A shot, from the Valiant Co. website :
This Survival Golok was a replacement for Golok which was extensively used and had a number of problems including premature handle failure.
The blade profile on the Survival Golok was near idential to the last as was the mass and length and balance. The edge was well sharpened from tip to choil, catches the thumb nail along the entire length. There is a hit of a secondary bevel near the tip for about one centimeter as if it was off angle on the buffer for a second. The blade is straight and seated perpendicular to the handle. The fit and finish are significantly higher on this knife.
The new Golok has a grip two centimeters longer than the previous one and four shallow finger grooves while the last one had three more prominent ones. The new pattern fits the hand much better. The end bulb on the old one was also much larger, but the new one still looks easily secure. The handle thickness is near identical, it is about 1 1/8" across at the top.
After a full sharpening the Survival Golok was used on various forms of light vegetation. To explore the role of the curvature on cutting ability it was used alongside a Patrol Machete from Camillus which has the opposite profile and presents a concave face to the material being cut, similar to sickle and scythe though not as severe a curvature.
Both blades were on light grass and various thicker vegetation up to to stalky weeds about 3/8" of an inch thick. The blades are very different in feel in the hand as the grips are very different, however they cutting ability was near identical. The only issue was that the hook on the Patrol Machete could catch and then induce a torque if the cut was off the optimal angle angle. On some small soft wood, alders up to 1/2" thick, both knives easily cut through many sections at once. Again there was no difference seen in ease of cutting, the twisting of the Patrol Machete was more violent on a sloppy stroke.
In regards to grip, using the Valiant with a forward hold and a lot of wrist snap feels near perfect in hand. Though the handle has a high sheen finish, it is quite secure in hand. The handle on the Patrol Machete was too slick, a lanyard had to be used frequently combined with a partial two fingered grip around the back of the handle which allows an open grip on the back swing to reduce hand fatigue.
The Valiant Golok and Patrol Machete cut up some spruce 2x4 scrap mainly to examine relative fluidity. The wood was seasoned and had some rot so the penetration tended to be light because of the hard shell but with a lot of cracking because of the rot. Both had similar cut depths and no difference in binding as the wood was falling apart. The edge retention was very different however, the edge on the Golok was visibly rolled throughout the contact area which started about an inch back from the tip. The edge also took more damage further back from the tip cutting an empty soda can in half. The Patrol Machete didn't suffer any edge damage during the cutting.
The edge on the Golok was fractured in places up to 0.3-0.4 mm deep and one millimeter long, triangular notches in some sections with other areas deformed. The damaged section was about four inches long in total. Thus the ease of damage of the Golok is due mainly to the tip being left soft, same as on the last blade. This Golok similar to the last one was fully sharpened to remove the forging hollows and possibly any weakened steel. Similar to the last one the region of edge in the middle of the blade is very durable, however towards the tip it dents very easily when limbing and thus it is very difficult to use on close growth wood. In regards to binding, more work with the Patrol Machete and Survival Golok did show the Golok to be much mroe fluid in thick woods.
This Golok, much like the last also has a very efficient cutting ability due to the very tapered profile, however it also has issues with hardening which leave much of the tip very weak. Two prototype Goloks were later reviewed which had a different hardening but the edges were far too brittle and they could not even limb out white pine without large visible fractures.
Comments can be sent to : cliffstamp[REMOVE]@cutleryscience.com or posted to :
Jim Aston has several reviews of Valiant products on Jimbo's Survival Page, Valiant's website also contains additinal information.
| Last updated : | Fri Apr 4 12:09:07 NST 2003 |
| Origionally written : | Mon Feb 24 12:01:31 NST 2003 |