I got one of those lovely Global Priority parcels today 
My new Fallkniven F1 and Gene Ingram #12 have arrived and these are my first impressions .......
The F1.
I have wanted one of these for a long time and was about to order one around the time that the BRKT North Star came out.
I followed the flock and got a NS.
Apart from the design and sheath issues my NS had slipped through QC with a few flaws ,when Mike Stewart offered me a refund i jumped at it.
I still wanted to try a convex grind "bushcraft" knife so my thoughts once again turned to the F1 and i ordered one from a US ebay seller.
First impressions are that this is a very well thought out but slightly characterless knife.
It lacks the style and character of the "semi custom" NS but IMO it's a much superior design and the build quality is perfect.
The Thermorun E ?? handle is very comfortable to hold in all positions and i imagine will be good when wet.
The sheath is perfectelly functional but again lacks character ,im not sure about the "dangler" belt loop as i like to conceal my knife as much as is practical and i like to be able to remove it single handed but it's well made ,neatly finished and holds the knife securely.
I will probably make a replacement that allows single handed removal and conceals the knife better.
Im looking forward to putting this through it's paces and i can see this being a keeper.
Im definitely on the look out for some F1 blade blanks now as a nice set of scales would make the F1 look so much prettier but for a user i think this is going to be more practical.
The Gene Ingram.
Well i always fancied one but with so many mid sized knives already i couldn't really justify one.
I was ordering the F1 and i spotted this from the same ebay seller ,Gene's knives had always appealed to me because of the simplistic lines and this one was even more minimal with the black micarta pins and lanyard hole hardly being visible against the Desert Ironwood scales.
It's a little smaller than most of my users (it's a #12 - more PackPal size) so i thought it would make a nice hunting companion with the flat grind being more suitable than my Scandi PackPal (actually my PackPal is surprisingly good for food prep despite the grind but i have to try and justify this some how) .
The fit ,finish and blade grind are absolutely perfect.
This is a beautiful little knife and Gene's work is so much more impressive in the hand than i ever imagined.
It's also the sharpest knife i have ever handled.
The sheath is a little disappointing ,it's poorly finished (the edges are rough and uneven and the dye job is poor) ,the machine stitching is horrible and it's covered in some sort of wax that won't polish away.
It really doesn't work with such a well built knife.
I don't know that it's worth spending the time reworking it so i will probably just make a replacement.
Two very different knives but im delighted with both and im looking forward to giving them a proper test very soon.
rb
My new Fallkniven F1 and Gene Ingram #12 have arrived and these are my first impressions .......
The F1.
I have wanted one of these for a long time and was about to order one around the time that the BRKT North Star came out.
I followed the flock and got a NS.
Apart from the design and sheath issues my NS had slipped through QC with a few flaws ,when Mike Stewart offered me a refund i jumped at it.
I still wanted to try a convex grind "bushcraft" knife so my thoughts once again turned to the F1 and i ordered one from a US ebay seller.
First impressions are that this is a very well thought out but slightly characterless knife.
It lacks the style and character of the "semi custom" NS but IMO it's a much superior design and the build quality is perfect.
The Thermorun E ?? handle is very comfortable to hold in all positions and i imagine will be good when wet.
The sheath is perfectelly functional but again lacks character ,im not sure about the "dangler" belt loop as i like to conceal my knife as much as is practical and i like to be able to remove it single handed but it's well made ,neatly finished and holds the knife securely.
I will probably make a replacement that allows single handed removal and conceals the knife better.
Im looking forward to putting this through it's paces and i can see this being a keeper.
Im definitely on the look out for some F1 blade blanks now as a nice set of scales would make the F1 look so much prettier but for a user i think this is going to be more practical.
The Gene Ingram.
Well i always fancied one but with so many mid sized knives already i couldn't really justify one.
I was ordering the F1 and i spotted this from the same ebay seller ,Gene's knives had always appealed to me because of the simplistic lines and this one was even more minimal with the black micarta pins and lanyard hole hardly being visible against the Desert Ironwood scales.
It's a little smaller than most of my users (it's a #12 - more PackPal size) so i thought it would make a nice hunting companion with the flat grind being more suitable than my Scandi PackPal (actually my PackPal is surprisingly good for food prep despite the grind but i have to try and justify this some how) .
The fit ,finish and blade grind are absolutely perfect.
This is a beautiful little knife and Gene's work is so much more impressive in the hand than i ever imagined.
It's also the sharpest knife i have ever handled.
The sheath is a little disappointing ,it's poorly finished (the edges are rough and uneven and the dye job is poor) ,the machine stitching is horrible and it's covered in some sort of wax that won't polish away.
It really doesn't work with such a well built knife.
I don't know that it's worth spending the time reworking it so i will probably just make a replacement.
Two very different knives but im delighted with both and im looking forward to giving them a proper test very soon.
rb
