handle more difficult.
As a chopping tool, it did well for a knife of its length, and with a full grip had 49 (3) % of the ability of the Tramontina bolo. Using a hook grip around the end increased penetration but the control was reduced so there was no net change in the number of chops. The steep rear talon doesn't lend itself to a far grip either as it is abrasive.
On 3/8" hemp using a rocking cut it took 28-32 lbs near the tip and 60-62 lbs near the base due to the lack of curvature. Since the edge is very flat, much of it hits the cutting surface and thus more force is needed.
Whittling hardwood dowels it took only 16.3 (7) slices to make a point. However the index finger cutout is too thin and a heavy work glove had to be used to continue the cutting. With the glove and use of the index finger notch there would be a significant torque disadvantage. However the front of the grip is well rounded unlike the Camp Tramp which is squarish at the front and thus provides additional points of irritation to the grip.
The tip penetrates 662 (32) pages into a phone bookon a heavy stab. Digging holes through 2x4 and 2x6" spruce and fir it took on average 18 (2) stabs in 2.2 (2) minutes to get enough of a hole to fit the index and middle finger. The high mass gives a lot of power and the tip is well balanced in penetration and strength to allow for efficient digging.
While it can slice meats and soft fruits, the thicker cross section tends to break stiffer vegetables. Cutting through a turnip gets about halfway and then it splits. It works well enough to just chunk things up for a stew. It is of course heavier and thicker than what is necessary for such work, and really only excels at things like crushing nuts, or chopping through frozen foods. On just normal utility cutting much the same is seen, it is in general over built for this type of word and thus in general you are using more force than needed.
The knife was carried for a few weeks of wood cutting. It saw a lot of limbing as well as some bucking and even felling, the latter was on the smaller wood. It was also used for splitting to fuel the routine fires as well as using the point to break the dry wood apart for tinder and using the edge as a scraper for shavings and then slicing slightly thicker bits for stoking after the flame had caught on. It also saw simple food prep, on both freshly caught fish as well as the more normal bread, sausage, cheese and the like.
In general it handled all those tasks well enough, though it was over built for such work given the stock thickness as this kind of use isn't that demanding in general so a thinner blade would be preferred as it would have significantly have higher performance. Overall a more blade balanced piece would be prefered with less weight in the direct grip and a longer handle. The end talon should also be fully matched with the handle slabs to minimize pressure on contacts.
Due to the very thick blade stock and heavy overall cross section the knife excells at heaver work. Even strong digging/prying in woods would not significantly flex the blade. It is also heavy enough to use the spine as a makeshift hammer. It was also used to hack into some concrete. It fractured about the same level of the Camillus CU/7 . It chipped out readily up to a depth of about 0.030".
As the edge was lightly chipped it was sharpened before the stock work was performed. The edge was left at close to the origional angle it was it was 0.039"/16 degrees. A releft grind was applied above this at 0.070"/12 degrees. In general the edge responded well to honing. A2 has a much higher grindability than the high alloy stainless steels.
Later the edge was heavily reground to explore the limits of durability. The new edge profile :
| Thickness | Width | Angle |
|---|---|---|
| 0.010 | 0.016 | 17 |
| 0.053 | 0.107 | 13 |
| 0.080 | 0.182 | 10 |
With the reduced edge profile came a large increase in cutting ability. Repeating the dowel cutting the performance was now 11.2 (1.4) vs 16.3 (7) initially. With the new profile the camp knives was used for lots of chopping and no problems developed. It also split many pieces of knotty seasoned spruce (six months) with a baton also with no major problems. However the edge did chip during the splitting beyond the visible but could be felt by thumbnail. To clarify, this isn't the optimal way to profile an edge on such a knife. It is far better to take the primary profile down and leave a thinner edge. Having a bevel that is about a quarter of an inch wide really slows down sharpening as you have to remove metal from a lot of edge. The knife will also be more prone to shallow edge damage at a given level of cutting ability.
The knife was shipped with a custom Kydex sheath. The blade is held solid with no rattle but can be withdrawn without excess difficulty. It also has a drainage hole for ease of flushing. The fit and finish is a little low, a few bends and sways here and there, but this is only a cosmetic concern. It is a one piece fold over design with a folded down belt loop.
A very solid first blade for a maker. A nice piece to use for heavy work. Suggested modifications would be to work on optomizing the edge geometry, explore tapering for the tang, and a tougher steel to prevent edge chipping.
Comments can be sent to : cliffstamp[REMOVE]@cutleryscience.com and seen in the following thread :
| Last updated : | 01 : 10 : 2006 |
| Originally written: | 12 : 23 : 2002 |