This is my newest and current favourite knife. It's a production knife made by Bark River Knife and Tool in Michigan, USA, but designed by Andy Roy of Fiddleback Forge. It carries his branding and distinctive lanyard hole design. It is only sold by Knivesshipfree (http://www.knivesshipfree.com).
Overall Length: 216mm
Blade Length: 102mm
Blade Steel: A2 @ 58rc
Blade Thickness: 4mm
Weight: 164g
The two things that attracted me to the recluse were the nearly full-height convex grind and the handle design, as well as BRK&T's excellent workmanship.
While I like my Fällkniven F1, which shares the Recluse's blade length (which I believe to be about optimum), its only partial convexing seemed like it was avoiding the benefits of a full height convex blade, while offering no other advantages to me (it is of course a lot stronger because of this, but that doesn't interest me for my purposes).
I like convex blades a lot and for pretty much everything, but they are not ideal, for fine wood work which I know is a major concern for many of the forum participants. A sabre grind (scandi) is preferable for that, but I'd prefer to have a separate carver (like a frosts 106 or 120) along with a crook knife if I were making a spoon/bowl or whatever. Convex blades don't take a lot of time to maintain, but are more complicated to sharpen than sabre-ground blades. Again, that may be an issue for some people.
The handle design is the best that I have encountered in an exposed full-tang knife. It allows you to use the knife in all grips that I can think of very comfortably and without any digging into the palm in a side grip. Again, I really like the handle.
I'm fine with the A2 steel, which keeps a good edge (better than O2) and is pretty easy to sharpen (although more difficult than with O2) but prefer VG10 as it's relatively easy to sharpen and doesn't (from experience) require any maintenance (from the point of view of cleaning) at all. Sucky thing about VG10 is that it only comes as finished knives from Japan. BRK&T couldn't have made this in VG10 even if they had wanted to.
It's got maple slabs with red liners which I like the look of and are shaped to fit the hand nicely (the slabs not the liners, obviously). They sit on top of a partially skeletonised tang so the balance is really good, although not as blade forward as I'd want on a hunter (this is of course a bushcraft/all around knife in my eyes; look at the blade shape).
Negatives:
I would prefer a narrower blade. I think 3mm is about the practical limit, but this is at least marginally narrower than the Fällknivens that I have. As I understand it the additional strength provided by the additional thickness appeals to those who want a "survival" knife --- one that can endure abuse. That's cool if that's what you're into, but I use knives for cutting, not as prybars.
While the knife is thick, the main downside to this is the weight. I'm still planning on using this to dress some animals when I next have the opportunity, to see how it does.
I like the exposed full tang construction for the strength and ease of re-making the handle should the need to do so arise. The additional weight though is an issue. My favourite production solution to this is found in the thermorum handled Fällknivens with their mortised exposed tangs. This reduces the weight somewhat and also has the advantage of taking away any contact of the hand with bare metal. I don't, however, favour thermorum over wood, and would love to do something like this (http://www.britishblades.com/forums/showthread.php?77962-Fallkniven-H1-with-mortised-tang) with the recluse, but probably won't.
The KSF Forest Sheath that came with it is surprisingly well made. I've beeswaxed it, and feel that it looks and feels better for it. It is a little bulky and heavy though and I think I would prefer a dangler sheath for it to put it at a lower position on the belt and to allow it to move more freely (as well as the weight and bulk benefits).
Sorry for the uninspiring photos that follow, but it seemed better than a review without any.
Overall Length: 216mm
Blade Length: 102mm
Blade Steel: A2 @ 58rc
Blade Thickness: 4mm
Weight: 164g
The two things that attracted me to the recluse were the nearly full-height convex grind and the handle design, as well as BRK&T's excellent workmanship.
While I like my Fällkniven F1, which shares the Recluse's blade length (which I believe to be about optimum), its only partial convexing seemed like it was avoiding the benefits of a full height convex blade, while offering no other advantages to me (it is of course a lot stronger because of this, but that doesn't interest me for my purposes).
I like convex blades a lot and for pretty much everything, but they are not ideal, for fine wood work which I know is a major concern for many of the forum participants. A sabre grind (scandi) is preferable for that, but I'd prefer to have a separate carver (like a frosts 106 or 120) along with a crook knife if I were making a spoon/bowl or whatever. Convex blades don't take a lot of time to maintain, but are more complicated to sharpen than sabre-ground blades. Again, that may be an issue for some people.
The handle design is the best that I have encountered in an exposed full-tang knife. It allows you to use the knife in all grips that I can think of very comfortably and without any digging into the palm in a side grip. Again, I really like the handle.
I'm fine with the A2 steel, which keeps a good edge (better than O2) and is pretty easy to sharpen (although more difficult than with O2) but prefer VG10 as it's relatively easy to sharpen and doesn't (from experience) require any maintenance (from the point of view of cleaning) at all. Sucky thing about VG10 is that it only comes as finished knives from Japan. BRK&T couldn't have made this in VG10 even if they had wanted to.
It's got maple slabs with red liners which I like the look of and are shaped to fit the hand nicely (the slabs not the liners, obviously). They sit on top of a partially skeletonised tang so the balance is really good, although not as blade forward as I'd want on a hunter (this is of course a bushcraft/all around knife in my eyes; look at the blade shape).
Negatives:
I would prefer a narrower blade. I think 3mm is about the practical limit, but this is at least marginally narrower than the Fällknivens that I have. As I understand it the additional strength provided by the additional thickness appeals to those who want a "survival" knife --- one that can endure abuse. That's cool if that's what you're into, but I use knives for cutting, not as prybars.
While the knife is thick, the main downside to this is the weight. I'm still planning on using this to dress some animals when I next have the opportunity, to see how it does.
I like the exposed full tang construction for the strength and ease of re-making the handle should the need to do so arise. The additional weight though is an issue. My favourite production solution to this is found in the thermorum handled Fällknivens with their mortised exposed tangs. This reduces the weight somewhat and also has the advantage of taking away any contact of the hand with bare metal. I don't, however, favour thermorum over wood, and would love to do something like this (http://www.britishblades.com/forums/showthread.php?77962-Fallkniven-H1-with-mortised-tang) with the recluse, but probably won't.
The KSF Forest Sheath that came with it is surprisingly well made. I've beeswaxed it, and feel that it looks and feels better for it. It is a little bulky and heavy though and I think I would prefer a dangler sheath for it to put it at a lower position on the belt and to allow it to move more freely (as well as the weight and bulk benefits).
Sorry for the uninspiring photos that follow, but it seemed better than a review without any.
