Allan Blade Bushcrafter Arrived, great knife.

[Geoffrey]

Hi guys my Allan Blade Bushcrafter arrived today. I will get some pics and a little review up on it soon.

Here is what I think so far,

Sheath, kydex, great quality, tight fit, but not my thing. I am a leather fan so very soon this will have a nice new pair of pants.

Handle, micarta with mosaic pins. Flawless comes to mind when i think of the handle shape. Near perfect for me. Just the right length and fit. First knife that I have ever had fit me this well. There is one odd thing the micarta has a very strong smell to it. :?: Kinda a chemical smell. I have emailed Allan about this, nothing wrong with it just kinda smelly, will fad with time I would think though.

Blade, 01 flat ground with a convex cutting. Grind lines are perfect, cutting edge was sharp but not sharp enough for me. Then again no knife comes sharp enough for me. Oh well a few hours with a strop and she will be a light sabre. :yikes:

Overall fit and finish outstanding for a knife of any price range. Great knife, great guy and one very happy customer. :biggthump

 

[Hoodoo]

Congrats! I know you will get some great use out of it.

Interesting about the smell. I own quite a few of Allan's knives and never noticed an odor. Does it smell like epoxy?

 

[Geoffrey]

not sure what it is, just a really odd smell, only from the micarta not the blade, weird.

Geoffrey

 

[JakeR]

I was gonna order one of those, but didn't possess the strength to wait!!

 

[MagiKelly]

I was gonna order one of those, but didn't possess the strength to wait!!

I thought you had ordered one with a full tang construction?

Anyway I have not forgotton about doing a review on the Scandi PackPal I just have not had time yet. The more I play with it the more I think it could become my main knife with the bushcrafter being relagated to second place. For most of the day to day stukk I do the shorter thinner blade seems much better.

And Geoffrey regarding the Kydex sheath I was initially just the same as you but do not be surprised if you find youreslf being won over by the practicallity of the Kydex.

 

[JakeR]

AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH I mistook it for alan wood!!!!

Your right, i had ordered one...oops.

 

[MagiKelly]

AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH I mistook it for alan wood!!!!

Your right, i had ordered one...oops.

Glad to see you injury has not effected you brain.......................much.

 

[JakeR]

:roll:

Easy mistake to make :?:

 

[Allan Blade]

Hey,

Yes that smell thing is a mystery to me too.

The only thing i can come up with is that it being freshly ground and formed and sanded opened up the handle to a bit of Outgasing of the Phenolic resin used in the Micarta.

SHould go away fast though i would think.

I can smell the phenolic on handles somtimes myself but i have to put my nose right on the handle to smell it. weird.

Anyway glad the knife made it to you ok.

Now back to grinding for me ! !


Regards, Allan Blade

 

[eraaij]

My Allan Blade Field puukko did have that smell also. I recently ground a micarta handle for a project knife and it did smell exactly the same - so it must be from micarta grinding.

The smell will go away after a few weeks. The more you use it, the faster it will go away.


-Emile

 

[JakeR]

Hows mine coming along Allan? ):

 

[Geoffrey]

Used the knife yesterday, no pics though. Very nasty day, overcast and grey but I can give you a run down on how it went. I started but snap cutting some green limbs, workes very well on branches up to an inch, never tried bigger ones. Snap cutting vines, blackberry branches, and the like were a breeze also. The knife is awesome, carved a mini figure 4 trap setup, whittled some very very fine fuzzy sticks, split some storm damaged pine with not one bit of trouble. The handle is very well shape for a wide variety of grips and works very well in my larger hands. I will continue using my new fav knife. Once I get a good day out, I will get some good pics of it in action.

Geoffrey,

 

[hootchi]

Sounds like an extremely nice knife. I am considering getting one. I'll have to try and find out if they are available in a more traditional look with a leather sheath or nice wood handles. Perhaps not as practical but much more asthetically pleasing. Something like that.

 

[MagiKelly]

Hootchi


Allan will do them in most any wood you could ask for also he does them with mosaic pins if you want. Wood is not an extra but the pins would be. As to the sheath I do not think he does leather.

 

[tenbears10]

But it would be eaisy enough to get someone else to do a leather sheath for you. Or give it a go yourself maybe if you are into that kind of thing.

Bill

 

[JakeR]

But i've heard (John!) that the kydex sheaths are very good!

 

[Geoffrey]

Allan does wonderful work, and will work with a wide variety of steel, pins and and handle material. I am already saving up for a maple burl, mosaic, and S30V bushcrafter. Paul Bos does the heat treat on that type of stainless, and from what I have heard Paul Bos is an awesome man for heat treating steel.

The kydex is nice. I am not a kydex fan but it is growing on me. Great overall package. And man you cannot beat the price. For me it came down to an Ontario made Randall design Tak http://www.knifeworks.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=3993 or this handmade bushcrafter by Allan.

Its a no brainer now, this guy is great to deal with and a real pro at making an affordable knife that you can use and look good usin.

I am impressed with the finish on the blade, very tough. Much better than that black bake on stuff used on Ka-Bars and the like. This stuff is pretty solid. I have worn a few spots on it. Not from use but from my lack of convex sharpening skills. I have put a standard V edge on the knife at about 22 degrees using a diamond guided setup. This thing will scare the hairs off you arm before the razor sharp steel even touches the skin.

Once again I cannot say enough good things about Allan, his work, and this knife.

Expect more and some pictures soon.

Geoffrey.

 

[MagiKelly]

But i've heard (John!) that the kydex sheaths are very good!

The Kydex sheath is very good. I was going to replace it with a leather one as well but was won round to it. I see Geoffrey seems to be going the same way.

Geoffrey, I have the maple handle and mosaic pins on my Pack Pal and they are great. I sense you are going to be another Allan Blade fan. Then again I have yet to hear of someone with one of his knifes that has any complaints.

 

[hootchi]

But it would be eaisy enough to get someone else to do a leather sheath for you. Or give it a go yourself maybe if you are into that kind of thing.

Bill

thanks Bill and magikelly
will think about it. Iv made my own knife. it was good but nothing special. I would need a near perfect sheath to go with that knife.
But the kydex looks good......

 

[Geoffrey]

Hey guys finally got a nice day and got out again with my bushcrafter. I have a few pics I will try to post them.

First Picture is Bushcrafter used to make friction fire setup

Second Picture is Bushcrafter and figure 4 trap setup

Third picture is Bushcrafter batoned into a nice sized tree

Abd lastly the Bushcrafter just takin in the sun.

Hope this works. I am not exactly a pro at posting pics.

Through all the tasks the bushcrafter performed very well. Handle is comfy to use in a variety of tasks. Whittles very nicely, and batons like a dream.

Geoffrey.

Edited, trying new pic host.

Hope this one works.