Well for the last few months I've been testing different pocket knives, of varying designs and brand. I had a Kellam fixed blade pocket knife, and A.Wright and sons sheeps foot, and an Elk Ridge unknown model but Nessmuk style duo blade folding knife.
I trailed them all on the same tests, to evaluate which performed the best. Each carved a tent peg, made an elder whistle and a miniature featherstick to test the agility of the knives. They also all performed other tasks such as vegetable preparation and the a Elk Ridge even had a spell of scraping some propolis of our bee hive!
The Kellam:
Performed the best overall, had a very easily maintained high scandi grind, held its edge well, was especially suited to slicing tasks, even had a little battoning spell, which it also excelled at. The high carbon blade and striker handle meant it strikes sparks with a peice of natural flint very well and will get charred material going no problem. It also came with a lovely hand stitched leather sheath.
Overall a very good knife, but the most expensive of them all.
The Elk Ridge:
Had two 3 inch clip point blades, from ricasso to tip, and had a yellow faux bone handle, basically corian, brass pins and a nice thick mechanism width with a good snap. It performed the second best, still very well and it was good to use for it tasks, especially food prep due to the flat grind, which although it has a micro bevel, still performs very well! This was bought on a whim in a sale so has no papers so I am unsure as to the model. The knife cost £20, but it would have been more expensive had it not been in the sale.
Overall a very good knife.
The A.Wright
A rosewood handled, sheeps foot folding knife, with a legal EDC blade which is actually very thick. The knife performed well, but not as good as the others mainly on edge retention, which was fine to use for short periods and lasted reasonably but it would need sharpening the most often. This was however the cheapest of them all, and at about £15 delivered it's not bad at all.
Overall a decent knife for the money but nothing special.
the photos:
conclusion:
I like the Kellam the most as it simply performed the best and it was the one I reached for most when I was in the woods. However I do love the Elk Ridge, it's the historical design that appeals, and the idea to use one blade for woodwork and keep the other razor sharp for food prep and skinning tasks, I just like it!
hope you enjoyed this short review! Thanks for reading!
I trailed them all on the same tests, to evaluate which performed the best. Each carved a tent peg, made an elder whistle and a miniature featherstick to test the agility of the knives. They also all performed other tasks such as vegetable preparation and the a Elk Ridge even had a spell of scraping some propolis of our bee hive!
The Kellam:
Performed the best overall, had a very easily maintained high scandi grind, held its edge well, was especially suited to slicing tasks, even had a little battoning spell, which it also excelled at. The high carbon blade and striker handle meant it strikes sparks with a peice of natural flint very well and will get charred material going no problem. It also came with a lovely hand stitched leather sheath.
Overall a very good knife, but the most expensive of them all.
The Elk Ridge:
Had two 3 inch clip point blades, from ricasso to tip, and had a yellow faux bone handle, basically corian, brass pins and a nice thick mechanism width with a good snap. It performed the second best, still very well and it was good to use for it tasks, especially food prep due to the flat grind, which although it has a micro bevel, still performs very well! This was bought on a whim in a sale so has no papers so I am unsure as to the model. The knife cost £20, but it would have been more expensive had it not been in the sale.
Overall a very good knife.
The A.Wright
A rosewood handled, sheeps foot folding knife, with a legal EDC blade which is actually very thick. The knife performed well, but not as good as the others mainly on edge retention, which was fine to use for short periods and lasted reasonably but it would need sharpening the most often. This was however the cheapest of them all, and at about £15 delivered it's not bad at all.
Overall a decent knife for the money but nothing special.
the photos:
conclusion:
I like the Kellam the most as it simply performed the best and it was the one I reached for most when I was in the woods. However I do love the Elk Ridge, it's the historical design that appeals, and the idea to use one blade for woodwork and keep the other razor sharp for food prep and skinning tasks, I just like it!
hope you enjoyed this short review! Thanks for reading!
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