Edged tools usage... a bit of a rant

[ZigZagZeke]

My pickup box contains 150' of 1/2" nylon rope, a come-along, a pair of logging chains, two snatch blocks, a full sized short handled shovel, a full sized axe, fence repair pliers, a claw hammer, a 12x16 tarp, two gallons of water, a set of tire chains, a farm jack several pairs of gloves, and a custom tool for opening and closing stretched barb-wire type gates. I consider that a minimum.

 

[Argonaut]

My pickup box contains 150' of 1/2" nylon rope, a come-along, a pair of logging chains, two snatch blocks, a full sized short handled shovel, a full sized axe, fence repair pliers, a claw hammer, a 12x16 tarp, two gallons of water, a set of tire chains, a farm jack several pairs of gloves, and a custom tool for opening and closing stretched barb-wire type gates. I consider that a minimum.

And you live in a collage town........What would you have if you lived in a rural area!!!!. I too prefer being prepared with basic tools, good job.

 

[IronMonster]

Another Great Idaho company. Between Oregon and Idaho, we make some of the best stuff on the planet. I love my Chris Reeves (Boise) aviator one piece knife. I bought a larger version for my 101st airborne son to use in Iraq, it has become one of his most valued possessions. They are completely made from one steel bar. I don't think he makes them any more.

Chris makes beautiful stuff. I don't suppose its the case anymore but something like 25 years ago I stopped by his shop and he spent an hour or so showing me around and talking about sharp and pointy things. I suspect his operation is considerably bigger these days. At that point I think he was still doing only custom hand built stuff.

 

[ZigZagZeke]

And you live in a collage town........What would you have if you lived in a rural area!!!!. I too prefer being prepared with basic tools, good job.

I live on the edge of that college town. I can throw a rock and have it land in the county. Some developer about 30 years ago thought he could make a killing if he got the area annexed into the city. He was mistaken.

We live on a few acres that have been in my wife's family for 100 years. I haven't quite gotten around to tearing down her grandfather's old cabin from 1940. Her family arrived in the Willamette Valley by covered wagon. Most of the family's other properties have been owned since 1870. We live in the woods, as high up as you can get on Spencer Butte.

I visit the family ranch properties in eastern Oregon often to hunt deer, birds, and varmints. Part of the reason for my preparedness is I'm forever finding broken fences, and downed trees and such on the ranch. There's roughly 9000 acres of it. Oh, and that 150' of 1/2" rope with snatch blocks? That's for getting deer out of the 500' deep canyon on the ranch. I shot one a while back that jumped into the canyon and landed 100' feet down the shale slope. Took all day to get that buck out of there.


Last December's ice storm kept me busy on the Eugene property until June with tree cleanup. We must have had 2 dozen large fir trees come down, and lost many tops out of large oak trees as well. One of those killed our Mercedes SUV. It's been an interesting year so far.

 

[ZigZagZeke]

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Some of my most used "edged tools".
Each has their place and use ... some have multiple uses ...But it is always best to use the right tool for the job at hand.
Andy

Love your period stuff, Andy. I made a tiny 4" version of that antler-handled knife for my 7 yo daughter.

 

[P7M13]

You guys have excellent taste.
The green dot stuff you'll find on me every day. More than once I've had to mail one or more of them home to me because of TSA.
The rest is included in my camping stuff. The blade trader is yet to be used - got it just after Christmas for $25, the Morakniv has been out with me only 4x. The yellow folding saw is Harbor Freight -- stays sharp much longer than the Fiskars at 1/4 the cost. The Klein has stripped countless cable jackets, cut through drywall and tin flashing many, many times.
Not shown is my 21" folding harp saw, karambit, Rapala filet knife, and two "throw-away" knives that I will use for stuff like digging (got them at Next Adventure for <$5).
I've had 4 Leatherman tools in the last 30 years and one Gerber. Gave my original Leatherman to my neighbor, one Supertool was stolen from me on a job site, gave another supertool to my daughter, and have had the Wave for ~10 years. The Gerber was an absolute POS, gave me the biggest PALM sized blood blisters I have ever had.
I've done work for Leatherman and Gerber and gotten to know engineers at Leatherman quite well - great people, company and product.

When I'm heading solo into the mountains, I'll have the harp saw, the green dot stuff, the Böker and Morakniv.

 

[Andy54Hawken]

Love your period stuff, Andy. I made a tiny 4" version of that antler-handled knife for my 7 yo daughter.

Very cool Zeke!
Be neat to see her knife....I'll have to get some pictures of the new scabbard I have for my knife.
This past summer I won a quill worked brain tanned scabbard for it...
Andy

 

[DunRanull]

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Some of my most used "edged tools".
Each has their place and use ... some have multiple uses ...But it is always best to use the right tool for the job at hand.
Andy

That is one BIZ-NISSS-lookin hawk right there! The handle looks comfortable, did you make it yourself, or customise it?
What is the small knife by the compass... looks familiar but cannot place it.. looks well used and ready for more, also..

 

[Andy54Hawken]

That is one BIZ-NISSS-lookin hawk right there! The handle looks comfortable, did you make it yourself, or customise it?
What is the small knife by the compass... looks familiar but cannot place it.. looks well used and ready for more, also..

I re-shaped the original handle to give the 'Hawk a more 1840ish period look...it was also stained with nitric acid.
The knife by the compass is a Blackjack model #5... I carried this knife while in the Army.
5 1/ 2 blade , stacked leather handle.
Andy

 

[The Heretic]

So I was watching reviews of a TOPS BOB Fieldcraft knife.

Ran into this one:

I was just about to skip it when about half way thru, the guy is talking about how tough the knife is and was demonstrating it by prying with the tip and he broke the tip of the knife.

I am not saying it is a bad knife, I am saying that any knife can be broken if you abuse it. Prying with the knife is abuse - $200 very well respected knife and knife-maker, and he broke it because he was doing something that he shouldn't be doing. Then he goes on to say that he would give it away, but he would not give someone a knife that wasn't good.

This is the mentality of these guys and survival knives.

 

[DunRanull]

I'm not gonna lie, I think this gentleman spent waaaay too much time whining about what he did to the tip... Carefully re-grind or stone the tip back into shape!

 

[PaulB47]

I've heard of survival knives used in backpacking, where all excess weight is shucked (and the axe is left at home). In that context batoning seems to make sense, particularly if the knife is designed to handle that anyway.

 

[The Heretic]

I've heard of survival knives used in backpacking, where all excess weight is shucked (and the axe is left at home). In that context batoning seems to make sense, particularly if the knife is designed to handle that anyway.

Designed? Maybe but not well suited.

For every 20 YouTube videos showing a successful batoning with a given knife there is probably at least one where someone has broken that same knife.

How many videos have you seen of someone breaking an axe head itself chopping or splitting wood?

 

[Red_beard]

I had never heard of batoning until I watched a YouTube "review" and I thought to myself, "that guy looks like he's just trying to break that knife."

In my experience backpacking, we never did any such thing. It's make some shavings and get small sticks to start a fire. If its too big to light, find something smaller or make your fire bigger.

What always makes me laugh is the idea of splitting logs with a knife. Well where do the nicely cut rounds come from when you're out in the woods? The chainsaw you have been carrying in your back pocket for a week? We made a good sport of breaking dry logs over rocks. You get manageable big pieces and get the splinters for kindling.

I'd also like to see any sharpend pry bar of a knife out chop a good Latin American machete. They cost $20 and are far more versatile for things like digging. No knife makes a good chopper without being unnecessarily big and heavy. At that point you would Be way better off with a light 4" knife for cutting and a machete for chopping/abusing.

 

[The Heretic]

In my experience a heavy knife is not much lighter than a belt axe