I've wanted an Eagle since the first one I saw here on the site some time ago, and when I saw the photo. above advertising this one with a Walnut handle, well, you all know how it goes, eh? I fired off a PM to Mark, Hillbill of this parish, and as soon as you like I had the above tool in my greedy eager little mitts
The knife arrived with me about six weeks ago now and the pictures just don't do it justice; Walnut and brass is such a classic combination and just looks right to me on field tools like knives and guns. Classic and subtle British signature design, and really nice in the rich brown sheath that this one came with. The first and very definite feeling I had upon handling the knife straight from the packing was a definite sense of having a complete piece in my hands. It's obvious right from the get-go that there's been a lot of thought gone into this to make everything about it fit perfectly with everything else, just as any really good tool should be designed; the dimensions, weight, balance and overall feel of the thing is superb. The one thing I had some reservations about, the bulk of the handle, turns out to be one of the coolest features. I have a small-to-medium sized hand for a man, about an eight in a glove, and this handle
is a substantial lump of wood but as soon as I picked a few bits of old wood from the pile I was astonished at how well it felt in every grip. Some of the stuff I played with was Beech which has been seasoning a good while and so is pretty hard stuff, especially when when cutting across the grain; that's why they make butcher's blocks from them! But this knife handled that with aplomb, my hand didn't tire at all and I found myself feeling no tiredness or cramping up but most importantly the knife felt secure and safe in all grips. To put this in perspective, I've had quite radical surgery on both hands in the last eighteen months so my strength and dexterity is still building up but absolutely no problem with this one!
During the six weeks I've had this knife I've had it out every day and used it for all the usual things that all of us here use knives for, e.g. firewood and feathersticks, prepping tinder,
food prep., a few try sticks and spoon blanks, I've cut a few stick blanks with it where I'd usually use a saw, I've battoned with it (which I don't usually do with a knife), and I've done very small stuff like trimming up toothpicks after I've eaten, just to put it through it's paces. It's handled all these tasks superbly well and kept a great edge on it; All I've done in this time is stropped it lightly on three occasions and it's as sharp now as it was on arrival - razor sharp!
The only thing the knife did less than spectacularly well at was chopping and slicing root veg., the ubiquitous carrot test, but then it's a woodsman's knife in my book; you'll not get a scandi ground tool like this to be a great slicer, that's another tool, but you certainly wouldn't have any trouble prepping a good meal for a few people with it, it's just that it performs so well in all the other tasks I put it too that I noticed this at all.
The initial thing that grabbed me when I first saw this knife was the narrow blade shape, and that made me think what a good carver this would make as you'd be able to use more of the length of the blade to "round out" whilst cutting and trimming in tight and deep cuts, and so it proves to be. This shape of blade makes the knife very versatile indeed for working in wood,
and I found it very good indeed for "drilling" and cleaning up holes and slots in some very confined places.
I've also dressed out half a dozen young rabbits with it and it's been more than equal to the task in comfort, you can get your index finger down behind the tip to protect the innards whilst still keeping a safe and comfortable grip even with wet hands.
Every now and then you get your hands on a tool that just feels completely thought out and this is one such tool. I've really put it through some heavy and constant use and it's come up trumps in all respects. The clincher for me is that each time I see or pick the knife up to use, it brings a big wide grin of real pleasure to my face and I reckon it'll continue to do so for a long time into the future...........I can't praise this knife enough
I wasn't able to take pictures as I went along with this initial testing, but the one above is the one from the advert and those below are a few of the knife during and after these past
forty-odd days of heavy and wet usage. I hope this little review will be of use and/or interest to some, thanks for reading
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