Like many on here i appreciate Mike and his youtube videos and have tested out some of his suggestions and kit recommendations, and have adopted most of them to fit my own methods and kit.
When however he designed a knife that was at odds with the standard bushie with its scandi grind i admit i was curious. as a kid i grew up using various Opinels and do like the flat grind for its versatility, but have adopted Mr Mears suggestions of the scandi for use of wood work and carving.
Anyway it was recently it was my birthday and decided to spash out on a new knife and decided that if i could get my hands on one of mikes then i would go for it. after sitting waiting for them to go online and doing my best ebay style sniping I was richer by one knife and poorer by a few hundred pounds...
I have read on here that a lot of people feel that it is over priced and a good knife shouldn't cost that much. However i justified it in my own eyes that i have never bought a knife over about £20 before and most of my others are home made, and another other being a gift. I also liked the idea of the steel (RWL34) and couldn't find much else on the market that I liked.
1 week later and it arrived, in a very nice wooden box with some hay as packaging and a letter from Mike and a Thank you from Lee the maker. All very impressive.
The first impressions were the size, its a chunk of a knife! Im nearly 7 tall with hands to match and it filled my paws admirably. It would however be too big for a lady, Ive yet to let my girlfriend try it but I know it will be too big. It is much bigger than my F1, and bigger than my own first go at making a Woodlore clone.
In my mind it could benefit from a palm swell to fit the contours of the hand better, but there is no doubt that the handle is rounded and comfortable and has its own elegance to it.
[/url]Untitled by Chavassasin, on Flickr[/IMG]
[/url]Untitled by Chavassasin, on Flickr[/IMG]
Testing:
ive only had it a few weeks so far and haven't had the time to give it a full test, however i thought id show some pictures of what I have done so far:
Battening pine:
The fieldmaster by Chavassasi
The fieldmaster by Chavassasin, on Flickr[/IMG]n[/url], on Flickr
[/url]The fieldmaster by Chavassasin, on Flickr[/IMG]
Feather sticks (with feather fine enough to light direct with firesteel):
[/url]The fieldmaster by Chavassasin, on Flickr[/IMG]
Butchering a road Kill pheasant:
[/url]The fieldmaster by Chavassasin, on Flickr[/IMG]
All in all ive been very impressed with it. It has passed my meager tests with flying colors, and can see myself using it more and more.
I even decided to make a burl handle for a ferro rod friend for it:
[/url]The fieldmaster by Chavassasin, on Flickr[/IMG]
i shall continue to use and test it, and let you know what i think
When however he designed a knife that was at odds with the standard bushie with its scandi grind i admit i was curious. as a kid i grew up using various Opinels and do like the flat grind for its versatility, but have adopted Mr Mears suggestions of the scandi for use of wood work and carving.
Anyway it was recently it was my birthday and decided to spash out on a new knife and decided that if i could get my hands on one of mikes then i would go for it. after sitting waiting for them to go online and doing my best ebay style sniping I was richer by one knife and poorer by a few hundred pounds...
I have read on here that a lot of people feel that it is over priced and a good knife shouldn't cost that much. However i justified it in my own eyes that i have never bought a knife over about £20 before and most of my others are home made, and another other being a gift. I also liked the idea of the steel (RWL34) and couldn't find much else on the market that I liked.
1 week later and it arrived, in a very nice wooden box with some hay as packaging and a letter from Mike and a Thank you from Lee the maker. All very impressive.
The first impressions were the size, its a chunk of a knife! Im nearly 7 tall with hands to match and it filled my paws admirably. It would however be too big for a lady, Ive yet to let my girlfriend try it but I know it will be too big. It is much bigger than my F1, and bigger than my own first go at making a Woodlore clone.
In my mind it could benefit from a palm swell to fit the contours of the hand better, but there is no doubt that the handle is rounded and comfortable and has its own elegance to it.
Testing:
ive only had it a few weeks so far and haven't had the time to give it a full test, however i thought id show some pictures of what I have done so far:
Battening pine:
The fieldmaster by ChavassasiThe fieldmaster by Chavassasin, on Flickr[/IMG]n[/url], on Flickr
Feather sticks (with feather fine enough to light direct with firesteel):
Butchering a road Kill pheasant:
All in all ive been very impressed with it. It has passed my meager tests with flying colors, and can see myself using it more and more.
I even decided to make a burl handle for a ferro rod friend for it:
i shall continue to use and test it, and let you know what i think
It does look a beast of a knife.
