Does anyone here have any experience with an Enzo blade. I can buy a blade (not a complete knife) here in the U.S. for just under 50 dollars U.S. It looks very similar to a Skookum Bush Tool in design. The photos appear to be very well finished, Scandi grind, O1 tool steel. I'm considering building a knife from one of these, but would like some input regarding the blades first. Nobody knows a proper bush knife better than you lads, so lets hear from you.
Enzo blades
- Thread starter Chinkapin
- Start date
Love mine. Purchased it from Ben's Backwoods, and as far as I could tell at the time, that was the only place stateside you could get Enzos. I got the birch handle kit, very sharp out of the package, went together very easily, nothing to complain about really! I'd go ahead and order a JRE sheath that fits the enzo if you don't do your own leatherwork....
All in all, super knife. I carried mine all last fall hunting and it came through with shining colors.
All in all, super knife. I carried mine all last fall hunting and it came through with shining colors.
Thanks for the input, Backcountry..., Ben's Backwoods was the website that I found these on. I was considering getting the handle kit, but I read on some other web site and saw some pics, where a guy had made a handle from scratch that went a bit further up toward the blade, and this was to my liking, but I'm not sure I can pull this off, so I'll probably go with the birch handle kit as well. Are the liners already glued to the scales? or do you do this yourself? Did you stain the birch or did you do it up in a clear natural finish?
I have had a lot of experience with them...
In my experience they have been faultless, the design is perfect, the steel is great and the weight is good.
They are as close to a custom knife as you are going to get for the money.
Excellent knives.
P.S the Enzo kits are as easy as they come, the scales are already pre-drilled and the liners are already glued, the rough shape of the handle is also already done, so all you need to do on them is glue and finish to your liking.
In my experience they have been faultless, the design is perfect, the steel is great and the weight is good.
They are as close to a custom knife as you are going to get for the money.
Excellent knives.
P.S the Enzo kits are as easy as they come, the scales are already pre-drilled and the liners are already glued, the rough shape of the handle is also already done, so all you need to do on them is glue and finish to your liking.
I have the D2 Enzo Trapper and it is one of the best blades I have used. The balance (with its skeletonised tang) makes for a perfect balance. The steel is good and worth the extra money over the O1 but it is a devil to sharpen if you don't have diamond or ceramics. My only criticism is the sheaths could be made as danglers and could be a bit better quality. Not that they are bad quality mind!
I have had a half dozen or so blades in the past - of sightly different lengths and shapes - but all purpose made for bushcraft style work. I have now settled upon the Enzo as my permanent user. So used to it it feels like an extension on my arm.
Just one word of caution, the finger guard is near non-existent. If you have some skill with the blade then this should not be a problem. Novice users - please be careful - your hand could slide onto the blade if pushing on wet handle. Not that this has happened to me though.
LBL
I have had a half dozen or so blades in the past - of sightly different lengths and shapes - but all purpose made for bushcraft style work. I have now settled upon the Enzo as my permanent user. So used to it it feels like an extension on my arm.
Just one word of caution, the finger guard is near non-existent. If you have some skill with the blade then this should not be a problem. Novice users - please be careful - your hand could slide onto the blade if pushing on wet handle. Not that this has happened to me though.
LBL
Bushcraft4life; wanderingblade; littlebiglane: Thanks to all three of you for taking time to give me some input on this blade. Wow, out of four people, everyone has had nothing but extremely good things to say about this blade. I'm sold on it! I think I want the Birch handles, but for practicality I haven't ruled out the green micarta. what did you lads get for handle material? Also, I'm worried about rust/discoloration on the O1 tool steel. What do you do about that? I'm going to order one as soon as I get input on handle/steel.
I had paper Micarta on mine polished to a matte finish, the Micarta you are likely to get with yours however is canvas or linen and has a nice grippy texture to it, for practicality i would go for this but Birch is just as good a material to use as long as its looked after. I would go for black micarta as i think green is 
The steel is high carbon, so it needs to be kept dry after use, it will develop a patina over time but i think this looks very nice and adds a bit of character to the blade.
The steel is high carbon, so it needs to be kept dry after use, it will develop a patina over time but i think this looks very nice and adds a bit of character to the blade.
I had the elforyn scales with mine - a kind of synthetic ivory.
Very nice as it does not need as much sealing / finishing as wood and is not prone to the problems you can get with natural materials.
Best option when faced with several knife choices - get all of them, find which one you like best, sell the rest!
EDIT: Re sotrage - D2 is foolproof, 01 will just need to be kept clean and dry when stored - if it is to be kept for a long period of time take it out of the sheath and give it a spray of WD40 / renwax coating.
Very nice as it does not need as much sealing / finishing as wood and is not prone to the problems you can get with natural materials.
Best option when faced with several knife choices - get all of them, find which one you like best, sell the rest!
EDIT: Re sotrage - D2 is foolproof, 01 will just need to be kept clean and dry when stored - if it is to be kept for a long period of time take it out of the sheath and give it a spray of WD40 / renwax coating.
Well, you smooth talkers, talked me into it. I especially liked that part about the kit being "idiot proof," seems tailor made for me! LOL. I ordered the Trapper from Ben's Backwoods, yesterday. I decided to go with the birch scales. I wanted the grey birch but it was out of stock, so I went with the light birch. I didn't order a sheath. I'm going to try to make one myself (oh, oh)!!!! If I fail, I'll order one from someone. I think that I will try to stain the handle and I don't have any idea what stain to use, as I have never worked with birch. Will probably go to a lumber yard and buy a small piece of birch and experiment with different stains, and see what i like. Anyway, thanks guys!
i have seen D2 refernced a couple of times, is it the Bohler D2 tool steel?
i ask becuase we recently started using it where i work for anti drill plates and ballistic panels. we now carry 3mm 4.5mm & 6mm and we have a lot of offcuts. We then harden the steel to a mnimum of 58hrc
Regrads
SW
i ask becuase we recently started using it where i work for anti drill plates and ballistic panels. we now carry 3mm 4.5mm & 6mm and we have a lot of offcuts. We then harden the steel to a mnimum of 58hrc
Regrads
SW
As other have stated, excellent knife. I love mine, and I put birch handles on. There´s a picture of the trapper in the gallery, together with a couple of other bushblades. You can make really nice fuzzsticks with it. A great bushcrafter.
D2 is an AISI standard steel. Böhler-Uddeholm makes steels to this standard, yes. And a fine steel it is too.
Excellent news thankyou.:You_Rock_
Looks like i may well be getting a few offcuts in the near future for tinkering we process approx 5 tonne every three - 4 months.
The D2 steel referred to by Enzo is a stainless steel. The O1 is a high carbon tool steel. Other than that I do not know any thing else about the actual steels used. StormWalker, look on "Ben's Backwoods" web site to see pictures of these blade (no handle) and you might get some good ideas about how to skeletonize the tang. Good luck with those offcuts!
Oh man, my Enzo blade and handles came in from Ben's Backwoods today! That blade looks fantastic. It shaved my arm easily, and cut little tiny paper curls off of the edge of a sheet of computer printer paper. The birch handle scales had some (not a lot) figure to them, and looked quite attractive. My only complaint about the whole thing is that I wish they would include a brass fitting to pass through the scales for a lanyard. There is a lanyard hole already drilled in the tang. I'll just have to measure it and try to get one somewhere. All in all I couldn't be happier. Thanks all of you guys who responded to my initial query, and advised me to get it.
Try using Danish oil, Tung oil or boiled linseed oil to finish your scales. Makes the scales look beautiful; gives them a warmth you can't get readily from many other finishes. For a lanyard tube, try purchasing a single aluminum arrow from the local sports or archery shop in the diameter you need or buy what you can and drill to fit, works like a charm, lol.
Good luck.
Good luck.
Thanks Native Justice, I have a fair amount of experience using Tung oil on furniture and I really like it, except it does darken over time. I was leaning toward boiled linseed oil as I have finished several gunstocks with this and got really great results. As far as Danish oil, I have not used it or don't really know anything about it, except that I have heard good things about it for years. I don't particularly like wood as light as natural birch. What do you think would be a good stain prior to the oil finish? I would like it to be medium, not white and not too dark to obscure what grain I have. I have never stained birch.
If it's a full tang bushcraft blade you want, I can think of no better than the Enzo for under a hundred quid.
I agree with Dan 100%, they are great value for money.
As for them being similar to the Skookum Bush Tool, in reality they are quite different and i would choose an Enzo over a Skookum bush tool any day.
