The Fixed Blade knife thread

[ez bake]

OK - so I broke down and ordered a Condor Kephart and a Mora Bushcraft for my two sons. The Condor Bushlore's sort of crummy Scandi Grind and the outstanding reviews on the Kephart pushed me over to it and the Moras just get outstanding reviews all over.

I think we've got our Bushcraft knives covered.

I can't wait to get into the woods and build a shelter and start a camp-fire (as soon as the burn-ban lifts).

 

[Fredkrueger100]

I have been looking for a good knife lately for my job. I have to walk through a lot of brush and trees while I am working and it is a pain. I need a good knife to cut small limbs and thorn vines vines and such. I though about getting a small hatchet but I don't think that would work very well on the small things I will need to cut. And when I say limbs I don't mean a big one. I am talking about very small ones. I would like something that is very sharp and will hold that edge pretty well. I don't want to pay an arm and a leg either. Thanks.

 

[ez bake]

My sons' Fixed Blades came in and wow... I'm seriously impressed with the overall fit/finish and heft of both of these budget fixed-blades.

First up is the Mora Bushcraft (Orange Stainless version). This is a much heftier knife that I thought it was going to be. Blade is a 4.3" drop-point Low-Scandi (Sabre) Grind with a 2/3 tang and an injection-molded rubberized handle (over what appears to be a harder polymer molded around the tang that sticks out of the pommel-side). Blade Steel is supposed to be 12C27 Sandvik Steel, but finding anything other than "Stainless Steel" on their website or anything else is difficult. It is by far the most comfortable of the 3 fixed blades we've now got (including my Becker BK16) with a generous amount of rubberized handle to grab onto.

Flats are finished in a good grinder satin (parallel) where the primary scandi grind is a nice grinder satin (perpendicular). The sheath is a friction-fit polymer (flexible plastic) molded sheath with a hole in the end for drainage and it comes with a hanging swivel/clip for the belt.

I've heard that the edge retention in the higher end Moras (i.e. the $30 ones) is better than that of the ~$10 knives, so I'm expecting good things with this guy.


The Condor Kephart is equally impressive. The Walnut scales are very nice and the shape/size of the knife is very similar to that of the Becker BK16. The 4.25" flat-ground drop-point blade is slightly thinner than the Mora (and the Mora's blade is slightly thinner than the Becker), but the Kephart ends up with a thicker tip.

The blade is not as pretty (it's 1075 High Carbon) as the Mora - it has some more "hand ground" tooling marks on the primary grind and the edge-grind (and the edge isn't quite as sharp as that of the Mora) and the coating doesn't appear to be much more than a sloppily painted on attempt at rust-prevention. The scales appear to be on the knife before the final sanding/grinding is done as the match-up from the scales to the tang is absolutely perfect (and mine is fairly symmetrical - so the guy doing the grinding knew what he was doing).

It does come with a super-thick cow-hide (very nice) leather sheath that a lot of folks reviewed as "worth more than $30" and I absolutely have to agree - this is way nicer than I could even tell from the internet pics/videos.

All in all, I love them and the boys are excited to go do something cool with them in the woods as soon as possible.

 

[caojyn]

Is there any way to put them all in a photo? I'm a visual person.

 

[ez bake]

Are you going to strip the black coating off?. I recommend letting it soak in some paint thinner for 20 or 30, if the coating is difficult to remove let it sit in the open air for a bit. The coating will eventually get kinda rubbery and you'll be able to peel it like a banana. The metal will have a fairly nice bluish patina.

Are you looking for a Budget knife?

Aside from the few I've talked about, if you're looking for a larger budget fixed-blade (like a 6" blade), check out the Schrade SCHF10. Schrade stopped using their mystery steels on some of their fixed-blades and stepped up to 1095 for the SCHF9 (the predecessor to the 10) and went to a stainless 8CR13MOV (one of the better Chinese steels) for the SCHF10 (and the 10 is a tad downsized from the 9 - which is a good thing according to most reviews).

Here's an in-depth video on it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPFyyJTNWUE


If you're looking for something higher end, then there are a multitude of options (everything from basic to bushcraft, to fancy).

 

[otis147]

I have been looking for a good knife lately for my job. I have to walk through a lot of brush and trees while I am working and it is a pain. I need a good knife to cut small limbs and thorn vines vines and such. I though about getting a small hatchet but I don't think that would work very well on the small things I will need to cut. And when I say limbs I don't mean a big one. I am talking about very small ones. I would like something that is very sharp and will hold that edge pretty well. I don't want to pay an arm and a leg either. Thanks.

i'd suggest a machete. my favorite are tramontinas, cheap as you can get, but hold an edge pretty good, just touch up woth a file every once in a while.
they come dull as a brick with rough edges and the handle needs some work, but you could order through baryonyx and pay a few dollars extra for a sharpening and to have overall fit and finish improved.

http://baryonyxknife.com/bumagr.html

 

[ez bake]

Is there any way to put them all in a photo? I'm a visual person.

Actually, since my new camera batteries came in, I can

(the Orange isn't as washed out as the pics show - it's very bright, but it reflects light pretty well too, so I think that's the glare)

 

[redline]

Oh how i love all the beckers you should have bought all three tweeners and loaned two of them to your boys for the trip then you would have the whole set lol have fun and be safe on your trip i look forward to your review of the bk16 when you get back it and its two brothers are high on my short list .

 

[DRFTraining]

bill coye from tulsa makes one of the best fixed blades ive ever carried...look up coyeknives and the ridgeback!

 

[ez bake]

bill coye from tulsa makes one of the best fixed blades ive ever carried...look up coyeknives and the ridgeback!

I bought one of Bill's first Ridgebacks and am very familiar with his knives. He does good work.