Well I went to Brighouse to look at HB's knives and was very impressed. The Gunsmith Aaron Wheeler is also a great guy and said the price of any one I wanted would be £99.00.....which allowing for the work and effort and specification of the knives is fantastic value for money.
I tried all the handles for fit and comfort and due to having large hands there were some a little too small for me....however the largest in the group with the Spalted Beech grips ( I think ) and a 5.5inch blade fit me perfectly....so that was the one I bought.
The knife comes with brass pins and black liners and allowing for the lovely patterned wood grips is a beautiful piece. These grips really do fit me well and what is nice is that I have'nt got a blade like this...it is a little longer than my others which are 4 inches...and I am looking forward to giving it a try out.
The edge on this one had a little bit of a wired edge left on from the grinding of the Scandi Grind. So when I got home I gave it a quick pass, once on each side on my belt sander with a 15 micron polishing belt and then gave it a few strokes on a leather paddle with a green chrome polishing compound...it took less than 5 mins and the edge is now razor sharp....it takes an edge equal to the Woodlore and the SWC knife....simply zips through paper now and bites way past it's depth of blade even on a push cut...so very good signs so far that this will make a very "honest" working knife...
I say honest because those going for the others will need like me to touch up the edge a bit....the edge grind is not polished...it is left fairly rough from the last grit belt used on the knife...but at the same time this does give the edge "bite" once you have removed the wired edge and given the final touches to it.
If you use a water stone system as per RM's recommendation on his sharpening extra's on the DVD's you will gradually give the edge of the grind a mirror finish as you progressively sharpen the knife. No need to do that from the off though...you would simply be wasting metal...but for the "money" all of the knives I saw were amazingly well specified.
There is a nice selection of handles on these blades...some seem to be done in some form of "marble" effect stone...I will let Mark give the details...but the handle materials are all top notch.
The sheaths are a good fit with a generous belt loop and would comfortably cope with an Army webbing belt ( except the kneck knife though which comes with lanyard holes ) and whilst the leather does have a hard gloss finish to it as opposed to an oiled finish on the Woodlore/SWC knives...it is still a cracking sheath.
Bottom line here is that if you want something more than a Mora...and don't want to spend too much...what you get in these knives is pretty much "unbelievable" for your money. I am very impressed and as said the edge my knife has taken is as sharp as you can make any knife.....edge retention wise....I will need to come back on that one....but from years of sharpening I can say that if it takes an edge as good as the Woodlore and SWC...in all liklihood it will last as long as they do.
Knives which suffer on a HT going wrong in my experience cannot take such a sharp edge....so all told...I am pretty sure this will be a very good performer.
Like I said...if it can shave a human hair ( one of my "few" grey ones
) it has taken a good edge...and will be a cracking "work knife"...
I tried all the handles for fit and comfort and due to having large hands there were some a little too small for me....however the largest in the group with the Spalted Beech grips ( I think ) and a 5.5inch blade fit me perfectly....so that was the one I bought.
The knife comes with brass pins and black liners and allowing for the lovely patterned wood grips is a beautiful piece. These grips really do fit me well and what is nice is that I have'nt got a blade like this...it is a little longer than my others which are 4 inches...and I am looking forward to giving it a try out.
The edge on this one had a little bit of a wired edge left on from the grinding of the Scandi Grind. So when I got home I gave it a quick pass, once on each side on my belt sander with a 15 micron polishing belt and then gave it a few strokes on a leather paddle with a green chrome polishing compound...it took less than 5 mins and the edge is now razor sharp....it takes an edge equal to the Woodlore and the SWC knife....simply zips through paper now and bites way past it's depth of blade even on a push cut...so very good signs so far that this will make a very "honest" working knife...
I say honest because those going for the others will need like me to touch up the edge a bit....the edge grind is not polished...it is left fairly rough from the last grit belt used on the knife...but at the same time this does give the edge "bite" once you have removed the wired edge and given the final touches to it.
If you use a water stone system as per RM's recommendation on his sharpening extra's on the DVD's you will gradually give the edge of the grind a mirror finish as you progressively sharpen the knife. No need to do that from the off though...you would simply be wasting metal...but for the "money" all of the knives I saw were amazingly well specified.
There is a nice selection of handles on these blades...some seem to be done in some form of "marble" effect stone...I will let Mark give the details...but the handle materials are all top notch.
The sheaths are a good fit with a generous belt loop and would comfortably cope with an Army webbing belt ( except the kneck knife though which comes with lanyard holes ) and whilst the leather does have a hard gloss finish to it as opposed to an oiled finish on the Woodlore/SWC knives...it is still a cracking sheath.
Bottom line here is that if you want something more than a Mora...and don't want to spend too much...what you get in these knives is pretty much "unbelievable" for your money. I am very impressed and as said the edge my knife has taken is as sharp as you can make any knife.....edge retention wise....I will need to come back on that one....but from years of sharpening I can say that if it takes an edge as good as the Woodlore and SWC...in all liklihood it will last as long as they do.
Knives which suffer on a HT going wrong in my experience cannot take such a sharp edge....so all told...I am pretty sure this will be a very good performer.
Like I said...if it can shave a human hair ( one of my "few" grey ones
) it has taken a good edge...and will be a cracking "work knife"...
