A Review by Piter in Poland of the 01 Camp Knife

As you know I’m a happy owner of Brian’s blade made to my specification out of O-1 steel. Blade is a bit over 6”, micarta handle and kydex sheath made by myself. More about the knife as such you can find in THIS THREAD. Recently I’ve had a chance to try it in the field as I spent couple of days in the Northern Poland. One day I’ve taken my TAD F.A.S.T. backpack, knife, camera, tripod, etc. and send a message to my wife. “No calls please! Gone testing knife!”. So here we go…

And that’s “Bad Camp Chopper Tester” himself in the woods

However, before I found first object to chop into pieces I’ve found some fresh tracks. That must have been very wild-life loaded area! I’ve seen tracks of deers, hazes, rabbits, and a track of either BIG fox or a wolf! Cool! And that’s my toy and some small tracks I managed to take a shot of.
 

Anyway, that’s my first target. Dry branch of some sort of hardwood, most probably beech or something. Nothing that big, but VERY hard. That’s a good test for both edge holding and edge geometry, as it’s not going to split easily if geometry is not perfect.

After just couple of hard, powerful chops… well, seems like it’s not really any tough for this knife. Take a look at these long and straight cuts. Man, that was a joy to perform. I was very surprised, in a positive way of course!

Couple more strokes and done! Brian, well… your machine passed this test, so I don’t have to send in back for refund. Good for you, right?

Still looking for next target. However in the meantime I’d like to show you how good is that knife also for more detailed work, like whittling. And also why I’ve designed the blade with two “index finger” cut-outs and not just one. That’s a standard all-round grip for most of works:

BUT this grip is not so good when you need more precision and blade control. So… just place your index and middle fingers in the cutouts, place your thumb on the blade spine, and just grip. Very comfortable, also in thick gloves! Now that’s how I define blade control!

And you can whittle all day long… with extended handle-butt the balance of the knife is pretty neutral in this grip, which is also most desired for delicate jobs. Hope you can see something… believe me, tripod, remote, timer, camera, knife, branch, thick gloves and winter time forest make a combination, which is not easy to manage

I spent quite some time playing around with my chopper. Nothing very special, just whittling this, chopping that, you know. And than I found it… 4”-plus pine branch. Quite fresh, but it’s been on the ground long enough to change into laminate of wood, natural epoxy and frozen wood juices. That was just one stone-frozen SOB, as the temp. goes below –15C in the night and it’s well below zero during the day. Now that’s a target! Also bear in mind that by this time the blade itself was quite frozen, so that was very demanding test for edge brittleness. Would it chip or not? Well, time will tell… let’s start the timer!

Any questions guys? I chopped it in half in under half minute. And remember: frozen wood, well used so far knife, blade/branch ratio and generally winter conditions. Not bad I’d say, not bad at all!

Oh, and what about chipped edge? Not chipped? Can’t be?! But that’s the truth… Brian, you did hell of a good job buddy! And also take a look at the branch. Clean cuts, one after another. Not as deep as in the first target, but again, this branch was a bloody frozen piece of wood & ice. But still. Awesome job Brian, I mean it.

OK, time for coffee… ohhh, that was fun! I love it! I’m outdoorsman! That’s my life!

OK, test is over, knife performed good enough. Brian I’ll keep it buddy, test passed

See you in the woods…