Alick, I fell in love with that model 20 Gene Ingram knife I must admit! Gene put an amazing edge on that knife and that D2 has a good toothy cutting slicing action! I prefered the slightly longer handle over my Highland Special! Both are fantastic knives, but I have to say the Ingram was slightly the better knife for creating feather sticks from thick branches! What did you think of the Highland Special?
Knife reviews
- Thread starter Gary
- Start date
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good point Alick, Knife reviews could be totally useless unless your comparing it to a known performer. As a generalisation all knives cut and all axes chop.The essence of a good knife review should tell the reader how well it does this compared to a known milestone.Illustrations are good too,the review of the BRKT north star on Britishblades is a good positive review with illustrations
doing an in-depth review is surprisingly hard work.
i tend to take the philosophy of trying to get inside the designers head, what was he/she thinking? what is the knife designed to do? i evaluate the knife from that perspective, with design intent. if it just so happens that a certain tool is great in a different role to it's designed intent, so much the better.
i have read some bizarre reviews out there, both in cyberspace and in paper magazines. how some mora knives aren't much good in the machete role and so on. why would they be? why would anyone with enough brains to pour water out of a boot ask these sorts of questions? my first inkling that all reviewers aren't omniscient super beings came back in the eighties, some guy in a survival magazine said he couldn't get a sharp edge on an opinel?????
it is hard to balance both the reviewers experiences and notions/ideas, against the readers experience and thoughts/opinions. some people might suggest that the best field knife ever made is the woodlore, some might vote for a dozier professional guides knife, i might suggest that the title belongs to the nine inch becker bowie. three very different answers to three subtley different sets of requirements. :roll:
):
cheers, and.
i tend to take the philosophy of trying to get inside the designers head, what was he/she thinking? what is the knife designed to do? i evaluate the knife from that perspective, with design intent. if it just so happens that a certain tool is great in a different role to it's designed intent, so much the better.
i have read some bizarre reviews out there, both in cyberspace and in paper magazines. how some mora knives aren't much good in the machete role and so on. why would they be? why would anyone with enough brains to pour water out of a boot ask these sorts of questions? my first inkling that all reviewers aren't omniscient super beings came back in the eighties, some guy in a survival magazine said he couldn't get a sharp edge on an opinel?????
it is hard to balance both the reviewers experiences and notions/ideas, against the readers experience and thoughts/opinions. some people might suggest that the best field knife ever made is the woodlore, some might vote for a dozier professional guides knife, i might suggest that the title belongs to the nine inch becker bowie. three very different answers to three subtley different sets of requirements. :roll:
): cheers, and.
The General said:
Gary I think you got it in one earlier where you said it is a matter of perspective, the reason that you probably come back to the jet packs is they are all that you require, they are a good size and it means that you are only carrying that which you require.
The General mentions the Gene Ingram #20, I own one and I have found it to be very good and the edge that Gene supplies them with is scarily sharp, but if it does what I require of it and it is comfortable then to me this will be a good edged tool.
There may be knives which have better steels and better designed blade and handle combinations, but if I am not comfortable with it would it then be better or worse than the Ingram#20, obviously to me it would be worse.
In the end the complete argument is very subjective because untill you have used something you very rarely will know whether it is good or bad or whether it will do the job that you require it to do.
It would appear to be very much a case of horses for courses and reviews should be taken as a guide and not Gospel.
):Cheers mate, just playing devils advocate but it is a good exercise for the old grey matter.
I think the reason i chose the jet-packs is because of familiarity they are what I have known longest, although when we first got them in the army i hated them.
As for reviews its interesting to see how different people approach them - most seem to take them with a pinch of salt which is probably a good thing.
I think the reason i chose the jet-packs is because of familiarity they are what I have known longest, although when we first got them in the army i hated them.
As for reviews its interesting to see how different people approach them - most seem to take them with a pinch of salt which is probably a good thing.
one thing that I noticed from the meet up and chatting to a few people is that knife choice seems to rely quite a bit upon sharpening ability. A lot of this is down to perception and the direction taken in looking at it. I heard a few people mention that it is important to have straight blades in to the handle without transition, and I see this as more a case of their perception being based upon not knowing how to handle the sharpening on the transition. So I think that knife preference can be very subjective to perception and skill and knowledge .. hopefully with a few of us knife makers and enthusiasts involved .. perceptions and knowledge can have their limits stretched a little 
Very good points again Mushi - I would expand that and say perception and faith in what your told. As I have found out myself, I always thought flat grinds easiest to sharpen but having played with a convex or two recently i now see how wrong that was.
Another interesting point is 'the science part' - knife makers can tell you all the tech stuff but does a user need to know it? And as we have seen knowing the best handle material is X would they still go for Y?
I think I need to get on a psycology course or something!! :shock:
Another interesting point is 'the science part' - knife makers can tell you all the tech stuff but does a user need to know it? And as we have seen knowing the best handle material is X would they still go for Y?
I think I need to get on a psycology course or something!! :shock:
we need to know that we don't know, we need to know what we don't know, we need to understand our limitations and accept them honestly in order to push beyond their limits. When we accept what we know and place that as our limitation, we limit ourselves, Only when we accept we know nothing, are the doors open to know everything.
Never be an authority, always a student
Enter the void :shock:
Never be an authority, always a student
Enter the void :shock:
Gary said:
You need to think less or someone's going to get hurt
In order to help it out, I spent 4 hours putting a convex edge on an elephant... the tree fell over just the same - Joe
But if you hadnt of been there would the tree have made a noise as it fell? :yikes:
Do they sell knives in the void? :shock:
Do they sell knives in the void? :shock:
