This review consists of :
Maker Webpage : Gavko - Custom knives, basic specifications :
Initial impressions :
This is decent to high performance on the push, but low performance on the draw showing low slicing aggression, common with stropped/buffed edges.
Some numbers on 3/8" hemp :
No ability to do a draw, not expected given the sharpness measurement. However the push cutting ability is very high as expected due to the :
On carving wood
compared to the #1260 Mora
through ten points on on some 1"x0.5" pine making 2" points :
The Spartan easily outcuts the Mora in a forward grip using the index finger choil as the Spartan has a full convex grind which thins the blade behind the edge providing higher cutting ability. However the index finger choil can not be used in high force (without gloves) due to the high pressure and thus a grip around the handle has to be used which produces a leverage disadvantage and higher rate of fatigue for the Spartan as there is torque in the wrist which isn't with the Mora. Thus for heavier cutting, without gloves the Mora would be preferred.
On light brush work, the Spartan cut alongside a similar sized production knife, the Mtech MT-151 and with both blades freshly sharpened, there was no difference in performance which isn't surprising as they have similar :
Both easily handled grasses and alders and raspberry bushes.
There were however differences in control and ergonomics, specifically the large guard on the MT-151 was awkward to work with and the grip has all the problems of the knife it has cloned (Cold Steel Trailmaster). The rubber/polypropleyne wrap wears quickly, becomes smooth and then loose on the tang. The Spartan has a much higher level of comfort and security in hand.
Also, as the knives dulled the difference between the straight and recuved edges also started to show. When freshly sharpened, both cut light grasses and such almost instantly during contact, but as the edges wears the benefit of the recurve to trap the vegetation becomes obvious.
As an extreme example, the Spartan was capable of cutting various light grasses after it had been used to cut asphalt shingles. The shingles are an extreme abrasive due to the grit coating overlay which is hard enough to actually sharpen a knife (extremely rough). The grasses slip off the tip of the Spartan due to the dulling but the recurve catches the grass and doesn't allow it to slip off the blade.
Essentially the grass has to travel up the edge of the recurve and to make the grass change direction the edge has to exert a force on the grass and this is what makes it cut even with a much lower sharpness. The interesting thing about this is that basically it makes the blade act like it is sharper. Another way to look at that is that it increases the effective edge retention. This of course is why curved blades are so common in all light brush cutting blades. Note as well that the more extensive the curvature the more this effect will be seen.
The recurve on the Spartan also works well on wood working and brush by breaking the knife up into tree distinct regions which are optimized for different tasks:
These three regions allow it to be very versatile on the various uses in harvesting deadfall also shown in a video on the right.
Basically use the tip where you want to sweep through, the recurve where you want the blade to catch and force cuts, and the main hump for heavy power cuts.
In terms of raw power, it was used alongside a couple of hatchets and larger knives and it did very well for its size weight. Chopping hardwood flooring in terms of the average number of chops to make a section :
It is outperformed by the larger knives and heavier hatchet, but on a performance vs weight type comparison it does very well.
It has to be kept in mind that the Keffeler for example is approximately three times the weight of the Spartan and thus if the performance is adjusted for weight the Spartan chops as well showing the efficiency of the design.
The benefits of 3V as a tougher steel and the versatility of the heavier stock also has benefits when looking past just pure chopping and carving utility. Due to this combination of blade thickness and steel durability it easily :
It doesn't have the raw weight of leverage of actual wrecking bars of course, however there is a lot of utility to be exploited on such demo type work. The only real concern is that the edge does tend to get damaged in such work either from contact off of nails or just dirt/concrete and while 3V is tough, the high vanadium content makes it hard to grind and thus if that type of work was going to be frequent a simpler steel would like be a better choice.
For general utility :
However for most work the length is a bit awkward as it limits point work and in general it is rare to use the full length of the blade and thus either the knife ends up with a blunt patch, changes shape or the still sharp section of edge is wasted as it is ground away to keep the rest of the knife sharp.
The grip is one of the highlights of the knife :
The Kydex sheath is a solid example of such :
There is no belt loop, there are attachment straps and it can be worn in-waistband. In general, for cold weather concerns a leather sheath would be preferred like on its big brother the Exaclibur, but for Kydex this is done well.
The retention in general fits a very nice balance. There is a lot of personal preference here, but unless extreme security is required, the ability to easily draw/sheath the knife tends to be more practical and this example is near perfect. The front of the sheath is contoured well around the grip however the top rivet is far enough away to allow the sheath to open readily during the draw.
Nominal composition of 3V :
Description from Crucible :
A hot-worked, fully dense, wear resistant, vanadium-rich, powder metallurgy cold work tool steel article having improved impact toughness. This is achieved by controlling the amount, composition and size of the primary carbides and by insuring that substantially all the primary carbides remaining after hardening and tempering are MC-type vanadium-rich carbides. The article is produced by hot isostatic compacting of nitrogen atomized powder particles.
Note the image on the right which shows 3V (Fig. 1) vs a similar ingot steel. 3V has a much finer distribution of carbides and lacks any large chromium primary carbide.
In short, CPM 3V combines :
As with all relative comparisons care has to be taken. For a bit more specifics :
Edge retention with the Spartan slicing cardboard was comparable to other high carbide steels at a high hardness (ATS-34, D2, etc.) 1 . However for wood working there were a few issues, not with lack of edge retention but grindability. In general when doing brush work, the edge will dull very slowly due to the wood itself, the edge has to simply be repaired after occasional impacts on dirt in bark or on the wood itself working on felled wood which comes in contact with the ground. The Spartan resists chipping well as 3V is a tough steel, but the low grindability means maintenance is an issue.
Sharpening is the only real issue with the steel due to the low grindability. Now to be clear 3V is far superior to using a steel like D2 for such a blade which would be similar in terms of difficulty to grind, however D2 and other similar steels would also tend to micro-chip which would make even more work. However compared to steels such as 5160, while 3V will take similar damage, the lower grindability means more time has to be spent sharpening and/or higher grade stones. Of course grindability can be compensated for by just lowing the grit of the stone, however this does lead to rapid material loss of the blade. The main issue is that for wood/brush work the large amount of vanadium carbide does nothing functional benefit wise and just increases maintenance difficulty. But again that is in comparison to an ideal choice, 3V is far better than steels such as ATS-34, D2, etc. .
In short :
Comments can be emailed to Spartan Intro
1 : Edge retention slicing cardboard, various steels.
and/or the YouTube Playlist.
Most of the pictures in the above are in the PhotoBucket album.
| Last updated : | |
| Originally written: | Tue, 31 Jul 2012 00:07:03 Newfoundland Daylight Time |